KINGSNAKES!

(One adult and two baby kingsnakes in the yard this week!)

FAMILY DAY

We decided to spend the afternoon at the movie theater and our new bowling alley, and we had a lot of fun (although, Cora does NOT like to lose at bowling...)

HATTIESBURG ZOO CAMPOUT

We left work early today so we could drive down to Hattiesburg for a Girl Scout campout at the Zoo with two other Troops from Vicksburg (because it wasn't a Council event, dads and siblings were allowed to come along for the fun)! We had a little time to kill before they opened to our Troops, so we stopped at the restaurant across the street for a snack. The kids were just a wee bit excited to be sleeping overnight at the zoo with so many of their friends (they know kids in the other Troops in addition to our Troop 3315 girls)!

First order of events (after setting up our tent next to the permanent canvas tents provided - we overflowed capacity due to the level of interest this event had with our Vicksburg Troops, so we brought our own tent for our family) was riding the train and carousel a few times!

Troop 3315 (well, about half of them) at Camp Capybara!

After a pizza dinner, we rode the night train to the playground, took a night tour of the zoo, roasted marshmallows at the fancy campfire, and watched a movie in the discovery room before retiring for the night to the sounds of the animals.

Morning seemed to come early (especially after the 11:00pm bedtime and a young tent-neighbor's sunrise complaints about all the singing birds) and James was starving (Cora abandoned us to share a canvas tent with some of her Troop-mates), so I was glad I'd packed some snacks to tide him over until breakfast (which was donuts and coffee). Then we packed up and hung around for a little while (at the front gate, the playground, and the wallaby enclosure) until the ropes course opened (both kids went up for about an hour).

(Cora needed a little reassurance from a friend to make it to the bell)

Once we left the zoo, we went to a local hotspot for a BIG (real) breakfast before hitting the road to home. We had a great time at the zoo and hope our Troop gets to do it again next year!

DOWNTOWN DINING

Cottonwood has definitely become a weekly (or twice weekly) staple in our dining routine (James was trying to look serious about dominoes to counteract Cora's craziness), but we're excited that Margaritaville will be opening here in a few months (they're renovating the old Horizon casino):

CERC FOR WORK

I was up in Columbia, MO this week for work (taking black carp tissue splits and water samples from black carp tanks), so my coworker (Xin) and I took some time after work to go for short runs/hikes and to visit a couple breweries, along with visiting her long time friend and one of our old coworkers. It was a really busy few days, but it was neat to see a new part of the country and visit with friends we almost never see.