Sunday, September 7~Grandparents Day~

This weekend, Evie invited Pop Pop and Mammaw to her daycare for breakfast.  We arrived around 9 at Kids First and were greeted with a big smile from Evie.  She then gave us a tour of the entire facility which is awesome because it is also a sports complex that has a pool, indoor soccer fields, tumbling and gymnastics equipment as well as several basketball courts.  The two things Evie told her mom that she was going to show us were the basketball courts and the guinea pig, Jasper.  What a wonderful time we had as she showed us all of the areas.  She had packed her little Minnie Mouse carry on because she knew she was going home with us for the weekend.  We met Sara for lunch before we left Cincinnati to come home.  Evie is a great traveller so I see many trips for us in the future.  We played outside all afternoon until mommy and daddy got here after work.  On Saturday morning we went to the Columbus Zoo, as I had promised Evie a camel ride and a chance to feed a giraffe.  When we left the zoo we had lunch at City BBQ and and an ice cream cone from Graeter's.  Matt and Sara prefer Jeni's Ice Cream when they come up so we stopped there for them.  We had a great weekend.  They left early this morning because they had tickets to the Red's game at 1 o'clock.  I'm pretty sure our weather for the zoo was much more comfortable than the hot sun that they sat in today at the game but I'm sure they had a great time both days.  I hope all the grandparents out there had as wonderful time this weekend as we did!

Coffee, milk, danish and muffins! Yum!!

Checking out Jasper the guinea pig

We had to stop at the Outlet stores for a little shopping

Collecting buckeyes for the necklace we made.  

Feeding Kipowa the youngest of our giraffes.

Riding the shuttle to the Heart of Africa.  *Tip: ride up and walk back, the walk is downhill.

Riding our camel, Mr. Big (he was very wide)

"Does this camel make me look fat?!"

Sleeping lions outside the plane

Watching the baby vervet monkey on the cot.

Taking a pony ride on Snickers

Evie would have spent all day at the barn if we would have let her.

Brushing the angora goat.

This weekend was a wonderful distraction to the events of the previous week.  Bob, Judy and I placed Dad in Hospice care on Thursday.  I must say I feel really good about our decision after meeting with two of the nurses and the social worker from Loving Care Hospice.  I think it will be really good to have an extra set of eyes  to oversee Dad's care at the Madison House.  The biggest issue to date is that he isn't eating very good and has become so weak that he is losing the ability to walk.  Ironically, I have found that Hospice has actually given me hope during a time that I know we will continue to see Dad's health decline.  What a wonderful organization and resource during this difficult time.