Retirement Celebration!
My mom has officially retired from 33 years of teaching! How amazing is that? I am so stinkin proud of her. She is an inspiration and has always been one of the main reasons I always wanted to be a teacher. At the end of the school year many of her fellow staff members took her out and celebrated and had a little party for her. She insisted that was enough, however me being the selfish one said, "Wait a minute...your family has yet to congratulate and celebrate with you!" So she let my sister and I put a family party together at my sister's house in Columbus. You know we will use any excuse we can find to get family together!
I didn't have to work on that Friday so I decided to take the boys to the Great Lakes Zoological Society. Bob's sister, Katie, got us a family membership for the boys for their birthday...great gift that the whole family can enjoy together. I asked my friend Kristen and her son Brett to come along. It has just opened and it is a quaint location but just the right size for small children and their attention spans. We were the first people there that day which was great because the kids could enjoy everything without having to worry about them getting lost in the crowd. It was full of "creatures"...that is what Carter called them. They had snakes, birds, spiders, lizards, frogs, turtles, and more. Our favorite part was the area where you could watch the tortoises walk around. We were lucky enough to be there at lunch time where they ate salad, just like mommy, Carter says. The boys loved this place and so did I. It is just about 10 minutes from our house and right down the street from Meijer where we grocery shop. We will be sure to use our membership often!
I didn't have to work on that Friday so I decided to take the boys to the Great Lakes Zoological Society. Bob's sister, Katie, got us a family membership for the boys for their birthday...great gift that the whole family can enjoy together. I asked my friend Kristen and her son Brett to come along. It has just opened and it is a quaint location but just the right size for small children and their attention spans. We were the first people there that day which was great because the kids could enjoy everything without having to worry about them getting lost in the crowd. It was full of "creatures"...that is what Carter called them. They had snakes, birds, spiders, lizards, frogs, turtles, and more. Our favorite part was the area where you could watch the tortoises walk around. We were lucky enough to be there at lunch time where they ate salad, just like mommy, Carter says. The boys loved this place and so did I. It is just about 10 minutes from our house and right down the street from Meijer where we grocery shop. We will be sure to use our membership often!
Watching the tortoises
Carter was so interested in the chameleon. Brett loved his new train set he got at the gift shop. He wouldn't put it down. Carter could have stayed there all day waiting for the chameleon to turn colors.
This water monitor wanted a closer look at Carter.
When Bob got home from work we packed up the car and started our journey down to Columbus. It is quite a drive but we stop in Bowling Green at a park right off the exit to have dinner and play. They have a disc golf course there so we played a few holes together. The boys love this! On Saturday morning we got up and headed to the Columbus Zoo. I have to admit this is by far the best zoo ever. If you ever get a chance to visit please do. There is so much to see that it is just amazing. They have a new area that is a touch park where you can pet many animals. The boys pet a flamingo, lizard, turtle, and opossum. My favorite part was when we fed and pet stingrays. I was a little skeptical about this experience due to the Crocodile Hunters unfortunate encounter but I thought that it really had to be safe if it was at the zoo. The stingrays were huge and they would come right up to where we were and splash water on us. Bob wanted to fed them so he got some sardines. You had to put them between your fingers and have your arm in elbow deep and they would eat it right out of your hand. It was so stinkin cool! When we left that exhibit we were soaked. The boys love the zoo and they had a great time telling their cousin Adelynn all about the animals.
Posing with Polly the Polar Bear...shocked that Landon wasn't terrified
Petting a pink flamingo
Being silly with Mom
Feeding stingrays
Showing Adelynn how to pet the reptile statue
Love this picture! Carter was so into using the map and finding where we were and where he wanted to go
That evening family members began to arrive to share in the excitement of Mom's retirement. My mom never asks for much but she is so happy in the company of family. She has been interested in a laptop but was so worried that she didn't know what she needed that she was hesitant to purchase. My dad, sister and I decided this was the perfect gift. It was the best surprise ever to see her unwrap this gift.
Look at that look! Soon after tears of joy came! She was so excited!
We brought our slip n slide for the kids to play with and it was so fun to watch them. I poured dish soap on it to make it extra slippery and they slipped everywhere.
Carter and cousin Tyler getting the slip n slide ready
Landon loves to supervise the fun!
Comments