First Visit to Dickerson Park Zoo

Springfield has many awesome parks within the local park system and so we decided to check out one of their pearls. The city park system owns and manages the city zoo, Dickerson Park Zoo.

We got some literature and checked out their website and decided that this would be a good place to have an annual membership. The fee for the membership was very inexpensive, especially when you consider how much our girls love to explore new things.

We were greeted by this peacock which is one of many that roam free through the zoo. Neleha loved chasing these long feathered "chickens" as she calls them along with other birds that walk rather than fly.

We found that Dickerson Zoo was just as interactive as other zoos we have visited in the past. This area was where you were encouraged to feed a baby goat, calf, and camel. The girls really enjoyed having these animals lick the food from their hands and then being able to pet them at the same time.


The most amazing of the interactive areas was the giraffe tower where you could also feed full size giraffes. Kristy was as excited as the girls were about this opportunity. We purchased some giraffe biscuits and then got to hand feed these long necked spotted African natives.

For the first time we each got to pet a giraffe, a very cool experience indeed. What was most funny about the occasion was that at first Molly mistook the giraffes tongue for a fish, she asked why it was eating a fish. She quickly realized that it was a tongue as they used it to gather the biscuit pieces from her hand. Their tongue was very long and did resemble a fish, so it was easy to see where she could get confused.


Neleha was right at home in the reptile house. This girl is afraid of most fury animals but you bring a snake or a lizard out and she wants to take it home.


Neleha was very impressed with this huge anaconda that was slithering around in the above pictured water exhibit.

We also came across a little water play area were the girls got to cool off. They always have a blast playing in water.


On our way out of the water play area they both wanted to strike a pose atop of this frog, these girls sure are beautiful, just like their Mommy.

Neleha is a big fan of Thomas the Train and so when we came across the zoo train she knew what she wanted to do next.


Kristy and Molly looked so cute together during our little relaxing train ride. At one point the engineer even stopped and picked up two long peacock feathers to give to our girls. They thought that was very awesome!

Neleha was having so much fun on the train that she wouldn't even look at the camera.

After our train ride we stopped at the play area and then headed for the Asia exhibit to see elephants and tigers.


At one point Molly got tired of walking and so Neleha agreed to share her seat with her. Later on they got to cool off one more time at a misting tree.

Our first of many visits to our local zoo, I'm sure......

Getting Wet at Jordan Valley Park

Kristy was introduced to another of Springfield's city parks by one of her other new friends named Alicia. Her and Alicia have been hanging out at this park for many reasons. The park is free, there is lots of water to cool off in, and there are plenty of other things for the kids to do.

Molly loves the trademark robot sculpture for this park which can move it's legs, arms, and head through the use of a man powered gear.

Neleha is very fond of the climbing rock that is surrounded by big chunks of blue rubber. Even if you fall off the climbing rock the impact on the rubber is so soft that you would not even notice. When you walk on the stuff it feels like your walking on air.

The water fountains and wading pools are of course the biggest draw to the park. a free mini-water park, how could we say no?

The wading fountains are made up of a series of pools all declining down to a main pool that surrounds an area where the water is sporadically shot up into the air.

The depth of the pools is perfect for our girls, and when the water starts shooting up out of the fountains the fun really begins.


Jordan Valley Park conjoins with the Missouri State University campus of which Kristy has recently completed her admission application to. I got her an official MSU t-shirt to commemorate her application and hopeful acceptance into their program. She has gotten great grades at Wright State so I do not foresee any problems. The photo above is my beautiful sweetheart sporting her new MSU t-shirt.

The girls sure have fun at this park, they are at such a wonderful age of exploration and enjoyment of life in it's fullest.

Jordan Valley Park is certainly a wonderful perk from living in Springfield.

Lambert's Cafe "Home of the Throwed Rolls" and a Movie

We decided to explore the local legendary Lambert's Cafe, home of the original "throwed rolls". We have heard about this place from many different people all of which praised the place to the highest degree.

We were forewarned that we would have to wait, they do not take reservations, and they are usually packed. The cool thing is that they give you a menu while you wait so you will know what you want when you get seated.

