The Zoo Keeper has deployed.

Well the Zoo Keeper had to visit the middle east for his "real" job with the Air Force. He will be gone for a year minus the two weeks he gets to visit us in Sept or Oct.

The rest of the Zoo is doing good so far. Yesterday we went shopping with the Birthday money that Monkey got from Neenah and Pepere. She got some newborn baby socks for her baby doll and a beautiful blanket for her baby.

We are going to start painting the basement this weekend. Then we should get the new carpet the week after.

More from the Zoo later.

The positve reasons for hubby being gone!!

#1 - I no longer have to get in the shower and get hit with water in the face because the shower head stays were I put it.
#2 - I don't have to get in the van and re-adjust all the mirrors and the seat because I was the last one who drove it.
#3 - I get to make anything I want for dinner. Hubby doesn't like casseroles, so I get to make Shepherd's pie.
#4 - The donuts I get on Saturday morning still have some left on Sunday morning. Instead of being in hubby tummy on Saturday night.
#5 - He isn't here to turn on the light in the bathroom when getting ready for work in the morning. Now if I could get my body to understand that 5 am is not the time to wake up.
#6 - I have so much less laundry to do. I think in the three weeks (today) that he has been gone I have only had to do 6 loads of laundry. Usually I do 2 loads a day on the week days. Whoo-ray for me!!!

Packing up the Zoo!

We found out almost a week ago that the Zoo will be packing up and moving to Germany. We will be moving in June of 2011. I am excited to go to Germany but terrified to be going to a foreign country to live. Everything will be different. It is hard enough to move from one state to another state but now we are going to a foreign country, a different Continent. All these things that are scary, but also makes it very exciting. Don't get me wrong I am EXCITED!!

Being the trainer of the animals at the Zoo I love to see them experience new things. The Zebra is getting excited about going to Germany. She asked if we can go see some of the paintings of Michelangelo. That was exciting to me because when the Zoo keeper and I were in Italy in 1998 we went to the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. The rest of the animals in the zoo are starting to get excited also. We found some cookies at the commissary that were from Germany. They were not very good but we decided to try some different ones.

Teeth

I would like to know why the animals at the zoo lose teeth whenever the Zoo Keeper is gone. I think I have pulled out more teeth than the Zoo Keeper himself. But I also get the pleasure of seeing how the animals react when the tooth fairy leaves them money. This time it was the Alligator who lost the top left tooth. She went upstairs to try to pull it herself. When she came back down she had a napkin and the tooth was bleeding. So I had to grab the tooth and pull it out. But it didn't come the first time because she was at the wrong angle and I didn't get a good enough grip on it. So I had to do it again after repositioning her. This time it came out. I put it into her hand and she proceeded to lose it on the floor. So all the other animals at the Zoo got on the floor to help look for it. We were able to find it without too much trouble.

He's on his way. . .

Hubby left this morning for Texas. He will be gone until the middle of Dec. We dropped him off at the airport this morning. So far the girls are taking it very well. Tonight going to bed will be the hardest time I think. Right now we are preparing for tonight when I start teaching 3rd and 4th pioneer clubs for the kids from church. It will be fun, this month we will be learning how to make candles and orienteering, learning how to use a compass.

It is offical!

The Zoo Keeper will be going to school in Texas, Florida and South Carolina before he heads out to the middle east. He will leave in a week and return in December to leave in January and return again in February, just in time to leave for the middle east.

There are some blessings that will be coming out of this. Financially this is better than having him go to Korea. We will not have to deal with setting up two households. His pay will be tax free because he will be in a tax free zone.

We are praying that the animals will be able to handle this separation and that I will be consistent in training them. I have a tendency to allow them to get away with more when the Zoo Keeper is gone. We are praying that we can get our finances under control so that we can put the aminals into some sort of activity so that they will be busy while the Zoo Keeper is gone.

We are blessed.

Visit from Family

We had visitors come into town on Saturday to visit the Zoo, the parents and siblings of the Zoo Keeper. On Saturday night we went to a local resturant that has great seafood. I have never seen such big portions of food. I felt like someone should have rolled me out of the resturant when we left there.

On Sunday we went to Washington DC. We went to the Holocaust Museum but decided that the animals of the Zoo should not go there. That was the most depressing two hours of my life. I think they did a great job with the museum. My favorite part was at the end when you got to see all the pictures of the American and Allied troops who were able to rescue the survivors. I loved the wall where you could read about how the average citizens were able to assist and save some of the Jews during Hitler's terror. I loved to be able to go into the room of rememberance and praise God for those who survived and lived to share their story.

Then today, Monday, we went Mount Vernon to see the home of President George Washington. That was great. I remember going through his house when I was a child and now to be able to bring my children there was exciting. I loved the beautifully set up bedrooms with the four poster beds. I enjoyed looking out over the potomac river into Maryland from the piazza (back porch). After the tour of the house we were able to go see the final resting place of George and Mary Washington. I am looking forward to researching more about the life of George and Mary Washington.