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Family visit, Grapevine, and Zoo

So this past week, Aaron's Aunt Sherry, Uncle John, and cousin, Tracy, came down for a long overdue visit to Dallas. They arrived on Tuesday just as crazy storms were coming in. Aaron had gotten the President's box at DBU for a baseball game that night to host a work event. I got to go for a little bit. It was really fun. We had a great view from behind home plate and lots of yummy fajitas and snacks to eat. Then I went and picked up everyone at the airport. By the time I got everyone, Aaron texted to say that the game was canceled because of the weather. We got home and had storms all night but nothing really bad.
The next day we went to visit downtown Grapevine. Aaron's great grandfather (Grams's dad) lived in Grapevine for a short time as a child before immigrating to Colorado in the early 1900's. We saw the historic cabin and they walked around downtown while I got Maddy from school. We also got to visit a glassblowing studio and gallery. I highly recommend that experience. It was fascinating to get to watch them create decor and bowls. Kelsay made it kind of nerve wracking as well, but she really did very well. I was just afraid of some kind of accidental bump to one of the 1000+ dollar vases on display. We also went to an antique mall (more glass, yikes!). The mall was also a co-op for local artist so it was pretty cool.
Thursday, the family went to DBU with Aaron while I stayed home with the kids and we did school and therapy appointments. They then met us at Scottish Rite because Maddy had an appointment there for orthodics. They got to see the hospital and the kids played on the playground after. We ate a quick dinner when we got home and then Aaron and Maddy went to a memorial for our neighbor. He was on a heart transplant list and was three days away from a transplant when he fell over on a walk and injured his head. It was very shocking. We didn't know them extremely well but the kids came over and invited us to the service. They are immigrants from Bangladesh. They had a big meal at the service so Aaron got to try lots of Indian food. Maddy had pizza. The daughter sent home a plate of food for us.I think it was really good for Maddy to go because she prayed for the family several times after going to that service.

Friday was a down day. Tracy was having some swelling in her feet, hands and face so they decided to go to the ER to check and make sure that it wasn't due to anything serious. She got the all clear. It was also rainy on Friday. We did go to Maddy's Festival of the Arts at school.
On Saturday, we went to the Ft. Worth zoo. Maddy and I went with the Embry clan when she was younger than Kelsay, but no one else had ever been. It is an amazing zoo. There is so much to see and do. We missed the elephants which made Kelsay really sad. We were trying to get to them before closing time and just didn't make it. The MOLA (museum of living art) is an extremely interesting exhibit. They had reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians and plant life. While we were looking at the crocodiles, a stray cat wondered into their space. It wanted to go drink water out of the pond. We thought we were going to see a cat eaten. We told one of the workers about it. Before they could really do anything the cat suddenly realized that it was not in the best place if it wanted to survive and ran out of the exhibit.

We had rented a transport wheelchair for Uncle John for the week and then we got a motorized chair at the zoo since Tracy was having the issues with her ankles swelling and hurting. So Uncle John used the motorized chair some so the girls got to ride in the regular chair. We brought a wagon but they loved riding in the chair when they got a chance.


There is another part of the zoo called Texas Wild. It has all of the animals native to Texas. We saw a beautiful jaguar and got to hear it roar. The girls rode this carousel in that area of the zoo.
One of the last things we did was the parakeet house. Now, I am not a fan of a bazillion free flying birds swirling above my head. I think parakeets are pretty but I don't particularly like them. Anyhow, I was the only one with the girls when we passed this so it was up to me to take them in. They loved it and got to touch one of the parakeets. All I could think was that I really wanted out before one...or a dozen...of them pooped on my head.

This white tiger was also a really neat animal that we saw.
Kelsay laid down in the wagon on Maddy's lap toward the end. She was worn out.
The penguins were what Kelsay asked to see as soon as she found out we were going to the zoo. However, I think she ended the trip more impressed with the small lion pride that we saw. She talked about the lions the most afterward. We ended the day with BBQ from Aaron's favorite, North Main BBQ in Euless. Everyone enjoyed that. We did church the next morning. Everyone was basically too tired to function for the day. The family left that evening.
It was a great time and we really enjoyed having them here. Now to wrap up school. Last full day is tomorrow and award ceremony is Monday. Today was very light on homework so we ended up going to Chick Fila for lunch and Maddy used her birthday gift card to buy herself and Kelsay an ice cream cone. We stayed at Chick Fila for probably two hours. We hadn't been in quite a while so the girls really enjoyed the play area and it was beautiful weather. Summer is almost here!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great pics! Kelsay is looking so big now!
brittany
May 3, 2016 at 2:30 PM
bee said…
I am behind reading blogs. I sure like see the pics and read of about your activities. I almost feel like I am there.
May 18, 2016 at 2:39 PM
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