Yesterday we said good-bye to Aunt Marie. (Can you hear us crying?)
For one last hoorah we went to our little zoo for the morning. The highlight were the penguins who were out to play and the grizzly bear taking a bath. But I do not have pictures of any of that.
Instead I have this picture, which is the official obligatory picture at the zoo.
And this one, so Mary can remember that I took her to see the giraffes (something that was very important to her).
And this one because my kids begged me to take their picture. (Who are these kids?)
And this one to somehow make up for the fact that I have no pictures of David on his kindergarten field trip because I totally failed. (I often count on pictures to make up for my parental failures.)
Also, I let the kids ride the lame-o train. (They were so excited!) I definitely do not need another picture of my kids on this train. But then I saw them together, my sweet boy and cute little girl, their heads poking up out of the caboose. And my heart went pitter-patter. And I had to take a picture.
Okay, two.
Because I just want to gobble them up. What can I say? I'm in love.
So it was a wonderful morning. But the day had a sad ending. Aunt Marie had fly back to Utah.
My kids adore her. Me too! I appreciate so much her example of faith, dedication, and service. I am also grateful for her professional expertise and the wisdom she gained from teaching special education for thirty years. She has a gift for teaching children and finding ways to reach them. I was trying to soak up as much as possible to help me prepare David for first grade. She was reassuring (don't we all need a little reassurance sometimes?), and she gave me some great tips. What a blessing to have her in our home. I'm thankful she took the time to come see us.
Mary told me today that she misses "her friend." And she wonders when she'll come back...
...me too!
Thanks for hanging out with us, Marie. We had a great time!
