Saturday: Since Bill had a 3 day weekend last weekend, we decided to take the kids to Manhattan (the Little Apple), KS to our favorite zoo. It was smaller than I remembered, but that was a good thing since it was 20 degrees without accounting for the wind chill. When we lived here 10 years ago, Bill and I donated a brick for the new Monkey House. It says "Dear Mary, I yearn for you tragically" which is from Catch 22. Not really sure why we picked that quote but we did take a minute to find the brick.
The kids loved the flamingos and were game to see the other animals for a while, but it was a push to get them to walk in the enclosure with the emus and wallabies. One benefit of a small zoo is that you are very close to everything and can really get a feel for how big different animals are. The pacing snow leopards were even a little frightening. The baby hid just below the glass and then pounced at Charles. The shivering kids begged to go after an hour and a half, so like good parents, we took them out to Target to warm up and shop for toys with Charles birthday money. By the best of coincidences, the doctor I used to work for and his wife recognized us there, and we had a good chat while the kids waited fairly patiently. The Youngs last saw us when the twins were a few months old, and Dr. Young joked that they've had to buy a bigger fridge to hold our family pictures!
Even though the day was cold, we had Baskin Robbins before we drove home. It was what Charles really wanted for his birthday but we couldn't make it happen that day.
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Sunday after Mass found me and 5 big kids at a "farm". I'm not a huge fan of "agritainment", but Cecilia's Daisy troop participated in a science day and we all had fun checking out the rides and activities. Everyone enjoyed trying to milk a cow:
And the pedal powered go-carts were a lot of fun. I warmed myself up by giving pushes to people who had trouble getting started. Thankfully, it was less cold and windy than the day before.
Sunday afternoon:
This is a day I've been looking forward to for a long time. Back when we lived in Hawaii we became very interested in the holy priest Bl. Damien of Moloka'i. Bill and I were both able to visit Kalaupapa to see where he lived, worked and died among the people with leprosy. And a priest who sometimes subbed at our chapel often included in his homily the story a women he knew well who credited Fr. Damien's intercession for her miraculous cure from an aggressive cancer. On Oct. 11, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Fr. Damien (Joseph) de Veuster, after whom our Joseph Damien is named.
To celebrate we wanted to first do something in the spirit of Fr. Damien, so we made origami leis as spirtual bouquets and we prayed for sick family and friends. I plan to mail the leis this week.
The menu for our little feast included Grilled Kahlua Chicken, Hawaiian Sweet Potatoes (Hawaiian flavor, not color which is purple!), coconut rice with pineapple, and for dessert Mango sorbet with chopped Macadamia nuts and Belgian chocolate on the side. Our centerpiece featured holy cards of Fr. Damien which were a gift from my friend Jenn.
I've already heard of more good ideas, so I'm excited to expand our celebration on Fr. Damien's feast day, May 10.
ETA: Here is a look at the peninsula of Kalaupapa on Molokai and the cliffs behind it which kept the people with leprosy from leaving:
4 comments:
HI Rachel! Remember the guy at the airport who gave us a ride around while we were waiting for the plane to come? Do you think he was TRYING to make us fall off of the back of his rusty truck and what in the world were mothers of 10 children at the time thinking climbing onto that truck? That was a fun day! Thanks Bill!!! Oh I just remembered the guys name was Gene. I'm sorry I missed your call and will try to catch up with you on the weekend. You guys all look great and I wish you were nice and warm right here with us:)
Okay... so all the jackets answer my question: Is it cold in Kansas yet? Yes. And you can still eat ice cream! Good job Charles, you make me proud. What a busy weekend!!! Love the wood cow!! LOL!I thought of you and St. Damien's ordination. Awesome celebration!
Hey J! I almost put pictures of you and Gene, but I decided that those were not the highlight of our day, lol. I wanted to put the whole album here, but thought that might be too much. I looked, but can't find those from Bill's trip. I thought a view from the top of the cliffs would be great.
M--Is KS cold yet...I'm thinking of starting to read the Long Winter with the kids, haha, and use that as an inspiration for our dinners. Rather than a cold snap, we've had a whip crack!
Oh, such lovely pictures and what a wonderful day and connections!
Don't envy the cold. We were in Altoona for their earliest snow ever this weekend. Not fun to wear coats when Halloween hasn't even happened. Makes packing really difficult, too.
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