Taking in Life Around Me.....#Sundaystills Theme: pets and playgrounds

This #sundaystills challenge is hosted by Terri from Second Wind Leisure. It's a great themed photography challenge that you'll enjoy. I love seeing the other participants interpretation of the theme each week...it causes me to think outside the box. I joined in hopes of it pushing me to get out and take more photos...I have to some degree, but I also like that Terri is okay with us finding photos in our archives, which is also a lot of fun. So check out my photos and then head over to Terri's page to participate or visit other's posts. There are some awesome contributors who always inspire me.

This weeks theme is pets and playgrounds. I need to remember to regularly check the topics so I can be on the lookout as I'm out and about. Also, I have no self control when it comes to choosing photos, which is also probably why I have so many pictures on my phone, computer and hard drives. 

"All the world is a playground". That came to mind as I was thinking about the post today. Then I looked it up and found this quote by Zooey Deschanel. “The world is a playground.  You know that when you are a kid but somewhere along the way, everyone forgets it.”   It's so true. How quickly we forget. Having grandkids definitely keeps me playing, and I love being outdoors so I wholeheartedly agree with these quotes. 

I also love animals, though we do not personally have pets. My hubby is not a "pet person" so any pet we were to have, would need to be outdoors and wouldn't be making any car trips with us. Which is fine, that's not everyone's jam. But I did grow up with pets and we did have a pet or two here and there throughout our marriage. One stray cat, that kind of found us, and then our girls had a hamster for a short while, and a goldfish named Carl. Then our oldest got a dog and brought home a farm cat. Now we are pet-less. I did however find some fun pics of a few of our pets growing up that I thought would be fun to share. I always wanted a horse, but that was one I never got. 

First up, playgrounds. Remember, I said I have no self control. Feel free to do quick scroll if you need to. Haha. 

For a few years, Indiana was obsessed with dinosaurs..he knew all the names and was so proud that he "taught" me the names. This playground in Vancouver, Wa is dino themed and he LOVED it. 

For me, being in nature is a playground. I really want to try geocaching again, now that I have unlimited data on my phone..haha. Paddle boarding for the first time above. That was so fun. 

Hiking is something we enjoy when we make the time to do it. I love exploring new places. I love observing the landscape, taking time to stop and check out the foliage. My hubby is usually a get to your destination kind of person so I don't linger too long. When I was growing up we loved playing in the woods and around the creek near our home. 

The above photo is from 2020, but when we visited Texas, they had the BEST playgrounds and parks, they were huge and very well maintained. 

Park near my daughters house. The kids love going and playing on nice days. 

Our own backyard playground we got for the kids last year. They LOVE it and it gets used a lot!!

This is my sister and I. I think this thing was called a whirly-gig. LOVED it. We spent lots of time outside at our home in northern Ohio. 

Who doesn't love a county fair. We took Indiana last year and we had to stop at all the cutouts and take pics. 

Local water park near their home. He's looking forward to going this year. 

My girls, niece and nephew, quite a few years ago, at a small park down the road from our house. Parks and playgrounds bring out the kid in all of us.

The soccer field was our girls playground for many years. They are 3 years apart and I'm glad they got to play one year of HS soccer together. 

Our oldest learned to snowboard when she was in HS. She enjoyed it for the time she did it, but then after tearing her ACL in soccer, I don't think she ever really wanted to snowboard again, and then her BF (now hubby) didn't snowboard, and many friends didn't, so it just faded out. 

Of course Disneyworld is a HUGE playground isn't it. I've yet to go to Disneyland. 

Playing spikeball in the swimming pool. They created floaties with pool noodles. 

The ocean (Atlantic, not pacific...brr) is a great playground when trying to body surf. 

The dirt bike track is definitely a playground for my grandson and my son in law. They LOVE it. 

Now onto pets.....are you with me still. If you are, thanks. 

This is Benelli. She's my daughters chocolate lab. She was/is beautiful, though now she's getting older and lives on the farm with my SIL's brother's family. These two pics were taken when she was maybe 2 years old. When they moved to Texas, they couldn't take the dogs with them because they couldn't find a house. Then when they moved back, their house/yard, isn't conducive to larger dogs. 

This is Shelby. She was one of our childhood dogs and was so fun. I don't remember how old she was when she died. My girls loved her. 

Blitz....my oldest brought him home from the farm and he ended up staying after she got married and moved. He was pretty much what you would call a "barn cat".  He liked to keep to himself for the most part, but would often decide he wanted company. He disappeared in 2021. He was around 9 years old, and we had him since he was a kitten. One year he disappeared for 3 months and I thought for sure he was gone and then he showed up looking like death warmed over. FREAKED me out when I went outside in the dark morning and heard a meow. I rushed to find him some food and his bed, and he bounced back. I think he might have gotten stuck in someones shop, or who knows where. He got an earful from me about never doing that again!

Growing up my dad hated cats, so what did my sister and I do? We went and found some free kittens and brought them home. This is Abby (top and bottom photo), my cat. She was a great cat, except for the time she jumped off the windowsill and onto my face, leaving claw marks on my cheek that looked like I popped a bunch of pimples. 

My grandmas poodle Pierre and me. 

Our poodle, Napoleon (Nappy) for short. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin