"Zoo... zoo... ZooPals,"

"Zoo... zoo... ZooPals,
Zoo... zoo... ZooPals,
ZooPals make food fun!"

The boys very often sing that commercial jingle while playing, and I thought it was appropriate for my journal entry's subject. :-)

Yesterday, after church, Aunt Mary's memorial service and lunch, the boys and I went to the zoo. It was the perfect day for such an outing, and we were by far not the only Omaha-areans to have that idea. ;-) There was probably as many people there yesterday as I have seen on 4th of July weekends - wow!

The train, tram and carousel were not running, as it is still out of season for them, but the boys hardly noticed as it had been so long since we'd been to the zoo.

We got there at about 2pm, and we dove right into the Desert Dome - our first pick almost every single trip. What follows will be a long, picture-filled post. :-)


Mr. Meerkat invites you to the Zoo-perience.

( Lots more animals, lots more fun! )

We love having our zoo membership, and I'm sure we'll be back very soon to see it all again! :-)

Open House on the trash

A.J. and I went to an Open House at Cornerstone Christian School this evening. My friend Char watched Jack for the hour and a half, and he had a good time playing with her trains and her two boys. ;-)

Oh, I don't think I can properly express how in love I already am with the school! Everything is so wonderful. The teachers all seemed very nice (and yes, I met every single teacher in the school, not just the 2nd grade teacher that A.J. would be having next year). The principal is such a sweet lady, and she pulled A.J. aside at one point and told him that she thought he was the bravest little boy she knew, and she thanked him for letting his Daddy go to Iraq and help keep her safe. (And I teared up, of course.)

The computer lab, the library, the music room, the reading room... all so wonderful. The reading room is a nice touch - it's a separate room the size of a normal classroom, but it's filled with beanbags and the like for kids to go into when their class is doing their reading time (which means they can either stay in their classroom or go to the reading room - lots of freedom, there).

I already knew the range of tuition from having looked into the school's paperwork two years ago when we were interested in enrolling A.J. in Kindergarten there. At that time, it was a financial impossibility for us to pay his tuition to attend there, but now we are in a different place in our lives. Now, the feasibility has progressed to a point where we can Seriously Consider It. This will be a matter of prayer for us from this point, and we've got a few months to make the decision.

Afterwards, the boys and I went for dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. :-) Now they're in bed, and I'm going to take the trash out. Oh, and speaking of trash, gathering all of the trash cans in the house into the big bag has become A.J.'s new favorite weekly chore - he races from room to room and is so proud when he's faster each week. Silly kid!