Tuesday is lost forever. Can't remember a thing about it. Yesterday was a GREAT day! The Clarksons are still in hot pursuit of a house (I think Brother Chris landed a job today--with Handyman Connection, Brother Dustin. Wa-Hoo! Praise the Lord for answering THAT prayer!) and James and I happen to know how hard it is on parents AND kids to spend all day looking at houses, especially day after day. So we made arrangements to go pick up Cainan, Naomi and Sadie yesterday morning. We headed to the zoo with 6 little people and had a BLAST! It really was a lot of fun. One of the first stops was the duck pond, James' favorite part of the zoo. The kids always have so much fun feeding the ducks, geese, and humongous fish.
All of the kids had fun, but I think Cainan may have had the most fun of all! Ha! He was so excited at EVERY exhibit.
The zoo has several young'uns right now, including this baby zebra...
And these two adorable giraffes! I always love the giraffes. :-)
After about an hour at the zoo we hopped on the train that takes you over to the Botanical Gardens and Aquarium. I always love the kid section of the gardens 'cuz it makes for such great pictures. :-)
Here are all of the kids climbing through a giant log. My picture of everybody inside the monstrous pumpkin didn't turn out. My batteries were getting weak and most of the pictures I took yesterday are a little blurry and some didn't turn out at all. Including the pumpkin. Oh well!
Here are Joe and Cainan atop a big potato just beyond the carrot patch.
And here are the girly-girls
And all six kid-o's! It really was so much fun having them all together. I must confess I was a wee bit nervous about how the day would go just because they all get SO EXCITED when they're together. But it was perfect! Everybody was soooooooooooo good and just had so much fun together, but listened well and never got "too" excited. :-) I think James and I had as much fun as the kids did!
Here's everybody checking out the jellyfish at the aquarium.
Most of my aquarium pictures didn't turn out either. Too dark in there and the flash wasn't doing the trick either.
We rode the train back to the zoo and finished our tour there. Can you believe the size of that joey still hanging out in his mom's pouch?! It's like the college kid that came home and is bummin' off his folks again! HA! I can't believe she doesn't just kick him out--she looks SO uncomfortable!
And I think these guys need marriage counseling. Ha!
It was a HOT day--probably close to 100 degrees. This polar bear was just hangin' out, dangling one leg in the water to stay cool, I guess!
Can't you tell that Sadie was having a BLAST!!! Ha! That girl cracks me up. This was at the end of a long, hot day at the zoo and lots and lots of walking. We were all wiped out. Still... cool tortoise, hu?!
We lost our map of the zoo while still at the duck pond (first stop!), so we never did make it to see everything. We missed out on the koalas and the kookaburra and the fruit doves, and probably some others we just didn't realize. Oh well. It was a good, full day and we had plenty of fun.
When we left the zoo we headed to McDonalds for Happy Meals and to let the kids burn off some more steam in the play area. We had to pick up a few things at another stop, then came on home. We sat the crowd down and let them watch the new Veggie Tales that James had brought home the night before. That was a big hit. Then the kids jumped on the trampoline and ran all over the mountain for a few hours. We busted out a few cans of ravioli for dinner and James ended up taking the Clarkson kids back "home" to their folks sometime after 9:00, I think. It was a great day! And so much more fun for the kids than if they'd had to sit around and wait while their Dad was in a 4 hour job interview!
Today I woke up and found James in the kitchen making french toast, scrambled eggs, and sausage for breakfast. What a guy! When I got the kitchen cleaned up he informed me that we needed to make an apple pie. So he sat down and started peeling and slicing apples. We have a whole bunch of fruit right now--more than we can eat before it spoils--so I started looking up recipes for nectarines, too. Seems like most of the time people mix nectarines with other fruit like peaches or blueberries. We just happened to have a few small peaches that the Banueloses had sent home with us from Hatch, so along with the apple pie I made a nectarine/peach/pear crisp. (Had a pear sitting there, so we thought we'd throw it in, too!)
