The Zoo and Softball

Monday was Memorial Day, and we had a really good time.

We went and had lunch with family, and then we went to the local zoo. It's changed a lot from when I used to work there. There are a lot more hands-on things to do, and they have quite a few reindeer. Kevin wasn't sure he wanted to touch this one, but he finally gained courage and did so.

 There were still a lot of neat birds, but the great horned owl was particularly impressive.

 I thought this hawk had a very cute face, too.

 They had a new exhibit with an iguana. At first we thought it was empty, but after the other people left, he came out just for us. He was an impressive fellow.

 This black crowned crane was fun to look at too. They had a few other cranes as well (the sand hills are some of Grig's favorites because of the sound that they make) but this one was new to me.

 The yak was easy to see this time too, and seemed to be enjoying the heat, though he was shedding like crazy!

 When we had almost finished our tour, Grig and Kevin were playing. I was "base" and Grig was trying to keep Kevin away from me. A scuffle occurred, and Kevin ended up scraping his knee on the sidewalk. It bled a bit, but the zoo had some band aids in the store, and they gave us one. That was super nice of them!

 Afterward, we went to the park and Kevin got to play for a while. He really had a great time having his dad around!

Then, on Wednesday, Grig's company had a softball game. Before it, we all practiced together, and then Kevin and I went to watch and cheer him on. 

Or rather, that was the intention, but Kevin fell asleep on the way and slept through most of the game. 

 Grig played the game as the catcher, and he did well. It was fun to watch him play with his coworkers.

 He also was up to bat three times and hit the ball each time. He made it all the way to third one time, but unfortunately the ball was caught and he didn't make it back to second before he was tagged out.

He and his team did awesome and they ended up winning. We were really proud of him. 

We're Making an Offer

So, as of today, we are officially making an offer on a home.

We went to look at one of the homes again last night. It was the home we felt the best about, and as we were looking in the backyard, snow was finally falling from the sky and a hawk landed in the tree next door. That was pretty cool. It was our first really good snow storm this year. Hopefully it doesn't all melt.

The hawk is in the center of the picture

We feel pretty good about this home we're looking into, and if they accept our offer, we will get an inspection done. We don't really want to pay for an inspection if they won't consider our offer.

If the inspection tells us things we don't like about the house, we can keep looking. This is our favorite home so far. It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. It has a large garage and two storage sheds. Part of the backyard is completely fenced in, which is great, and means we can take our time saving up to fence in the rest of the yard.

The house does have a few problems, but it's nothing too serious or that would need to be fixed immediately. It's in pretty good shape.

We're pretty excited about it, and we've been praying a lot. We feel like we could afford the mortgage payments, and with a USDA loan, we wouldn't need to pay a down-payment.

With any luck, but this time next month we'll be in a new home. That would be awesome anyway.

Thank you for your prayers. We know we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, and I know part of that is because of prayers on our behalf.

We'll keep you informed.

I Am a Dream Blood Draw

I realized I didn't blog yesterday.

To be frank, a lot happened, and the day kind of went crazy.

Tuesday we had a few doctor's appointments. We had a general checkup, but I hadn't fasted for long enough and so they couldn't do a blood draw. They scheduled another appointment for this morning and then we left the doctor's.

A couple hours later, I went and had a few cavities filled at the dentist's. I had an extra couple of bucks in my purse, so I picked up some snow cones for us.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. My aunt and uncle were kind enough to watch Kevin for a few hours while Grig and I went floating down the river. It was so much fun! We borrowed an inner tube from my grandparents. We actually borrowed two, but we only had a tiny little pump, and we weren't able to fill both of them. After we had filled one up, we walked down to the river and jumped in.

We had the greatest time. The river would alternatively be very shallow and very deep, and sometimes we had to walk the inner tube over the rocks. We had a couple of really cool moments. At one point, we were swimming in a deeper pool, and a hawk landed right on the bank in front of us. That was intense. Small birds began to mob it, and it chased them down the river. I happened to catch it on camera, but after that the camera got wet and we haven't been able to turn it on since. Hopefully it's not broken irreparably.

Luckily, I was able to save all the pictures that were on it, including the video of the hawk. To our disappointment however, the video was pretty pixelated. This is about as good a view as you're probably going to get of the hawk.

We also found a neat area where there were a ton of HUGE fish. We're pretty sure they're carp, and we want to go back and go fishing there. We splashed and played and basically had a perfect date. Lately we've been feeling a sort of disconnect, and we realized it's because even though we've been living in the same house, we haven't been doing many things together. This date was the perfect solution.

Disconnect gone.

Dates are important.

Then, this morning, I went back to the doctor and the nurse drew some blood. Afterwards, she told me that I'm a dream draw. My veins are nice and large and squishy, and my blood just shoots out. I've never had anyone miss when they were trying to draw my blood.

That's probably why I enjoy giving blood. It's not very traumatic. 

Kevin is doing pretty well in his room, though we've had a few rough nights. It's bound to keep getting better.