Mother's Day 2009 (Scrapbook Version)

I'm pleased to report that Mother's Day went much smoother this year than it did last year (for the most part).

The day started off with Tanya having breakfast in bed.

Unfortunately, it was breakfast that she made herself because everyone else was still sleeping.

A short while later I found out that it is possible to get in trouble even while you sleep.

Things got better from there.

Went to Sunday School where our one student showed up for the lesson. So, we consolidated classes with the higher age group and I went to try and find someone to be an usher for me so I could go to the zoo an hour earlier. I felt a little bad about doing that but Tanya helped to put a good spin on the situation: I'm enabling my substitute usher to serve God by serving others (which just happens to be our church mission).

We went to the zoo. The drive wasn't bad until Northgate where it took us an hour to get from I-5 to the zoo, less than 10 miles away. Parking was ... well... tense. Tanya helped us into a spot by... lets call it "directing traffic". Those details will be posted in a few days. Be sure to check back.

We wandered around the zoo looking at the usual sights doing the usual things, taking the usual pictures.

The new penguin exhibit is pretty neat. Well, it's pretty neat if you are at least 5' 10" tall. Otherwise it's hard to see anything that is above the water line. Today we only saw 1 penguin in the water. All the others were enjoying the sunshine.

A few pics:
The Happy Family:





Mikayla using her new camera that she bought herself (it has more megapixels than mine!!):

My Animal pics:




I'm not sure if this guy is really happy or really sick:

This guy is definitely proud:




On the way home we met up with Kari & Troy and the boys for dinner at the The Old Spaghetti Factory (TOSF). Daniel had been sick the day before, but he seemed fine today... so Kari reported.

During dinner they had to make two false alarm runs to the bathroom before deciding maybe they should just pack up their food and eat at home. I think they are all doing alright now.

For those that don't know, we always have an adventure at TOSF. One year Tanya got really sick and ended up having her gall bladder removed (no, not AT the restaurant, but shortly thereafter). Another time we watched out the window of the dining room as one of the kitchen staff was taken away in handcuffs.

My guess is that it's just part of the dinner entertainment.

The rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful, although Alexia insisted on singing out loud while she wore her ipod headphones. She probably sounds fantastic with headphones on.

That's it. Really.

Happy Mother's Day!

~E