too busy for pictures

First, we are all back to "normal". Stephen never got sick, and neither did Adam. (Praise God!) Everyone was healthy for "Chicken Saturday". This year we had 200 chickens to slaughter. It took a lot longer than we'd hoped, even with extra help. This year I was happy to be "Quality Control". I didn't have to gut a single warm chicken. I made sure the cooled chickens were clean and I bagged them. We now have 35 chickens in our freezer - we sold the rest at an incredible discount, considering the quality of these birds!

My parents came to help - not with the chickens - but to keep everything else from falling apart. They took care of the kids and the house while we were busy outside all day. We rested up on Sunday and took the kids to The Zoo on Monday. Apparently some of our friends were there, too, but we didn't see them! That was probably because we parked by the North Entrance and explored that part of the zoo, which we've never been to before. (The budgies were pretty cool). We traveled up to the "main" part of the zoo in the afternoon to see the alligators in the Kingdoms of the Night exhibit (Teresa's favorite). We also had fun watching the polar bear swim and picking Juneberries while we watched the orangutans play. The Scott Aquarium was another favorite stop. The kids got their first train ride and the last ride on the carousel on the way out. I didn't bring my camera.

Yesterday, my parents babysat while Adam and I went out for our 8 year anniversary. I wanted to go to Lauritzen Gardens, but it was raining...so we went to the Josyln Art Museum. We weren't terribly impressed, but enjoyed seeing a few nice paintings, including an original by one of my favorite artists, William Bouguereau. I was also excited to see a special exhibition of original art from several Golden Books by Eloise Wilkins, Richard Scarry, and Garth Williams. There were originals from some of my favorite classics, including Tootle, Scuffy the Tugboat, The Tawny Scrawny Lion, and The Poky Little Puppy. My favorite piece was the four seasonal paintings from I Am A Bunny. The rain let up in the afternoon, so we were able to go on a bike ride, something we rarely get to do, and walk around the Old Market a bit before going out for dinner.

We've got a family wedding and two birthdays (in our family) coming up this month. I'll be back with pictures (hopefully) of those events...though I may try to get some pictures up of the girls' summer haircuts...Princess' kitten (yes, there is only one)...and a picture of our god-daughter, Bethany (turning a year old this month with her Baptismal anniversary coming up at the beginning of July.)