The Wilds.

Eugene & I went with his family to The Wilds. What’s The Wilds, you say? I’m going to cheat; they have a paragraph on their website that gives a brief summary:

The Wilds is one of the largest and most innovative wildlife conservation centers in the world. Located on nearly 10,000 acres in southeast Ohio, it is home to rare and endangered species from around the world living in natural, open-range habitat, as well as home to hundreds of indigenous species. In addition to innovative, in-depth science and education programs, the Wilds offers guided experiences.

I can’t say enough about what a wonderful day it was. We took a horseback tour for about an hour at the beginning.

We then took a 2-3 hour open air bus tour around the 10,000 acres. I got some amazing pictures of the beautiful animals, land, and flowers.

		The Wilds VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I’m trying a new way to share pictures. Let me know if it doesn’t work & I’ll try something else. There were just way to many pictures to choose from!

My personal favorite picture is this of this cute guy…

They also have a zip line tour that takes you across the many acres flying through the air across 10 stations for zip lines. It was all I could do to not just fork over the money & jump on the zip line!

Oh, and I also like this pic quite a bit…

We had such great time. It was amazing to see God’s creation up close & personal. I’ve seen giraffes at zoos & on TV, but when I actually saw one right next to you it just blew me away to think that God can make their spots perfect and their long black tongues perfect for the hot sun & reaching the leaves, and that they can stay upright, despite being so tall & skinny. It’s really just dumbfounding to me. God’s amazing.

Well, all that to say, I highly recommend going to The Wilds. :)

Healthy-ish zucchini bread.

I used my mom’s awesome zucchini bread recipe, and one “healthy” recipe to create my own concoction.

Luckily, it turned out really good, which is good because I’ve been craving this bread for weeks. ;)

Here’s my recipe, but remember that never really measure things exactly:

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
2 1/4 {or so} shredded zucchini
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup white flour
3 t. salt {but next time I’ll use less}
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t.baking powder
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon

Here’s the ingredients, except I forgot the sugar & brown sugar.

Beat the eggs until foamy. Beat in oil, sugar, & vanilla. Mix well.

Mix in zucchini.

In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together, then add to first mixture.

Stir in nuts & pour into loaf pans. My special touch was to add some brown sugar & chopped pecans to the top of the loaves.

Bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

While it’s still warm, top it with some margarine and serve it with a cup of hot green tea {or ice water since it’s 96 degree out!}

I made it last night, and one loaf is already almost done. Even the window guy liked it – or maybe he just pretended to like it since we were paying him over $5,000!