Oh wait, that was in someone else's life. Our Sunday started with arguments about Kevin being too uptight and me being too...well, the opposite of uptight but with a negative connotation. Samantha, Erin and Abby had left the hotel Saturday night to spend the night at Samantha's dorm. Samantha wanted us to attend church with her and some of her soccer teammates. We made it to church (in time I might add...but only because Kevin won't ever get on and read this).
Our plan after church was to go to the Ft Wayne Zoo. The kids and I first went back to HU to enjoy brunch at the DC while Kevin went to check out of the hotel. It was another glorious day weather wise. I took a few shots of the kids whilst we waited for Kevin to return.
It took a while to get a good picture because Cole was once again very devastated that our day was not going to revolve around him. After four attempts he promised me he would smile for one picture...above is the result.
Once again, the waiting time game was "Ninja". I don't really get the game, nor do I want to, but it makes the little guys giggle so I love that.
We arrived at the Ft Wayne Zoo only to discover that everyone in the tri-state area had the same idea for the day. We had to park about 46 million miles (give or take about...well...all of that, it is a blatant over-exaggeration for effect) and began our trek to the zoo.
Bryan had received a plain sticker name tag at church and for some reason became strangely attached to it. He didn't want to take it off all day. I just didn't want you all to think we couldn't remember his name.
"The Dingo ate your baby"
I told the little boys they could pick one animal from the zoo and take some pictures of it so they could do a report on it this first week of school. Bryan chose the California Sea Lion. He wanted me to take the pictures. While he was looking at the sea lions in the back of the pen this guy came right up next to him. He never even noticed. :-) This is a good example of looking for something and missing the obvious. It's metaphoric but he's eight so I shouldn't expect too much.
Just a bit over seven years ago was the last time I took my kids to this zoo. They had little or no memory of it but I knew. I also remembered a picture I had taken of the six of them. I knew it was on some kind of bronze animal statue but I couldn't remember what it was. I kept telling Kevin I would know it when I saw it. And I did...so here they are seven years older but on the same tortoise. If I was ambitious I would dig out the old picture...heck, if I was my sister it would be in a book somewhere instead of in a box in our basement. But, I'm me. So you'll just have to take my word for it. You can't tell by their smiles that most of the time surrounding the taking of this picture was full of arguments about who was going to sit where and how much they hated each other. That is one thing I truly love about my kids...at any second in time they can all pull together to smile for a picture regardless of how deeply that despise each other at that moment. It makes me believe that, if the going ever gets tough for them, they will put differences aside and work together. But, since the going will likely never get tough for them, as a unit, unless I am dead, I don't anticipate seeing it...so I have to cherish the moments when they all smile at the same time because I asked them to.
After our tortoise shot it was time to leave. We headed back to Guatemala to get to our van. This next moment is one I also treasure because it is soooooo us. Apparently, in their delighted glee to get to the zoo everyone failed to shut the door on Clifford. So whilst we were in "enjoying" our time together, our van was wide open to be stolen from. Of course, as I explained to Kevin, the aforementioned, "my glass if half empty" guy, most people in the world are inherently honest. Plus, we have little of value...suffice it to say nothing was stolen:-)
There has never been a time when I haven't loved this pose of Kevin with any of our kids. There is nothing sexier than a man carrying one of his babies.
Our last stop of the day was a resturant called Clara's Pizza King. It was pretty cool. You phoned in your order from the table. Here is a shot of Travis asking for ranch dressing.
They also had porch swings for seats. We thought it looked cool but then nobody but Bryan wanted to sit in it because it was super uncomfortable. Finally, Samantha said she would do it for Bryan's sake...so like her:-)
The zoo was overcrowded, Cole didn't want to be there, we left the van door open for all the world to see our messy lives (because I truly feel like the whole world was at the Ft Wayne Zoo yesterday) and by the end of the day I had to change into my "fat lady" shorts because I was just feeling chubby! Life is far from perfect...isn't it delightful? :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment