Thursday, May 13, 2010

ZOO!





Our friends from the seminary invited us to be their 'guests' at the zoo. They have a family pass that includes 2 friends for free. Since Ava is under 2 years of age, all four of us went to the zoo and we only had to pay for Cade ($8). Pretty awesome deal! It was kind of chilly and very hazy. The local schools had a 2 hour delay because of fog. The weather report said it would rain most of the morning and afternoon, but luckily it held off for the 3 hours we were there! I can't even believe that we've been here for 4 years and never made it to the zoo. Our friends go almost every week, so their kids were showing us around and speeding through everything. It turned out to be a good thing that we were moving along quickly because I think if we were on our own, it would have taken us all day to see most of the animals.


Kids and friends on a comodo dragon statue. Cade wouldn't go near it until we assured him that it wasn't real.


Ava's first carousel ride! She had a stunned look on her face the whole time, but when the ride was over, she didn't want to get off!



Big ole gator!



We took a train ride around a little lake. This friendly guy was just outside the station for kids to sit in.


The best part of the day - the goats. They stood on tree stumps in their fenced in area and waited for people to come and brush them.



The goats were very gentle and quiet animals, though I saw them nibbling Ava's fingers a few times. She really enjoyed all the animals and when she saw a new animal, she would let out her goofy little laugh or 'oooo' or 'whas at?' She learned how to roar like a lion and 'oo oo ah ah' like a monkey!


Finally persuaded Cade into the stroller for a little bit with a snack.

We had such a great time and the kids did really well. Cade did not want to leave even though it was definitely lunch time (and nap time!).

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Generosity

Amazing. Nick and I were highly encouraged to get away for a while and spend some time with each other during this time of stress and change. It sounded nice, but we are certainly in no position to be spending money on anything more than necessities at this point. Low and behold, the individual who was encouraging us to take a vacation gave us a card that we later discovered contained the funds to do just that. We were totally blown away! We're heading to Hocking Hills (south in central Ohio) for two nights after Nick graduates. We'll be taking Ava along and leaving Cade with my parents. We're excited to relax in such a beautiful place. (We're also looking forward to spending time with just Ava. We've decided we would like to make it a tradition to spend time with each of our children individually.)
Time is flying by as our weeks are quickly filling up with lots of activities in the next month. Friends visiting, babysitting, going to the zoo, family wedding, Nick preaching every Sunday, Nick's graduation from seminary, packing to move to my parents', our newly added trip to Hocking Hills, and Nick's family's vacation to Kelley's Island!