Brandy524

I remember Mindbender being tan from when I was a kid. I never rode it back then, though. I was a big chicken until high school, and by that time it was green.

Wow, that was hard! I missed so many because I wasn't sure, but they ended up being ducks! I guess I should go with it even if I'm not sure next time.

This looks promising. Too bad we have to wait until 2014 for the movie. http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/06/19/first-look-maleficent/

Beautiful beaches! And that wipeout looks painful.

Great stuff so far, Erik! Looking forward to more!

It's a Winx Club dark ride! Does KT watch Winx Club? My girls would have loved it! Looks like a really well-themed, nice park. Great update!

Wow, just getting caught up on the updates. Hilarious stuff guys! Whores, please use protection! The Addams Family/Robin Hood picture will haunt me...

I'm going with 9 duckies! Lock me in, please!

Great pictures! Looks like an awesome day!

What a cute little park! Hope everyone is having a great time! Looking forward to more!

I'm a little slow on the uptake. I was sitting here thinking who the heck is Jennifer. Bahahaha. I get it now, lol.

The displays do look really nice. My crappy camera didn't really do them justice. They've done a really good job maintaining the museum over the years.

Little Phoebe is just precious! Oh, and the coaster pics are good, too.

Looks like everyone had a great time for a great cause! The amount of money raised is amazing! Way to go, everyone!

I've liked the kitty page, too! Hope it works out for them!

Last installment... After Africa was the Egyptian exhibit. As soon as the girls saw the mummies they freaked! Cammy was literally in tears and Danny had to pick her up and take her through the mummy room to the other side. I thought the mummies were fascinating. You can see Cammy in the background keeping her back to the mummies! You can see her toes. It's gonna getcha! There was a video playing in the mummy room telling how they transported the smaller mummy to the local hospital and had a CT scan done of her, although this picture was just from x-rays done in the '70s. Sculpture of what she may have looked like. This little exhibit was at the exit. This thing I remember from when I was a kid. You put a coin in and "tickle" the square on it's neck and it laughs. There was a Bird of Prey trail outside the museum with some....birds of prey. Bird of prey. Another bird of prey. There were several more cages but I'll spare you. They had a great time! And finally, taken by Ally, which is blurry because it's impossible for her to stand still for two seconds. Thanks for reading!

Moving on to Africa... Rhino Is anyone else giving the hyena Whoopi Goldberg's voice? Aww, look at the wittle baby. Daddy will eat your face. African wild dogs. We saw some live ones back in April at the Birmingham Zoo! Ally loves giraffes! Cammy loves elephants! She has two stuffed animals named "Elephant" and "Nother Elephant." I started singing the hula song from the The Lion King. "Are ya achin, for some bacon..." Elephant again. We tried to move through Africa slowly in order to get away from scooter girl and her annoying family. Some kind of hopping rodent. There are so many different kind of things with horns I can't keep up. I have no idea what they all are. I am not posting all the pictures of them. You're welcome. Butterflies on the wall. Hippo See, too many! All the little ones in the back are various species of dik-dik. Go ahead and make your jokes.

More... Otter! Beaver The girls really liked the baby turtle. Grrr. Mountain goats. Another goat. Oh noes, the mountain lion is gonna get the goat! Bear, wolverine sans adamantium. See, they're not nice! They had a little thing you could sniff to remind yourself what a skunk smells like. No thanks, I've smelled enough driving past dead ones. This was supposed to be an early taxidermist's office. Office again. Moving into the bird exhibit. I did not take a picture of every bird. Thank me. Look, Brian, I found the actual-but-not-really-a-yellowhammer bird! Some kind of owls. Insert Harry Potter joke here. Insert patriotism here.