The pie was an average apple pie. It turned out way too pretty, for starters. Anything that looks that "perfect" can't be all that grand. The really great pies are the ones that have stuff oozing out of the them everywhere, you know?! Ha! It's not bad, just your average apple pie. The crisp, however, is delicious!!! It was so very, very good and a big hit with the kids. :-)
I managed a tiny little nap today and it felt so good. There is just nothing like cuddling up under and cushy throw on a rainy day when you're really, really tired and catching a few z's, expecially with the sound of the rain plinking on the skylight up above you. Aaahhhhhh. Love that. :-)
We had a good Home Missions Bible study tonight and were excited to have a visitor join us from the neighborhood. :-) Afterward we went out to Wendy's with the Clarkson clan and had a nice visit. Have I mentioned yet how HAPPY I am to have them here??? I think I realize it a little more every time I see them! It's SO GREAT to have kids for our kids to play with -- they get along so well and my kids are sooooooooooo excited to have FRIENDS here. And even for James and me--it's just so great to have some young people around! We have wonderful church folks here, of course, but they're all older and most have family situations that don't really allow for "hanging out" like we like to do, you know?! Of course, Sister Galaviz is old, but truly young at heart and we LOVE spending time with her (I had to throw that "old" thing in there since I know you're reading this, Sister G.! Ha!), but we haven't even had a chance to spend time with her since a few weeks before Camp because things have been so crazy. Anyway, I have loved having the Clarksons here and the few times we've been able to be with them. It's just like old times, except with two extra kids! Ha! It's been six years since we lived near them and that's before Sam and Sadie came along. I'm anxious for them to get settled (though not so anxious as they, I'm sure!) and everything to calm down a bit, then we'll have to have them up for dinner. We've already had great talks, edifying discussions, and some good laughs--and I look forward to many, many more. :-) And I've already been so blessed by my new pastor. I've always appreciated Brother Chris' honesty and sincerity. He truly feels what he is sharing and I love that openness. I'm just so excited to see how God is going to use them to minister to this church here. ~sigh~ I'M SO HAPPY! :-)
7 comments:
I'm so happy you're so happy. :-) And I, too, am looking forward to renewing our friendship with a new "old" pastor here at our church. It'll be so nice to have the Anders here. Amy has called us "Grandma" and "Grandpa" since she was 6 years old. Love it.
What a fun day you guys had, but it sounds exhausting to me! That's a LOT of stuff to do in one day.
--Wish you were here right now. The neighbor's 3 pups, their mom, and the bassett are romping all over the back yard outside my window. The bassett's deep "woof!" is too funny, as the puppies "yip" at each other. It's hilarious to watch.
Great pix. That was a pretty apple pie.
Isn't amazing how much energy kids have. They shouldn't have had any energy to have to wear off at McDonalds after the zoo (and it looks like an awesome zoo at that)and then to still have energy for the trampoline. Wish I was a kid again or at least can't they share it.
Thanks for the fun post. Tell the Clarksons hi for us. We love them.
Great pictures, Becki!
The garden with the gigantic veggies is way cool! Looks like the kids had a good time...even Sadie! :-)
Glad you guys are enjoying the Clarksons.
Oh...your pie is gorgeous! Too bad it was just average. :-)
Cool photos! I showed them to our kids. (Since Montana does not have a zoo.) Andy really liked the one of the lions! I'm way out of the loop...... Did Clevland ,TN church get a new pastor?
What a fun day for all! What great friends you are too. I bet it was such a blessing to the Clarksons to not have kids to try and watch etc while looking at houses and having interviews. That kid section does look like alot of fun.
Your Crisp sounded wonderful. Mmmmm. Add a little ice cream and it would be perfect! :D
That's great that you have friend for your kids. It is so much fun to be able to hang out with parents of other kids too, exchanged stories etc. I'm happy for you guys. :)
Mom -- I'm excited about your new pastor, too! How exciting!!! I'm sure the Anders will be a great blessing there at Zion Hill. And how fun to have Amy nearby! :-)
Sister Tammy -- Thanks! Too bad you can't taste "pretty." HA!
Emilee -- We'll have to take all of the kids for the FULL zoo experience (train ride to the aquarium and giant garden place) sometime when you're here. Not in the summertime, preferably! Ha! It's REALLY cheap for everything that you get and sooooo worth it. The kids would love it.
Melissa -- You're so wrong. There most certainly IS a zoo in Montana. I looked it up. You have one just down the road in Billings. It's only 420 miles away! (Looked that up, too!) Ha! Glad your zooless kids enjoyed the pictures. Wish they could come visit and we'd take 'em there in person. And YES, Zion Hill got a new pastor--Harvey & Cindy Anders! :-)
Rebekah -- I am sooooooooooo happy to have the Clarksons here! I'm trying to keep a lid on my enthusiasm so they don't think I'm freaky and was totally friendless before they can... but it's tough! HA! I am so looking forward to the kids having some friends and to us having some co-parents, too.
The crisp was great, although I only had one bite of it. The kids cleaned it up fast! There's still some of that average apple pie in there, though. Big surprise! Ha!
Post a Comment