Monday, September 20, 2010

Old house = old trees

We're selling our sweet, little house and moving because of my husband's new job.  We have looked briefly at homes for sale in the town where we're moving.  The town is actually relatively "young."  As HUGE fans of old houses, it's been interesting to find out that there aren't many of those in this town.  Most of the homes have been built in the last 25 years.  As we peruse the internet looking at various houses, there's one thing that we've noticed.  Most homes do not have mature trees growing on their lots.  Of course, this makes total sense since the homes are newer.  Since we've only lived in older homes, we've always enjoyed mature trees with shady yards.  So, when we move, one of my first tasks will be to plant trees around our house.  Hopefully, we'll live there for years and years and years and get to watch them grow and eventually enjoy their shade.  I've gotten spoiled here at 330 Lynn Drive because we have shade trees growing all around our home.  It's been DELIGHTFUL for when our kiddos play outside, and it's also been easy on the wallet!  The shade from the trees help us use less energy to cool our house in the spring and summer.

The TALL trees in our backyard!  I couldn't get  tops of the trees in the picture because they're SO HUGE!

These pictures were taken at 2:00 pm on one of the hottest days (low 90s) that we've had in about 6 weeks.  Yes, it IS the end of September, and it's almost Fall!  No, I don't know why we're having 90 degree weather!  :)  I digress.  You will enjoy the beauty and shade from these fabulous trees at 330 Lynn Drive!

Enjoy a fun afternoon in the shady backyard!

Friday, September 10, 2010

12 minutes

I drove from 330 Lynn Drive to Costco (our family's favorite!!) in Cool Springs.  It took 12 minutes.  Ahhhhhhhh, I LOVE our location!!!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Are those monkeys that I hear?

Yes, those are monkeys that you're hearing especially if it's 9:00 a.m. or noon at 330 Lynn Drive!  Our neighborhood backs up to the southern perimeter of the Nashville Zoo.  There is a back entrance to the Zoo that is in walking distance from our house!  (Too bad it's an Employees Only entrance!).  We have THOROUGHLY enjoyed living 2 minutes from the Nashville Zoo.  We've gotten a Zoo membership every year (thank you, Grandparents!), and it's been WELL worth it!  We love to go in the late afternoon about an hour before closing and let our kids have free reign of their MASSIVE playground or go right when they open in the mornings as the animals are first waking up.  We love going at odd times to beat the crowds.  It's a great zoo, and it's improved by leaps and bounds in the 4 1/2 years since we moved here!  My kids love the farm animals, meerkats, flamingos (which just arrived this month!!), and the monkeys!!

Speaking of MONKEYS (Gibbons to be exact!)...the Nashville Zoo has a very cool habitat for Gibbons.  The Gibbon Island is one of the first animal exhibits that you'll see when you visit the Zoo.  If you've been to the Nashville Zoo, you'll know that these Gibbons yell, hoop, and scream at different times during the day.  They do this as a form of communication with each other.  It's hilarious (and quite loud) when they get their windpipes going!  My kiddos always love it!

The funny thing about these Gibbons is that you can hear their yells at our house!  We don't hear them every day and it is a faint noise, but you CAN hear them!  My kids love it!  They start yelling (almost as loud as the monkeys themselves!), "Monkeys, Mommy! It's the monkeys!"  So, not only do we have lots of wildlife in our yard--squirrels, chipmunks, and the occasional duck visiting our creek--we have the occasional monkey communicating to us!  :)  I'm sure that I could ask one of the Zookeepers to find out the reason for this, but we only hear the monkeys at 9:00 am and at Noon.  Maybe they're singing for their breakfast and lunch!

I still remember our first week in our house.  I went outside one morning to get the newspaper, and I heard this faint yell.  I immediately panicked!  I thought someone was in danger, and I immediately began brainstorming how I could find out where they were in order to help them!  Once I stopped and listened more closely, I realized that it wasn't a woman yelling for help, it was one of the Gibbons from the Nashville Zoo!  ha!  So, when you move in and get settled at 330 Lynn Drive, don't panic when you hear a scream, it's probably Bahari or Muppet singing for their breakfast!