Happy pre-Fathers' Day, Ben!

 We went to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden!

I made Ben take this picture with the Philadelphia skyline in the background.

Isn't our city pretty?!  And, my husband is pretty handsome, too.

The jellyfish are always my favorite.

How cool are they?!

And they glow under black lights!

There were lots and lots of sharks to see, too!

This one was swimming above us as we walked through a tunnel surrounded by aquarium.  It was pretty cool.

Then, we made dinner.

We got to use the pasta maker that my mom got us for Christmas!

(also seen here)

freshly made chive pasta
(with chives from our garden!)

with sage cream sauce and porcini mushrooms
(from the Italian Market)

And we got to enjoy our new patio furniture!

(before it got to be 100 degrees here)

Next year - the zoo, with Little Aveer!

Zoo Ave, Costa Rica

Zoo Ave is an animal sanctuary 15 minutes from Asclepios that takes care of injured animals found in the wild and abandoned exotic pets.

Look!  A Squirrel!
And a hybrid breed macaw, which is discouraged as a preservation strategy for endangered species, since it results in creating a new species, which is genetically predisposed not to survive in the wild.

A loose iguana!  Most of these guys were sunning on top of bird cages.

This baby deer wanted to lick everyone's fingers through the fence.
We named her Murphy.

Remember these guys?
I'll give you a hint:  SQUAWK! SQUAWKING!! SQUAWKITY!  SQUAWK! SQUAWK!!!

Apparently huevos de tortuga are considered an aphrodisiac.

Not sure what made him so mad, but he is beautifully protecting his women.

even pretty from behind

He decided that we weren't threatening after all.

There is pretty wildlife in Costa Rica.

Welcome to Costa Rica.  Home of 850 bird species and gorgeous, weird plant life.

the Passion Flower

Weird Dr. Seuss plant.

It is bigger than it looks (since the penny is closer to the camera).  And included in the middle of this post so the creeped-out feeling you have right now will be erased by the cool birds below.

turkey vultures

northern jacana

red-crested parakeet
(The absolutely most annoying birds in all of the land.  Seriously.  They squawk while they fly & they squawk while they are seated, LOUDLY.  They travel in largish flocks and they all talk at the same time.)
Not my friends, but Ben thinks they are pretty.

It looks like peeling paint bark!

We wandered through the neighboring sugar cane farm.

Merry Christmas from Philadelphia

Here is our decorated live tree!

All of our ornaments are still back in Oklahoma, so we gathered a few new ones this year.

And, I LOVE our new tree skirt.  Found it on etsy, of course.

Here are a few of the new details we found at shops in our neighborhood:

 (except for the twisty glass ornaments; those are from etsy, too)

it's a jelly fish!

Ellipses says Merry Christmas!  

Meet Otto.

It's Otto, Ross's 3 month old donkey!  He got rained on a bit over night (silly thing, get in the barn!), hence the towel wrapped around like a scarf.  He's pretty cute and really soft!  And he has blue eyes!  He only bites a little, if you let him.  More of a nibble really.

I think I know someone who likes Otto more than we do. . . . 

My sister-in-law Jill.  She loves Otto.  And he kept trying to knock her over.  That'll teach her to wear heels to the farm.  Probably not.

the outdoor animal family at Ross and Karen's
(4 dogs make up the indoor animal family, but they weren't as interested in getting their picture taken.)