Zoo and Tree Removal....

Since last September, seven other ladies and I have been meeting on Thursday mornings. You may have already seen this photo on a few other blogs, but here it is again.



Sarah W. and Debby have been leading the six of us "Young Mom" ladies in a Beth Moore study on Daniel. It's been an AWESOME study, and I have personally thoroughly enjoyed getting together with these women each week.

This group reminds me of these verses....

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." Titus 2:3-5

Well, you may have already seen Debby's blog (see "The Graber's" link on this blog). But, I'll add a few more photos.

This past Thursday, our group took our children to the zoo. Unfortunately, Jill couldn't make it since Sophia was sick. We had a good time, nonetheless, but we did miss you and Sophia, Jill.

The zoo was SOOOOOO crowded. There were MANY "end of the school year" field trips.

Here's my photo of the entrance. It's not quite up close enough, but you can see the long line of people, waiting to get in.



We did get in with less trouble and time than what I thought. Actually, it was indeed organized chaos at the entrance. I won't complain. The zoo employees did the best that they could.

Since most of the children are fairly young, we all had strollers. Here's a photo of Ollie and Makenzie, looking at what I believe was a peacock right at the entrance.



First, we saw the giraffes. I honestly can say I've never seen giraffes up this close. (I'm sure, Candice, you're getting to see things like this up close a little more often in South Africa).



Little Ellie and her mom, Rachel, (and brother Tripp) also joined us for the day. Here's a photo of Ellie, feeding some ducks or geese of some sort.



Here are some animal photos, just for fun.

The black bear....



The rhinoceros....



And, the lazy gorilla....(not sure who the kid is in the photo -- it's not Ollie).



Here is a good photo of Tami and her little sweet girl, Ella.



Hannah's Nana (Debby) bought her some popcorn. This photo was actually taken by Debby, but it's so cute, I thought I'd share. It's one of Hannah, eating her popcorn with sunglasses. Hannah was the smart one who remembered sunglasses.



Little Lily slept through most of our zoo tour. However, at the end, she did wake up, and she did want a bottle.



And, what about our little Luker? He did very well throughout the entire morning. He never did fall asleep in the stroller. There was too much going on. But, here are a cute couple of shots I took of him -- in the stroller with his toys attached.





Afterwards, a few of us went to McDonald's to eat. Luke still remained awake and in a good mood. Here are some photos of Luke and me. Debby took these photos, and I LOVE them -- as Luke's mom.





Thanks ladies for a great time! We'll have to do it again sometime.

*****

Then today (Saturday), Marc cut down a tree.

We have (or had) this HUGE cedar tree, right at the end of our driveway. I've always disliked that tree there. It blocks the view to back out of our driveway safely (even though we have very little traffic on our little cul-de-sac). In the January, 2005, ice storm, the tree DROOPED SO LOW on a car we had parked there (it was my company vehicle). I could go on and on -- I just didn't like that tree there.

I wasn't able to get a "before" shot as admittedly, I was taking a nap when Marc started this project.

It took about two hours. Two of our fabulous neighbors, Willis and Phil, joined in on the fun. Thanks guys!

But, here's a photo of Marc, revving up the chain saw. And yes, you'll notice in this photo that Marc is wearing safety glasses. I'm so thankful that Marc is safety minded. I don't think you can see them in this photo, but he also wears earplugs. The chain saw is loud, and I would prefer that his hearing is protected when possible.



Here's a photo of Marc using the chain saw.



Some of the tree will be used for firewood next winter (BTW -- it did SMELL WONDERFUL when it was first cut down -- the cedar).



For the rest of the tree -- Marc did already call the city for a "large pick-up." They're supposed to come by and pick up the branches this coming Monday. I sure hope they do because it's a mess in our yard right now. I'll keep you posted on whether or not the city does the pick-up.





What did I do during this time? Well, as I previously mentioned, when this project began, I was taking a much needed nap. Then, I did a bit of kitchen clean-up work. After Luke got up from his nap, he and I made a big grocery store trip. Luke then ate his supper. Lastly, he and I went to Subway to Marc and me some dinner. Marc felt he "deserved" a foot-long sub after his hard day working (He did also run 15 miles this morning with our friend Seth).