Aunt, ants, and anteaters

Aunt:
My bright-eyed, color-purple-loving niece turned 3 last week, and I took a little trip to fulfill my aunt-y duties. And when I say "duties", I am talking about a fun trip to sunny Ft. Lauderdale to eat, laugh, swim, and shop with my nieces, brothers, sister-in-law, and parents. It's a job I'll gladly fill anytime it's asked of me.

Ants:
Late spring has brought with it more than the typical humidity and sunnier evenings. Our home has become a haven to countless ants. Apparently, the initial scouters came to inspect and sent the word back to the whole crew beyond that our home was hospitable to their kind. So we've called in the cavalry to reinforce our shameless animal cruelty. My father-in-law kindly came to spray up and down, inside and out of our home today. It turns out that Karis and Me-Ma's intermittent sprinkling of ant killer on the many ant piles in our yard just wasn't cutting it. Though it did make for a sweet picture.


Anteaters:
Living a mere 5 minutes from the Jacksonville Zoo has it's definite perks. Just the other day I woke up and thought, "We should go to the zoo this morning just to feed the giraffes." Thanks to our annual pass, it would have been a great idea, and, in my ever-so-humble mind, I thought it might just make me the coolest, most spontaneous mom ever. Well, title not fulfilled that day. But we did go for a visit a few days later with our friends. We hit the highlights: the giraffes, monkeys, penguins (pictured here), and anteaters.

Regarding that last animal, my friend and I heartily agreed it might possibly be the craziest-looking creature on the planet. It's huge, awkward, and feeds mostly on ants. Weird, right? And yet I could totally have benefited from one roaming around my house over the last few weeks.