Pizza & Pop was the luncheon provided for the Zoo outing.
most of the parents were like us :
shy but friendly...not introducing ourselves but kind to others if they needed help.
dude...i don't know how some of these families do it because i can only guess at the struggles they go through. a hispanic family came to sit at our table. the father was holding the visually impaired son while the mother was holding the brother- a baby around 1 yrs of age. they took turns getting food and holding the kids. i poured water for them- the father didn't look directly at me but gave me a 'humble thank you'.
don't worry, dude - I see you.
don't worry, dude - I see you.
they were a quiet family..didn't ask for much.. but i could feel the love in the way they held their kids.
i am so wowed by people who make a difference...who step beyond themselves and help when they don't have to. that's this dude.
that's Rich King, folks. a very cool dude. local sportscaster and was very much in love with his first wife. he wrote a book 'My Maggie'. he gave copies of the book for free at this outing...if you wanted to give money for the book - it would go to the Chicago Lighthouse as a donation.
he said a little speech for all of us...
to sum it up...he said something like ' i don't have to tell you how hard life is... go enjoy..enjoy life..enjoy the zoo..that's what my Maggie would have told you'
i love this gorilla pic.
my mahal and i took a trip to san diego a looooong time ago..and gorillas is one of the things we joke about.
there should be a pic of us and a gorilla statue from the san diego zoo somewhere in my closet.
i love it... for all the whining this kid does.. she loves me 100x more.
i'm always yelling her or nagging the kids on something ..but i love when she gives me love.
why i love this pic above: one of the other moms took this pic. even though we were one big group with the same shirt..we didn't hang out and get to know each other. we got to go about on our own... we only met up for lunch and the dolphin show.
so we are at the Hamill's children's zoo and a mom from our 'group' offered to take our picture. well that was cool of her... i remember her ..not only because of this kindness to us... her son was the most developmentally impaired. her son was in a special wheelchair, contractures, spastic movements, did not focus, did not talk. and she took time out to take our pic. humbling.
greenhouse..loved it!
spray bottles for the kiddies to water the plants.
i think i told AJ he was a alien leopard.
fyi: boy in wheelchair background...his mom is the one who took the pic of the four of us.
