Binder Park Zoo Vacay, July 2011

This week was incredibly crazy, CRAZY!!  On Tuesday, the girls and I headed to Kalamazoo, MI for a short get-away vacation.  Z had softball games that night, and he was planning to do another coat of polyurethane on the floors, before coming over.  When he got to the house, he found that he would need to use a sander on the floors because the first coat had "brought up the grain" of some of the boards.  He headed over to get some sleep before heading back the next day to do the last to coats.  When he got to the hotel, he told me that his stomach hurt, but chalked it up to sliding into home on one of his plays and possibly to what he ate in the car on the way over.  We figured it would be better in the morning so we went to sleep with thoughts of taking A to see the giraffes the next day.  We had been promising giraffes and getting to feed them for almost a week at that point, so Wednesday was going to be a BIG day.


He woke up in more pain than I have ever seen him in before.  I ran to Meijer to get some things for him, but nothing seemed to help.  We thought maybe it was just gas, so I ran to Meijer again to get some gas-x, he took that; it didn't help.  As A and I were leaving Meijer, he called and said he thought he needed to go to the doctor.  This is a very RARE event - so I didn't take it lightly.  I told him to find directions to the hospital and that I would be there in 10 minutes and we get the girls all packed up and then go.  We were headed to the hospital about 30 minutes later instead of the zoo.  A was heartbroken, she knew something was wrong with Daddy, but she really wanted to see the giraffes.


Ultimately, Z had appendicitis, and had to have an emergency appendectomy Wednesday night.  He was released on Thursday and adamant that we take A to the zoo on Friday.  While he's paying for the day at the zoo, he says it was worth it to give A the day we had promised her.  Here are some pictures from our day...  It was a good day, and even a relatively relaxing get-away - even with the hospital stay in the middle.

Just getting started - M ended up getting carried instead of riding in the stroller... she just didn't want to sit up straight... ;)

 Getting a frog painted on her face... she did really well!

 The finished product... it lasted about 30 seconds this perfect and then she scratched her nose... the rest of the frog got cleaned off after our tram ride back to the main zoo from the Wild Africa exhibit.

 She thought the giraffes were cool until this one stuck its tongue out at her to get the lettuce she was holding... she didn't know what to do with the long black thing coming out of its mouth.

Before we left the zoo, we rode the carousel.  A loved every minute of the day.

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}

The End is in Sight (of the Floor Project)

Z finished staining the floors this morning.  That means 24 hours of drying and he can start putting the polyurethane sealing layers on tomorrow at 10:30!!   I'll post some progress pictures soon, if I can get ahold of the other camera - he's been taking pictures as he goes...  He has to do 3 layers of the seal and then the third layer has to dry for 72 hours before we can put things back into the bedrooms... but I can see the end and I'm soooo excited!

Project64 - Week 28 (Mac-n-cheese)

Here is this week's find for Mac-n-cheese)

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}

And I'm Back...

The girls and I spent the majority of this week at Grandma and Grandpa Shaulis's.  We needed a break from being at my parents' house.  Don't get me wrong, we love being there, but we definitely needed our space.  It was a good week.  I caught up on my Bible in 90 Days reading.  Zech's parents came up and stayed a couple of nights too... the girls LOVED it!  Here are some of the pictures from this week.

Riding the horsie and showing off her cowgirl hat!!

Some of Grandma's Flowers...

Getting ready to color with Grandma Sue.

Coloring...

Reading with Grandpa...

Reading with Grandma and Larry.

Hanging with Great-Grandpa.

Resting with Grandpa.

Finally sleeping after not sleeping most of the night, she finally collapsed.

So Happy!

Linking up with Rub Some Dirt On It for the happiness is blog hop.

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}

Bible in 90 Days - Day 3 & Other Things

I actually finished Day 3's reading last night before I went to sleep!!!  I'm pretty excited about it.  I'll probably do tomorrow's reading before I go to sleep tonight... so that I have a slightly bigger cushion than the 2 days allowed by the program for when it's time to move everything back into the bedrooms (after the floors are done).  I'm really liking the checking in and accountability aspect of this program. 


Abigail started swim lessons today... it was a mixed experience.  She loves the water, but isn't a fan of big bodies of water.  We'll see how tomorrow goes, maybe we'll even have some pictures too.  Regardless, I can now check #5 off of the Summer Bucket List.  By the end of the weekend, I'll be able to check off #4 as well.


I have started aggressively applying for jobs. Tomorrow I will be mailing my disclosure statement to my supervisor for his signature and then mailing the whole rest of my license application on to the State.  Hopefully something turns up soon.  I NEED A JOB!!!


That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}

Bible in 90 Days - Day 2

Well, I finished Day 1's reading with no problem... Day 2 might be more difficult.  We weren't home much today and since we were running errands, it wasn't conducive to reading.  The times when we were home, I was busy with the girls, so again, it wasn't conducive to reading... Don't get me wrong, I'm not making excuses... just explaining.  I will most likely be finishing Day 2's reading sometime after midnight tonight, so I'll probably just keep going and try to read some of tomorrow's as well.  Anyway, I just wanted to check in.  Tomorrow is A's first day of actual swim lessons - I'll be checking off another item on the Summer Bucket List!!!


That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}

Project64 - Week 27 (Sea Green) & Color Splash Sunday

The Bible in 90 Days

On Monday, I'm going to start a new challenge... it will probably cause blogging to take a back seat for a week or so until I get the timing figured out.  I'm participating in the Bible in 90 Days Challenge with Mom's Tool Box.  I've been a Christian for over 25 years, and I've never actually read the Bible through completely.  Oh, I've tried, but for some reason or another, I've never succeeded.  I'll be blogging about my reading and where I'm at in the challenge, at least once a week.  The challenge provides a mentor as an accountability partner to keep me on track, which will definitely help.  I'm really looking forward to not only finishing the Bible by October, but to the questions and study prompts that are provided by the challenge.  If you're interested in checking this out, click here.

That's all for now.  Wish me Luck and thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}

Flowers on Saturday, Favorite Photo of the Week & SOOC

Here are some of my favorites from this week!!

I couldn't choose between these two for favorite photo of the week - anyone wanna help?






All of these are SOOC (Straight Out Of the Camera) - no editing.

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}

Sky Watch Friday - 7/8/11

 The Man in the Moon...

 As seen from tonight's walk...

Linking up with Sky Watch Fridays for this post.


Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}