It turned out that the airline cancelled J's brothers' flight and we rebooked on a later flight (due to diesel prices doubling since we booked, we think they consolidated flights.). So we had a full last day and went to a fascinating, lovely serpentarium. LaMa got me thinking why sometimes I am terrified of snakes and sometimes ok. I really enjoyed the poisonous snakes on their island watching them in trees and in their ponds. But the king cobra behind the glass who was enormous really made me feel this horrible claustrophobic feeling. I realize it is that if I feels like I am in striking distance, I get panicky and short of breath. It's from the snake dreams where I get bitten and faint into a pile of them that becomes so thick with snakes, they blot out the light when slithering over me.
We got there just in time for the snake presentation where the man handled lots of snakes and told about their characteristics and the poisonous ones he handled with the snake pole. I tried to keep track of who was poisonous and who was not, but need to go another time and study carefully. There were so many snakes and so much interesting info. There was an alligator feeding also and the alligators were so adorable and lovely. And also a nice exhibit of all sorts of turtles, one of crocodiles, and the lizards where beautiful, too. Just a magical place. And now I know that I am a snake admirer from a distance!
Thanks for the reminder not to stress about food while entertaining, Em! The crab cakes were so delicious, and I made butternut squash soup the last day to go with the left over barbecue, and everyone really liked it. Nice to sneak healthy food in, too! Once I get the kitchen set up I'll do a lot better with guests and consistently healthy food. I plan to learn to cook healthy versions of Southern food. We didn't get to swim - we were so tired after the serpentarium. Next time we'll have the river explored (we didn't want to send guests out in unexplored waters) and will do a lot more water sports where we get exercise in but it'll be in the water where we won't get so tired from heat.
J's brothers just missed their flight this morning (one of them is super pokey getting ready for things) but did catch a later one out of the airport. We had such a wonderful time with them - two of my favorite people on earth!