After a 40 minute wait we were shown to our seat. The atmosphere alone won us over. It is as if you are on a farm, just outside a barn or something. The wait staff were most friendly and then of course there were the throwed rolls.

I caught my first throwed roll when a young kid in red suspenders came by with a cartfull. He yelled out "rolls" and I indicated I wanted four. He yelled "heads up" and then he started throwing them at me one at a time but when I caught the first one he tossed the remaining three as fast as he could one right after the other. I think they like to keep you on your toes. The rolls were fresh and hot, right out of the oven and those babies were good!


It was so fun to ask for more rolls just to be able to catch em, sounds weird I know. But you really get caught up in the excitement when everyone is yelling for rolls and their flying through the air in all directions. The dude just stands pretty much in one spot and lets em rip, even all the way across the room if needed.

All the food was great and although it is not exactly advertised, seconds is free of charge. The wait staff also constantly brings around what they call "pass arounds". It is basically the sides for your meal, fried okra, fried potatoes, some macaroni in a tomato sauce, sorghum molasses for your rolls, etc.... There is plenty to go around, let me tell you. We had a very great time and a great meal, Lambert's is certainly worthy of the legendary status they hold. To learn more about Lambert's Cafe to go: http://www.throwedrolls.com/


After our wonderful meal we headed to a local park for free movie night.

Founders Park is located right downtown Springfield and is perfect for a movie. With the skyline as a backdrop and the stadium style seating, you would almost think they had these movie nights in mind when the built the place.

Springfield has a wonderful park system from what we have seen so far. This movie night is put on two weekends a month during the summer on both Friday and Saturday night. It obviously draws a pretty big crowd.

The movie was "Wizard of Oz" and not only did we get to enjoy the movie, they also passed out temporary Wizard of Oz tattoos for the kids. Our little family had a wonderful time enjoying each others company and watching this wonderful classic.

July 4th, Missouri Style

Our new friends Rachel & Sean invited us over for a holiday cook-out. Our kids got along great and we all had a relaxing time just getting to know each other. The food was plentiful and the kids put on a little 4th of July parade for our entertainment. We had a great time.

After the cook-out we headed out looking for the city fireworks display. In Ohio we always used this method and it worked. However, in Missouri fireworks are not illegal, I'm talking any fireworks.

So many people were shooting off professional style fireworks that we could not discern between the city display and private citizen displays. We decided to just find a parking spot on a hill so we could just watch fireworks going off all around us.

We lucked out by finding a hill with a family lighting some off in their yard. I am not talking a big yard, I am talking their tiny little in-city front yard. We jumped up on the roof of the van and enjoyed the show. We could fireworks all around us, as far as the eye could see. It was nice however to be only about 100 feet away from these guys who were letting them rip right in front of us. The girls and Kristy and I were overwhelmed by the great colorful show in the starry sky.



After we hung out for about an hour we decided that it was time for a cold treat. Missouri does seem a bit more hot and humid compared to Ohio, so even at 9:00pm we were all getting a little warm. We headed to "Andy's" it is a local chain of frozen custard stands. Let me tell you they are soooooo good. You start off with vanilla or chocolate frozen custard and then you tell them what to mix in it. This place is going to be hard to stay away from. To learn more about Andy's go to www.eatandys.com


Another great Independence Day.

Goodbye Fairborn ........... Hello Springfield

In a matter of a few days we packed up and moved away. A small U-Hual trailer behind my Sidekick and the van fully loaded, we were all ready for our next adventure in Missouri.

After a long nine-hour drive we arrived at our new home, which is actually a campus apartment, in the late morning, signed our lease, got our keys, and began to unpack.

We got some help unpacking from our neighbor Rachel who is a member of our church that we met on one of our previous visits to the area. Rachel's family (husband and 2 children) live right across the sidewalk from our apartment. Its so nice to have instant friends.

Molly and Neleha were very exhausted after our big move and so we set up their beds first and they quickly put them to use.

And so our life in Missouri begins.............