Visit to Josh and Carrie's for Memorial Day Weekend 2013

Josh and Carrie invited us to spend Memorial Day weekend with them a couple weeks ago.  We decided to go, and the weekend turned out fabulous! 

Even though the weather did not cooperate so we could go swimming, we still found fun things to do.  Most of the day Saturday was spent at the Brookfield Zoo.  Josh and Carrie have an annual pass and can invite friends to come for free, so we didn't have to pay to get in.

The kids enjoyed everything there - we saw lions, cheetahs, dolphins, monkeys, a huge anteater, gorillas, rats, and a large "Dinosaurs Alive" exhibit.  They also got to feed stingrays.  That part was too smelly for me. :P  Carrie and I happily sipped hot coffee on the sortof-chilly day and waited with Eli.  Martha was able to come along with us too, which was great.  On the way home we stopped at the grave where Joseph and Florence Butler are buried.

Sunday we went to their church with them, Harvest Bible Chapel.  The sermon was delivered by Matt Chandler on Romans 8 - which is Dave's favorite chapter in the Bible.  Really good ministry!  The kids enjoyed going to the SS classes with their cousins too.

Carrie and I went out for a 3 mile run Monday morning to get some exercise.  She discovered on the way back towards her house while driving past Austin's school that his bike was left there locked up.  She figured they would just pick it up later.  Josh and Dave went out on the bikes to get Austin's bike and ended up crashing their bikes somehow.  They were fine, but they laughed about it quite a bit.

A Memorial Day feast was prepared - we had burgers, grilled chicken, orange/marshmallow salad, potato salad, watermelon, and cake.

The whole crew off to the zoo!

 

Austin and Calvin 

Renee and Violet

Oohing and Aahing over the dolphins that swam right by their faces

Carrie and Wesley

picnic lunch - while chasing off geese

the "dinosaur's alive" exhibit was up and running - really neat to see!  Calvin loved it! Vanessa was terrified.

digging for dinosaur bones

Hmm...yeah. adults can be silly too right?  Pic courtesy of Violet

Vanessa with Carrie

Calvin fell asleep on the couch for about an hour when we got home.

I brought along Dots and Toothpicks - the older 4 kids created quite a structure!