Saturday afternoon we surprised the girls by taking them to the Anniston Museum of Natural History. They had been asking to go for a long time because they knew that the museum has a dinosaur exhibit and an Ancient Egypt exhibit, both of which Ally loves. So Saturday afternoon I loaded up the girls pretending we were just going to meet Danny for lunch after he got off work. We did eat lunch. But then we headed to the museum. We didn't tell them anything until we pulled in the parking lot and they saw the sign. They were so excited! Neither Danny nor myself had not been to the museum in about 20 years, so it was pretty much new to us, too. As soon as we walked into the first exhibit (which just so happened to be the dinosaur exhibit) the girls were terrified! We had to practically drag them in. Once they got used to it with the dim lighting, etc., they loosened up some. I guess it is kind of creepy, though. Somehow when we go to places like this we always end up behind one of the most annoying families. This time it was grandparents with their two granddaughters. Sounds innocent enough. But they were letting these girls run around everywhere. The youngest looked about 5 or so; the oldest about 9 or 10. The oldest had a broken leg and was on some kind of scooter thing. She was riding the scooter everywhere, circling back around us, etc. Danny and I both wanted to kick that scooter out from under her! And the grandmother had to stop and read every single description of every single exhibit. We tried to hang back and let them get ahead but they took so long at every exhibit that we caught up to them every time. It was so annoying. Anyway, moving on to the pictures. I took these with my phone because ever since we moved I have not been able to find the charger cable for my good camera. My phone camera does not have a flash so in dim lighting everything ended up a little blurry. Sorry! I guess I need to buy a new charger for my camera. Zebra in the lobby. Some kind of skeleton in the lobby. Just get used to the fact that I don't know what all these things are called and be thankful I didn't take pictures of all the descriptions! As you enter the first exhibit hall. Pteranodon hanging from the ceiling. Some little dinosaurs. Triceratops skull. Some big dinosaur. Some kind of skull. Some other kind of skull. Thrilling, isn't it? Stegosaurus skeleton. The girls with the stegosaurus. Brachiosaurus neck bone. Lots of different crystals and gemstones. Gasp! Jurassic Park starts here! Fossil in the floor. Some kind of big bone. Big dinosaur from the other side. Teeth. Leaving the dinosaur exhibit you move into an Alabama Cave. Caves are dark. Oh look, a little bit of light over here. Now to the Alabama wildlife exhibit. Some kind of foxes. Groundhog? There's some kind of cat on the rock. It's jumping right at you! Gobble, gobble. Some kind of cat. I really suck at knowing Alabama wildlife. Oooh, I know this one! It's a deer. I really like the cat grabbing the bird, although I have no idea what kind of cat or what kind of bird they are. "Hi, how are ya?" This is an opossum...or just "possum" in Alabama. I mostly only see these dead on the road, not dead, stuffed and hanging from a tree. Occasionally I see a live one eating the cat food on our back porch. They are NOT nice. Alligator Gar. I actually remember Danny telling me this one! Mallard. Some other kind of ducks. Lots more to come....

Danny and I both LOVE the latest one! He said that's definitely the right bird. I found a page that explains about the bird. Apparently the nickname came during the Civil War. http://www.outdooralabama.com/watchable-wildlife/Watchablearticles/yellow.cfm "During the Civil War, a cavalry unit from Huntsville joined up with Confederate forces in Kentucky. That Alabama cavalry unit wore new uniforms, trimmed in yellow. As thy rode by, the soldiers noticed the trim of the cavalry’s uniform and likened it to the yellow of the feathers from the flicker. They shouted “yellowhammer” as the troops rode by. From that point on, all Alabama troops were known as “yellowhammers.” The soldiers considered that name as a badge of honor and wore feathers in their hats and lapels even years after the war’s end when they attended reunions."

That looks awesome! Danny just gave me a history lesson on why the Alabama bird is called a yellowhammer but is not the actual yellowhammer. I had no idea! I guess I'm not the best Alabamian, lol.

Hope you guys had a great time at the taping! I bet it would be a lot of fun!

Looks great! We have a meeting Tuesday night and I'll show everyone and see what they think. I was starting to wonder if anyone was even interested in doing it; I know it was a lot to ask. So thank you!!

Those pork chops look delicious! Not something I need to see when I'm suffering afternoon hunger. I had to settle for a granola bar.

Beautiful pictures! Always love seeing the expressions of the riders!