Louisville Zoo

First up were my favorite animals the giraffes.

The younger 4 enjoyed the petting zoo.

It was a real battle to get Janey Kate to only touch their backs.

Look at Emma's dress.  We had to take a picture with the vw van.

We walked around the corner and saw this guy and Creed took off running the other way.

The best exhibit was the polar bear.  He has a stick in his mouth;  he would dive down in the water and put the stick in a crevice in a rock and then swim back up.  A few seconds later, he'd come diving back down and pull it out and take it back up.  He did this over and over again.  I talked with a college student that was doing research, and she said it was a game he played.  She said the other polar bears would sometimes take it out and not put it back so the first thing this bear would do when he went in the water was to  check and make sure a stick was in there.  If it wasn't, he'd go find one and put it there.  We watched for a long time.  So amazing that an animal that massive could swim back to the top of the water.

The Louiville zoo is a lot of walking and a lot of hills.  3/4 of the way through Janey Kate shared the stroller with Creed and moved to Elizabeth's back.

We had a bit of adventure when we visited the Jaguar.  One of the kids noticed 3 dollars on the ground between the railing and the cage.  Anne Michal wanted to climb over and get it.  That suggestion didn't quite fly with me.

So then we tried to get Jack to let  Anne Michal and me hang him upside, but for some reason he didn't quite trust us.  We were trying to figure out what we could do when a gentleman, his wife, and granddaughter walked up.

He tried to help us and then offered to hang Jack upside down.  Jack said that would be ok.  I said, "You mean you trust a complete stranger over your own family!!!!!"  He told me he'd rather a male do it.  :-)  So then the man suggested that the two of us do it.

He managed to collect the money and we reeled him back in.  Notice how close he was to the Jaguar.  We told the man we were doing it more for the adventure than the three dollars and he agreed that he'd have a story to tell!

They always want a snake picture of their Aunt Melissa.

We loved this guy too.  He was right up close in our faces(behind glass) and had the longest eyelashes.  He kept moving his eyes back and forth watching everyone.

Janey Kate's First Haircut

All three older girls had their first haircut done by the same person so we decided to cut Janey Kate's hair on vacation so we could continue the tradition.

 Talking about what we are going to do...

 If you have had much Janey Kate experience, you know how amazing it is that she is letting a perfect stranger cut her hair.

 I think the fact that it doubled with her first Smarties experience helped!

The finished haircut. I was worried the curls would be gone, but it still flips up a bit. :-)

Old Fashioned Fun

   A few weeks ago I posted on facebook asking if anyone knew were there were any merry-go-rounds and see-saws.  A friend posted about a little park on Lake Belton outside of Temple so this morning we told the kids to fill up their water bottles and we were going on a bear hunt.  I have no idea why I said a bear hunt and judging by the 5324 questions it ignited from the eight-year-old alone, it might not have been the best choice of words.
   I got a little nervous as we were driving there thinking they'd be disappointed with our surprise trip when they found out it was just an old playground.  They didn't let me down.  We drove up and one of the kids said, "Hey!!!!  There is a merry-go-round!!."
   Anne Michal said, "I think that is why we are here."  Then she turned and looked the other way and said, "Wow!  There is a see-saw! Cool!" 
   We had a lot of fun playing for the next couple of hours on the playground and walking down to the lake to skip rocks.

 Love this one!

 Turning pink from the slide.

 Skipping rocks.

 Or trying to anyway...

 A roly poly = treasure to a 4 yr old.

 Janey Kate and Creed loved these horse swings.

 This is the try-to-convince-mama-these-things-really-are-dangerous trick.

 My turn.  I actually fell off one when I was a kid and scraped my face all up; yet, I still think they should have kept merry-go-rounds on the playground!

I played on monkey bars just like these every day in the fourth doing amazing death-defying feats(at least in my head).  I got a huge blister that covered my entire palm and popped open.  I was rather proud of it. Kids are losing these basic "rites of passage,"

Jack got on the see-saw and asked, "Now, what do you do on these things?"  Really????  See, this is a prime example of why America's kids are being dumbed down.  Physics 101 has been removed from the playground!!

