Updates, frankly, is a misnomer….there's nothing much new to report. We are still waiting on our Hague oversight component to be completed so we can file our I-800a (for the government forms lingo uninformed, that's essentially obtaining permission from OUR government to adopt.) I am also paperwork gathering for our dossier (that's the stack o'forms that gets shipped to Penny's government to obtain their permission.) This process is as stop & go as a bunch of 4 year olds playing red light/green light, lol! On a bright note though, I got my official US passport!!! I feel like such a grown up J
So I promised some trip photos of our adventure to KY, visiting the Cincinnati Zoo and the Creation Museum. We left on Thursday, really, respectably early for 'Zinger family time keeping, and headed our 64, following it all the way to Lexington, where we caught 75 north. We discovered that 64 in West Virginia has numerous tolls, but not too much traffic, and pretty decent roads all things considered. The front which gave us fog and rain, had coated the trees in eastern Kentuckey, making them absolutely glow. Forgive the through the window pics…
By the time we were hitting Lexington, Mr. P. and I were both frantically searching for sun glasses, as the clouds had certainly lifted, and while chilly, the weather was gorgeous for the entire rest of the trip. We stayed in Florence KY, which has a unique welcome:
Not especially readable here, but it says "Florence Y'all" I found this amusing. After finding our exit, spotting our hotel, and then missing our turn & finding the exit all over again… We finally arrived. The little boys thought it was great that the airplanes from the local airport appeared to be going right up over the highway. Airplane here!
We loaded into the room, looking only slightly like national lampoon's home school vacation, and Paul thoughtfully made a run to White Castle for us, and Lee's Chicken for him. Never had real White Castle. I highly recommend everyone find some excuse to try a real White Castle burger (or 4-5 real WC burgers…!)
Friday AM we stopped by The Creation Museum, but the 2 day tickets have to be consecutive days, so we opted instead to hit the Cincinnati Zoo. Not all the exhibits were open (many critters are apparently not amused by day time highs of 30 ^_^ ) but the winter entrance fees are also greatly reduced. Took way too many pictures to count, but these were among my favourites:
My cold & goofy boys!
This guy, flapping about, is a Sellar's Sea Eagle. Very cool, impressive beak. Bad news to be the fishy…
Mr. Polar Bear. He seriously posed like nothing else. Obviously, he wasn't the least bit put out by the temperature (or lack thereof, depending upon whose opinion you sought). I am not sure I have ever seen a Polar Bear quite this up close. It's hard to fathom just how very, very large they really are.
We also saw some manatees in one of the large indoor displays. I promise, I've gotten out & gone to zoos, but not sure if I'd seen a manatee in an aquarium setting like this (though, like all the other Richmonders, I was glued to the TV when the one swam up the James River a few years back!)
They also had penguins
And ridiculously fat squirrels, who spoke mooch the tourists!
We stopped by the gift shop, and then headed back to the hotel to thaw, swim, and eat an ever so healthful dinner for assorted snackies including by not limited to spaghetti-o's, mac & cheese, left over chicken tenders, salad, sandwiches, and I am pretty sure 2 yogurts and a can of soup.
