J month has been a bit slow. But although we may not have swam with jellyfish, jumped through jungles or jaywalked while juggling, we managed to bring J to a joyful end.

2 points – New Place – JURASSIC Park in Collin County

Laura: I’ve always loved the Jurassic Park movies, so when I heard about a tour at The Dinosaur Company, I was all in. They are the only manufacturer of animatronic dinosaurs and extinct creatures in the United States, boasting more than 400 prehistoric creatures and close to 60 different species – and it’s right here in my neck of the woods! The tour takes you through the warehouse, where I saw hundreds of beasts in various stages: some fully formed, others in need of repair and some awaiting skin or moving parts. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing our guide talk about the company’s passion to educate the public about wildlife conservation. As she explained, if we don’t take care of the animals we have now, then she might have to make an animatronic of them in the future. Definitely food for thought. The Company rents out the dinosaurs for displays and events around the world – and I feel very fortunate in having seen (and heard) these creatures in my own backyard.

2 points – JUSTICE in Plano

Barbara: For nearly a year I have been trying to get accepted into the Plano Police Dept.’s Citizens Academy but always got shut out until now. I am in class 65 and it has already been a fantastic experience. So far I have learned all about traffic control and got to clock some cars with radar and laser devices plus learned more than I ever thought I would about the various narcotics out on the streets. I’m especially looking forward to driving through cones (hopefully without being made fun of) and riding along to get first hand knowledge of what goes on in the day of a police officer. This is a wonderful program they are offering; I come home energized after each class. There are also many volunteer opportunities that I will look into once I’ve graduated from the Academy.

2 points – Activity – JUNK Toss Olympics

We decided that “J” month was the perfect time to pitch (or donate) some things from our houses. But we didn’t want it to be a random “chore,” so we beefed up the stakes and challenged ourselves to win a medal (imaginary medal, but a medal nevertheless) for how much junk we tossed per room. The rules:

Gold: 50 items

Silver: 30 items

Bronze: 20 items

Laura won the Gold medal for pitching 55 items from her bathrooms (too many old samples from her time at a beauty/personal products company made this an achievable act) and Barbara won the Silver for tossing 39 items from her office. We will continue with every room but realize this is not going to be finished for some time.

2 points – new food

We put ourselves in another “spicy” situation when we decided to taste JAMBALAYA.

A Cajun restaurant opened up in Celina in September but we just found out about it now, and how convenient that it was in time for a J tasting. First we had Big Breaux Crawfish Bread. This was delicious, just the right amount of heat for us and we couldn’t eat it fast enough. After that came the Jambalaya which the waiter claimed was not spicy. But he didn’t know who he was dealing with. Our mouths nearly breathed fire! But we definitely want to return, especially when they start having live jazz playing.