 Love this one, too....

Happy Birthday Creed and Lizzy!!!

 On Tuesday, Creed turned 4.  The poor kid was really sick with respiratory junk and kept tossing his cookies every time he coughed so he felt utterly puny.  He kept telling us his birthday was "tomorrow" but he finally said, "I guess I can open my presents today, but my birthday will be tomorrow."

 One of his big birthday wishes was a green water gun.

 Love the dimple...cars and stickers from his aunt.

 The obligatory birthday shirt.

 I made him a Braves...Jason Heyward t-shirt.

 Then today Elizabeth turned 13.  Jon and I took her to lunch and we shopped a bit.  I usually try to get her a creative gift so we gave her these cake push pop containers so this afternoon we made a coke cake and then made pops with cake, whipped cream, and maraschino cherries.  We also layered some with ice cream, cake, and hot fudge.

 Cheers!! 

 Happy Birthday to my favorite 4 yr old and favorite 13 year old!!!!!  Thanking God for the great gifts you are!!!

Rockstars of the Day

Rockstar #1  --Emma Claire Anderson
   For cleaning the kitchen up way past 10 yr old capability even though she is only 9.  This included even cleaning the cabinets with wood cleaner and mopping the kitchen floor by hand.  A wonderful surprise when I walked in the door after being gone all afternoon.

Rockstar #2 --Elizabeth Austen Anderson
   For cleaning the living room and dining room to a sparkly finish.  Besides her normal chores, she mopped by hand and cleaned my sewing area giving order to my piles of stuff.

Rockstar #3 --Anne Michal Anderson
   For being a very mature 14 year old who could have handled her own appt at the ENT including a CT scan and scheduling outpatient surgery without me if it weren't for all those pesky forms I had to sign as guardian.

Rockstar #4 ---Mallory Jane Katharine Anderson
   For napping all afternoon enabling her sisters to become the rockstars they were.

These fruitful days are the days that keep you going!!!!! Anderson girls rock!

Redeeming the Day

This actually isn't about redeeming the day, but rather about not redeeming the day. I have had people tell me that I should do something to redeem April 13th and especially Friday, April 13th.  I can only assume the thought is  to change the bad memories over to good memories so I have good connections to this day rather than just the day my son nearly drowned. There is a problem, however. I don't want to redeem this day. I hate everything that happened that day and I miss him desperately. I have no desire to forget or to mark this day as anything other than his day. It is already difficult enough to have the freedom to mourn. A friend posted this link on facebook about grief being determined to be a mental illness after a mere two months. It used to be a year and now they want to change it to two weeks. It has been 5 years, and while I don't feel the oppression of grief it is often still a daily companion, and I really cannot imagine life any other way.
    God's given me the grace to live day to day and do the things I am called to do. I often do it poorly, but He continues to carry me through. I still grieve, but it tends to be in a quiet way often in the dark of the night or catching me by surprise during daily routines, but twice a year I get to really grieve. I partially return to those early days of heavy sadness and moans and groans deep from the back of the throat. April 13-April 27 is one of those times with April 13th and 23rd carrying the brunt of it. I try not to rehash the day and relive the events and all the what-ifs. It is the Lord's mercy to me that I understand this was no one's fault. People like to question where is God when bad things happen? He is on His throne just like He is when good things happen. We cannot begin to understand the sovereignty of God and why in his infinite wisdom he seemed to cover our eyes, plug our ears, and still our hands and feet. I can't stop the flashbacks that creep in or the nightmares that catch me unaware in my sleep, but I can capture those thoughts and pray to let them  rest in God's hands. I do feel the sorrow. I don't shy away from it, not on these days. I welcome it because it is cleansing and healing to remember and cry and moan and to even wish it weren't so. It somehow helps me to have the strength to keep going another year.
      I do think this day is going to be redeemed, but it won't be this side of heaven. I do know it will be a glorious day.

Giggle, and Wiggle, and Giggle, and Wiggle, and Freeze!

Janey Kate has picked up this little song from Creed.  She goes around saying, "Giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle..."  It is quickly becoming her greeting for people she sees...even if they aren't even looking at her. ;-)