As proof that parenting is unpredictable, my oldest daughter woke up this morning with hives all over her legs, arms, back, and stomach.  Allergies are great because without paying an allergist to find out what is causing the rash, you may never know what could have caused it.  It could have been something she ate, or the detergent we used.  She spent a lot of time playing in the grass yesterday, so it could have been the grass or something in the grass.  The other thing about allergies is they can flare up one second and then totally go away the next.

My junior year of high school, my face broke out and swelled up and we have no idea what caused it.  It didn’t happen again until about two years ago, but I think that was poison ivy because I was roasting marshmallows by a fire that I’m pretty sure someone put poison ivy in by mistake.  I stood in the wrong spot and got a face full of smoke.  The next morning, my face was covered with hives and my left eye was swollen.

Okay, to ease your curiosity, I have a picture of my wife and kids from our trip to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.  My best friend’s wife works there, so we make it a yearly trip.  The girls really love the polar bears (which I also have some great pictures of).  The handkerchief was part of a “traveling scarf” thing that we were doing for an online forum that my wife has joined.  The cute little elephant statue is outside the “Pachyderms” exhibit:

The Best Things in Life

Aren’t they gorgeous.  I’ll post some more pics from the zoo later.  I’m pretty proud of some of them.  Especially this really somber looking one of a snow leopard.

Until later.

~”There’s not turning back now that you’ve opened up to your mind.”