The Woods and the Wilds

Whitley and Avery

This was a busy week for the Watson family, overall, and a fun past couple of days. Thursday evening, Tom's cousin, Elyssa, and her family drove down from the D.C. area to spend the night with us on their way to Myrtle beach. (We met up with them in August; see blog "Watsons Go to Washington.") Dave and Terri joined us for dinner, as well, and we adults enjoyed lively conversation, while Whitley and Avery babbled and played side by side on the floor. Unfortunately, we were a little too engaged in chatting, as I think we all failed to get a decent picture of the two girls. More than once we happened to look down as they leaned in nose or nose, or reached for each other's faces, but only got our cameras out in time to catch one turn away or take an awkward tumble. Oh, well. Even if we didn't catch the perfect shot to commemorate their visit, we still had a great time with the Woods family. I can never get enough of "talking baby" with another first-year mom, and Elyssa and I shared our thoughts on food, crawling, sleeping, playmates, discipline and more, long after the little beauties went to bed.

The fun continued yesterday, as Stacy, Drew, Tom, Whitley, and I drove to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro to make the most of the beautiful weather we've had this week. It was an absolute perfect day, and we ended up spending five hours there, looking at the animals and appreciating our time together. One of the first exhibits we explored was the chimp habitat. They have a really big enclosure, and most were bounding all about, but quite a few of them were lounging right on the other side of the glass! We couldn't believe how close they were, and Whitley loved standing up on the wall and peering at the funny, hairy little men. Another highlight of the trip took place right before we left. Apparently, the elephants had just been fed, because they, too, were right along the edge of the vast African savanna they share with rhinos, antelope, and such. Many of us gathered to stare at the them, smiling and sharing the thrill of seeing them so clearly. A pair of elephants (a mommy and baby?) put on quite a show, wading into the water to wrestle, splash, and roll. It was so cute and the perfect end to our wonderful visit!