Tonight Garrett and I went to Ribfest at our church, a couples event with lots of food and some good old country fun. I found out this morning that there would be a mechanical bull which excited the socks off me. I've never ridden one of those before but always thought it would be fun. So I signed up soon after we arrived and took my turn. Low and behold I did decent enough to get myself in the ride-off at the end of the night, and then I won the award for best rider and took home the prize! It was awesome. The prize was presented as a gift card to a local restaurant, but I think the real prize is bragging rights. I conquered the bull! Actually, I'm not sure I conquered anything, but I sure had fun. Gosh it feels good to do fun stuff with fun people. I am really feeling content with the friends and connections we're building through church and MOPS. I'm watching Garrett build stronger friendships than he has in a long time and it's just good for the soul.
This was all at the end of a very busy weekend, the most exciting event of which, aside from the increasingly beautiful and mild weather, was the welcoming of three new family members! The kids got their first pets this afternoon when they picked out Flippy, Swimmy, and Fisher at the pet store. Yup, that's right, we have three goldfish now, ready to teach our kids the joys and challenges of caring for a pet. Admittedly, goldfish are just one step up from stuffed animals when it comes to effort spent on their upkeep. Still, they are pretty, and they are alive, and I actually surprised myself with my own excitement at bringing animals into our home again. I miss animals. I miss that part of me that lived and breathed animals in so many areas of my life. For so much of my life animals have been instrumental in everything important to me--horses and dogs especially were my passion and my dream and at some points my career. The past several years with the kids being so young and us moving around so much I haven't had much time to miss the extra responsibility, but now that the kids are old enough to care about this stuff I feel a real excitement to share with them all the wonders of the animal world. Last week a neighbor cat started coming by our house to visit every once in a while and I watched with delight as the kids' fascination with her grew. I took the kids to the Humane Society on Friday to show them the cats and dogs and even though we're not ready to take one home I can feel the itch in me rising. Especially when Amelia and Gabriel and Abigail squeal in delight or pick out a favorite animal to tell daddy about when we get home.
Picking out our fish this afternoon was fun and exciting for me probably more than the kids, but they are still excited and I'm looking forward to teaching them about caring for an animal and watching them delight in God's creatures. Here are some pics of bringing our fish home:
The bowl pre-fish. So empty.
Amelia and Abigail waiting for daddy to bring the fish.
Are they in there yet?
Ah, there they are. Let's get this show on the road!
Let the pouring begin.
I see Swimmy!
Now Flippy and Fisher are home too.
Three happy kiddos.
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