"Hop on Pop" to Haikus

Rosamond Gifford Zoo was a nice afternoon trip with Gramma and Pa in New York.

We went to the Dinosaur BBQ to pick up yummy wings after the Zoo. And after 2 weeks of being home, we've already broke open the bottle we packed for later. Going there reminded me of our second apartment in Syracuse. The single dad who lived upstairs, Louis, worked at the Dino BBQ as a cook. His apartment was adorned with Elvis memorabilia and always smelled, appropriately, of barbecued meat or some spicy kind of cooking. We would often hear him yelling at Dallas (or "Peanut-butter Pants" as he commonly referred to him), his 4 year old son, as he stomped around above us. Kayli was just about two years old then and she seemed so little compared to Dallas. It's crazy that it feels like just yesterday Kayli was there in that apartment reading "Hop on Pop," giggling at all of the little expressions on the characters faces in the story. Now she has so many other sisters that follow after her and she can write Haikus that are amazing like these that she wrote a few days ago:

Winter

Snow-men come alive

Snow gracefully floats from above

Skaters dance their way

A Rose

A soft scarlet red

Clear droplets on it's petals

Ready to be picked

Niagara Falls

Fierce waves crashing down

A rainbow in the heavens

Smiles in the sun

This last one was inspired by the girls extended stay with Gramma and Pa in New York. Kayli and Tori got to visit with them for an extra week while we took the younger three out to DC and then home again. Gramma and Pa had only the seen the girls a few times a year until this week long trip. So naturally, they unleashed all of that build-up of non-spoiling from the year throughout the week. The girls went camping in Canada and saw Niagara Falls from down below in a boat, from behind the falls, and the fireworks above the falls of which they photographed with their new disposable cameras. They also made tie dyed t-shirts, bought Build-a-Bears, visited an alligator and bird observatory, had a campfire with smores, saw HighSchool Musical on the stage, had haircuts, bought new outfits and did virtual makeovers with Gramma on the computer. Three weeks later, we are still attempting to come out of the debriefing stage of the spoiling extravaganza for one girl but the other was debriefed in less than a week. The girls will never forget all the special times they had this summer. It's great to have grandparents who really want to get to know our girls and their different personalities and interests.