A Mustang, Some Old Friends, and an Aggressive Buffalo

Samantha and I just returned from an amazing trip to West Tennessee. We were so happy to go home and see everyone, as it will likely be the last time for quite a while. I am getting bigger and the temperature is getting hotter ... not a pleasant combo for travel!

Samantha always loves being at Big Guy and Grammy's with "her toys." And she loves playing with her "silly Big Guy" and snuggling with Grammy. She also enjoyed the newest addition to the Fletcher household, the red Mustang convertible, just her size. I enjoyed another new toy ... the black Corvette.

Hot stuff!! She loved sitting in the car, honking the horn and playing the radio. Movement ... not so much.

I, on the other hand, did not touch the radio or the horn of the Corvette. But I did very much enjoy the movement!! (Maybe a little too much, but don't tell Dad!)

On Thursday we spent a good bit of the day with Gran and Grandaddy. Aunt Teddie even drove from Lexington to visit with us.

Coloring with her Gran.

Laughing about ... who knows what.

Dad took the day off on Friday and we had a real adventure. We went to the Safari Park near Alamo. West Tennessee friends, I highly recommend it! We saw all sorts of animals - kangaroos, emus (lots of emus), buffalo, deer, warthogs, wildebeasts, parrots, camels, and a giraffe named Jerry. For the first part of the tour you stay in your car and drive through the grounds. The animals are so conditioned to cars that they will actually come right up and eat from buckets of feed. Beware of the emus ... they are liable to climb in the car with you if you let them. And the buffalo are not a bit shy, either. Dad will have feed in his "Taco" (what Samantha thinks he drives - it's a Tahoe) for the foreseeable future because buffalo apparently have no table manners. At the end of the tour, there is a petting zoo with goats, sheep, camels, and the aforementioned giraffe named Jerry. Samantha didn't know what to think of the free roaming animals, but she enjoyed feeding Jerry and the goats.

One of many emu we stopped to feed.

Watching safely from a distance in Grammy's lap. Whichever side of the car the animals came to, Samantha was on the other!

The very messy buffalo.

Samantha with the map, helping Big Guy drive and identify the various animals.

Feeding Jerry the giraffe a carrott.

Getting brave and scratching the camel's nose.

Feeding a goat from a baby bottle. She kept saying "He likes me!"

We had another big day on Saturday. Russ, Amy, Anna Grace and Garner drove in to spend the day. Gran, Grandaddy and Memaw all got to come over, too. Samantha loved being around Anna Grace and Garner, calling them her "friends." I tried telling her that they are also family, but she thinks of them as friends. Fine by me! After all, you can pick your friends, but not your family. She couldn't have picked two sweeter ones!

Hamming it up with Gran and Grandaddy.

Samantha and Garner playing with Uncle Russ's iPhone.

Mom's lunch plate getting pillaged by the kids. Did they eat their own lunches? Heck, no. I guess it just looked better on Grammy's plate!

Too cute for words. The girls were too quick for me to snap a good photo, but they ran around holding hands.

Taking Garner for a spin in the Mustang.

The sweet face of a summer day. After being outside for less than an hour, Samantha had flushed cheeks and a completely wet head of hair. Mulitply this look by three (all them had it) and you have perfectly content kids who had a wonderful afternoon playing at Big Guy and Grammy's!