I always think about life in steps, as in climbing a ladder. I really don’t know exactly what is at the end of my ladder but I am always trying to take the next step and the next step and keep pushing forward. I think I’ve taken a few steps lately…
1. A step towards a greener life. I take the train everyday to work which is fabulous! The train is about a 5 minute walk from my house and there is a stop at Dallas Zoo. Not many Dallas peeps ride the train but hey, that means I get a seat most of the time! I love riding over the highway and looking down at all of the cars stuck in traffic. Little by little more and more people will start riding… if I have anything to do with it!
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- The train!
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- Empty train… a norm more than a rarity.
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- Dealey Plaza everyday on the train.
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- Through the city we go…
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- Another city view.
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- The traffic from the train!
2. A step towards an insightful life. This one ties in with the train above. Since the ride takes about 30 minutes each way plus wait time at the station, I have started reading! A friend told me someone read 99 books in a year on the train. I am not sure what my challenge will be yet but expect some more involvement on GoodReads! PS: goodreads is a social network to share what books you are reading and make suggestions and recommendations for others. Check it out and tell me what books I should read!
3. A step towards exploration. There is sooo much to see and do in Dallas. I have not gone to 5% of what I have on my list but have started slowly checking a few items off. Today (Oct 1) my mom was in town and we went to the Dallas Arboretum. It is Amazing. This time of year was perfect with the a beautiful warm day, flowers blooming, over 50,000 pumpkins set up in a pumpkin village and booming with color blown glass in the Chuhuly exhibit intermixed with the natural beauty of the arboretum itself.
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- The pumpkin village!
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- Chihuly mixed in all over.
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- Over 50,000 pumpkins! and after… they go to the zoo!
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- Love this spot.
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- Mr. I do not want to take any pictures today!
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- A walk through an enchanted tropical rainforest.
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- Loved the blue.
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- This was HUGE.
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- I would not want the delicate job of cleaning these!
4. One step over. Saturday was Science Day at the Zoo. Before a month and a half ago I really had no idea what this event was and now I have survived my first Science Day! Science Day is a fun 4 hour teachers workshop in which teachers visit 16 tables that offer unique activities they can duplicate in their classrooms. After they visit all the stations they earn credits and receive a flash drive of all of the curriculum from the stations. That is 64 curriculum to take home!
Well for my first year… it rained and rained and rained. We had to go to our back up plan but all in all I think it worked out! I am very proud of all of our community partners, zoo staff, zoo volunteers and most of all the teachers and general public that showed up in the pouring rain! I would have never guessed that many people would have attended in the rain!
I was swamped running around and didn’t snap many pictures… but here are a few!
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- The pavilion where we ended up putting most of the booths. Dang rain.
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- Some of the booths.
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- The afternoon slow down…phew!
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- The closing of the gates!!!!! We made it!
A few steps closer! I have lots of steps to go but at least a few are on their way.
“Step”