Quarry Hill Nature Center Cave Visit...

This Friday Sammy went to the Quarry Hill Nature Center for a cave exploration. His friend Shannon came as well as Tom, Linda M, Jessica, and Linda R. The staff and volunteers put on a great tour with some dressing up as animals: a great horned owl, a raccoon, a bat, and finally a skunk.

Sammy...

A naturalist with a Screech-owl...

Sammy and Shannon spot something (or someone) in the tree...



The crowd looks up...

A Great Horned Owl perched in a tree...
Told us many things except...
how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop...

Michele & Sammy...

Shannon & Linda...

A hungry raccoon...

Entering the cave...

This cave was dug out of sandstone...
...heck, just read the photo itself...

Inside the cave...

Sammy enters the cave...

It was pretty dark in there...
...the flash on the camera suggests otherwise...
...Sammy with a flashlight...

A silly skunk demonstrates what skunks do...
...but using a water bottle instead...

Michele & Sammy...

Angry taxidermy inside the nature center...scary!!!

And under-fed bat...

Sammy's 3rd Birthday Party - Cowboys, Banditos, and Mustaches

What would a cowboy birthday be without real(istic) cowboys? For Sammy's birthday we had a whole herd of rip-snortin, darned-blasted cowboys (and cowgirls). Here are a few shots of some of the various hombres at his party earlier in the day.

Gaucho Grant and Demure Diane...
...check the paper for any "Wanted" listings about them...

Groucho Grant, Demure Diane,
Abeline Annie, Frito Bandito,
Juniper Jessica, and Johanna Bandanna pose for a photo...

....only to find out it's lawman Sammy who is the photographer...

All day long Sammy was putting wayward cowpokes in the clink...

This isn't PhotoShopped...
...Veto the Cat actually sporting a mustache...

Gaucho Grant went straight and became a lawman...
(see badge on his shirt)

The good guy always gets the girl...
...at least in Southwest Rochester...

Frito Bandito (sans the mustache) plucking the ukulele...
...he was later apprehended and convicted on being woefully out of tune..

Huzzah!

Just about every year our friend Johanna goes to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and we usually accompany her. This year she took a good number of us with her. Paul's sister Diane met us there. It was a day of strange people, large turkey drumsticks, and magic. Usually it is Sammy who charms the women (he must have inherited it from his mother's side), but today it was the other way around...

By the entrance to the festival...

Johanna and her loyal dog Bluto...

Hyue, Michele, Sammy, Shannon, and Linda visit with the live livestock...

Reason #58,375 why we keep telling Sammy to go to college...

Sammy seems puzzled by a presence he senses...

A Wood Nymph appears and offers a magic stone to little Sammy...

Sammy attempts to resist ...
...the nymph persists...

Once she starts playing music...
...Sammy can no longer resist her magic...
...he succumbs to it....
...and starts dancing...

It was wrong then...
...and it is still wrong now...
...animal cruelty--medieval style...

Renaissance shopping...
...Diane, Michele, Jessica, Sammy, Bluto, and Johanna...

Tired by the long day, Sammy is carried by Jessica...
...Is Sammy just tired? Or is he thinking of his wood nymph?

NOTE: Since Sammy's seductress never spoke , we never were able to confirm 100% that she was actually a Wood Nymph. Possibly because she has wings one might conclude she is a fairy...though those tend to be "little people" (think Tinkerbell). In any event, we'll have to keep an eye on Sammy when he goes in the woods.

Mr. Entertainment

Throw some women in the room and suddenly our little Sammy becomes Mr. Entertainment. The other night Jessica & Johanna came over for dinner and afterwards Sammy was displaying his prowess with his little walker (yes, Sammy can actually walk...he's able to get across the room on his own...though he occasionally stumbles). Sammy likes the walker because he can cover ground much faster than if he walks on his own.

Sammy is excited to see Jessica as he corners the couch...

Sammy rushes to Johanna's open arms...

Sammy tells Johanna & Jessica a funny story...

Sammy enjoys showing off...

He really is a good natured kid...most of the time...

Johanna, Sammy, & Jessica...