One more down

Dr. Hot coming out of the hospital.

Tonight at 9:55 PM I finally got the call I was waiting for. It was my sweetie letting me know he was finally done for the day.  He was in surgery all evening.  A man unfortunately decided to shoot himself in the face today.  It took a team of oral surgeons several hours to repair the damage.

"The bullet went in the chin and up to the forehead.  Luckily no eyes were lost.  But a lot of the teeth were shattered which were like shards of glass in there."  --(That's what he told me.- If he tells me the gory details my head starts spinning, I start sweating, and then I feel faint.)

We picked him up right outside the hospital main entrance, just so he wouldn't have to stay at the hospital for another 30 minutes waiting for the late night shuttle.

He is always smiling.  He is such a stud.  I want to be just like him when I grow up!

Here are his little munchkins in the back of the van, so excited to see him.  -The camera flash was too bright for Christopher Robin's eyes.

Finally some dinner!

He now has one more day of residency down and more than 1,000 to go, but who's counting?!!

Doin' laundry

                           

This afternoon I looked out my kitchen window. I saw a bare naked boy in his sandbox.

I panicked a little. We do not have a very private yard. "Jace, where are your clothes?" I asked.

"I am washing them in my muddy puddle."

Perfect, they are going to come out so nice and clean. I can't wait!

The Niabi Zoo

In Moline, Illinois, is the Niabi zoo.  It is a quaint, wonderful little zoo.  It was the perfect place to spend Labor Day. The day was beautiful, cool and sunny.  We arrived about 2:00pm and nearly had the place to ourselves.  

We started by riding the Niabi Express.  The ride was about 12 minutes long and took us around the entire park. 

We then walked around the entire zoo to see all the animals up close.  First, were the elephants.

Which were splendid.

Then we walked past the scary dinosaurs to the Koi pond.

Of couse we used our only quarter to buy food to feed them.

Then we saw the hippo.

Hands down, the funnest part was the pony rides.

Jace got to ride Snowflake

and Grace was on Henry.

They walked and walked and walked around in a circle forever.  There wasn't anyone waiting in line, so we got a long turn.

But that was just fine with Grace.  She shrieked and she laughed, and she bobbed up and down.  She was TOTALLY in love with Henry.

Ryan's lungs got tight and his face started to fall off, so I took the reins with the kids.

When the ride was finally over,

Grace kissed Snowball goodbye a hundred times.

Next was Lorikeet Landing.   Here we saw kangaroos and Lorikeets.

Of course we spent our last dollar buying food to feed them.

Ryan and Jace held out cups of liquid and the birds flew onto their shoulders and arms to feed.

Jace wanted us to get him one as a pet.  We happily declined his request.

The giraffes were "neat" and had really long necks, as we expected.

There were zebras, and reptiles, and monkeys, and gorillas, etc.  They were all so fascinating to see again.  It has been awhile since I have been to a zoo.

The lion was our favorite. We visited his cage almost at closing time, and he was ROARING.  I am not sure if I have heard a lion roar that close before. It is intimidating.  They are so loud and powerful sounding.  It made us realize that we could really be his lunch if we were on the African prairie and he was hungry.

Grace in her prized butterfly chair.

 To leave the park, they have all the guests exit through their gift shop --brilliant.

Of course Christopher Robin found a "really neat" safari "vehicle," that came with a lion and hippo, to take home with him.  So he spent his $5.00 on this wonderful treasure.  He sweetly shared the lion and hippo with Gracie, who loved and kissed them.

He played with his truck for about 20 minutes and then both Robin and Rue were fast asleep for the 60 mile drive home.

Now every time I see Christopher Robin playing with his safari truck, like all afternoon today, I think about our wonderful day at the zoo together, and I know he does too.  So all I can say is $5.00 well spent!

Sneak peak

I was reading cjane's blog this week, and she put into words how I feel about my blog. 

She said, "I can't stop thinking about how we are living our children's childhood.  How all these days, books, movies, walks we take in the evening, all add up to their primitive years.  How all these moments are memories. One day, my children will look at these photos and it won't just be a snapshot, it will be their life."

I have had a busy week,  but I keep thinking about what she said.  On Labor Day, we drove 60 miles to go to our nearest zoo. I will be honest, I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay home and clean out Robin and Rue's closet. It is time to get all their summer clothes sorted and stored and all the winter ones organized.--  What better time to do it, then when Dad is home. Right! But Ryan insisted that we "make lasting family memories." (He doesn't even read cjane's blog.)  But he was right on.  Our time at the zoo was so spectacular.  I can't even tell you how much I enjoyed watching my kids look at the animals, ride the train, feed the fish, etc.

On the way home, Ryan and I talked about our memories of going to Utah's Hogle Zoo when we were young.  We share similar memories.  We remembered the lion figurines we got that were made of wax, and the drinking fountain- that had us drinking out of the lion's mouth.  My sister Francesca and I also got to ride an elephant.  It had a prickly head.

So soon, I will get the gazillion pictures I want to share with you posted. But most importantly, this is my children's childhood, and one day, I want my children to look at the photos we took of this terrific day and remember it.  Is is their LIFE! 

Grace loved the butterfly chair --

but it was not Christopher Robin's favorite part.

How cool is that?

In this picture I see two cute kids and an Optimus Prime mack truck, all buckled in and ready for a Labor Day adventure.

We set out, and what do we see on the road?

Christopher Robin straining to see.

Could it be...

a Bumblebee Transformer mack truck!!!  It most likely had the Bumblebee car inside, Christophe Robin decided.

Grrrr....that was so cool!!

It's huge here

Friday night, we could hear the noise and see the lights from our house.  Jace thought it was a parade and wanted to go see.  We walked to West High school and showed Christopher Robin a football game.  The game was ok, but we were mostly impressed with the huge flat screen TV that showed the game and tons of paid advertisements, and of course there were the box seats.  After all, it IS high school football.  Grace thought the cheerleader's pom poms were the best part.  Jace thought the game was a little bit boring, and I was just glad I didn't get a headache from all the racket.

Have I mentioned that life revolves around football in this part of the country?  It all started this weekend.  So here's to another season of 5:00AM tailgating, dunk pedestrians, and football traffic to fight....Go Hawkeyes!!

A September afternoon

Well, September is officially here.  My day started with the phone ringing at 8:00AM with a recorded message stating that the public schools would be letting out early today because of a heat advisory.  Can I just say, it was not that hot. I hope we have many more hot September afternoons to enjoy before the cold sets in.

 It was a beautiful day. It was slow and relaxing. As I watched Robin and Rue play, I thought about how I don't want my children's lives to speed up too quickly.  I just want to savor each moment.  Next fall they will both be a year older; and Jace will start school, and sports and music lessons. I welcome it, but I also thought about what I want to remember most about now. 

I looked over our garden. It is winding down for the summer.

This is the last of our cucumbers.  I think we got 6 total.

Robin and Rue were content with just having the hose run for awhile.

Jace was digging holes in his sandbox and filling them up with water.

Grace was learning about water--

and how to fill her cup with the hose.

In a few weeks we will rake out Christopher Robin's sandbox and cover it for the winter, and all to soon he will outgrow it and not care if we leave it covered all summer long.  Will I be ready for that?