This could be what might be called a 'fill in' gratitude. Because nothing just jumped out at me today, I decided to show gratitude for one of my favorite simple treats. I have always loved the good old fashioned rice crispy treat! But not from the stores, they need to be home made and I think I could eat a panful of them all at once. Recently, I had the craving for some karo syrup treats. I sometimes like them better than the marshmallow treats. So what could I do but get some karo syrup and make them. I love them and I don't eat quite as many as I do with the marshmallow.
Writing about gratitude for a food item might be a bit much, but in doing so a wonderful memory came to my mind. Some years ago when I went to visit family in Washington, I was treated to the zoo for my birthday. Up to that point, I really didn't celebrate my own birthday much. I try not to be a gloomy person and prevent others from celebrating with/for me, and that was the case. My wonderful niece, Leah, had no idea that I really didn't celebrate and when she found out she was determined to make it special--which she did. It was actually one of the best birthdays I have ever had. We had a great picnic lunch at the zoo and for dessert--what else but rice crispy treats! Talk about a perfect memory. This is what I wrote in my journal that day in 2011:
When I say Queen for a day I am talking about how I was treated on my birthday. It started with me leaving early for the airport in Las Vegas. That was a great way to start off my day. Then the flight and arrival at the Portland Airport, then we were right off to the zoo. This is my niece and her husband and their sweet girl, Naomi. Their other daughter, Ramona was sleeping in the stroller and it was a little wet so we didn't take her out for the picture. Talk about great people who made my day great. We headed for the Portland Zoo. They wouldn't let me buy my ticket--they already paid for it. We also got a popcorn and a drink later in the day.
These pictures are not necessarily in the order they took place during the day. There were these cute wood horses and as you can see, Naomi got on one and my sister Debbie and I on the other.
Well, that was to start off with. Then we put Naomi on with us.
This is a trike where an elephant actually performed on it. The pedals were so short I couldn't keep my legs on them and I could barely reach the handlebars. I bet it wasn't a fun task for an elephant to climb on that thing.
We were getting our picture taken and Leah said, Put your hand in the mouth and Naomi lifted her hand but then looked up and decided that wouldn't be a good place for her hand.
The first exhibit we saw was the Mountain Goat, and they were nice and active walking around and we watched them climb on the rocks. Then on the other side there was a statue so we went for a picture.
We saw so many things and the animals were so active. The mountain lion was right up close to the window and when Leah looked around the corner, the mountain lion was taking a good long look at her.....it was cool to see it so close. We also saw monkeys (so many varieties), the bears, wolf, otters, aligators, fish, snakes, and bats. The bats were sort of creepy, you got to see them walking across the cage and they were just a little odd--gave you the creeps a bit. The weather was a little cool and there were a few drops of rain, but not much really and it made for active animals. Leah and Joe brought lunch for us all and Joe pushed the stroller the whole time we were walking along. It was just a great and wonderful day. As we were leaving this big bear was at the giftshop and we had our picture taken.
This time Naomi was willing to put her hand in the bear's mouth. She wasn't really nervous to do it by then. We looked around in the gift shop and I found me a Paky magnet which I got for my magnet collection. Then it was time to head for home.
That was simply too much fun for Leah to resist so we added her and she held Naomi while Joe snapped the picture of us all on the horse--good thing it was wooden we might have made the poor thing have a back ache!
Can't begin to say enough about the elephant. It was a great part of the day. You can see his enclosure and if you look very closely on the left side of the picture there is this long tube. It holds carrots in it. The elephant, Paky, would pick up the tube hold it high up in the air and then drop it and it would bang on the enclosure and carrots would drop out on the floor and then he would pick up each carrot and eat it. He repeated this action over and over, it was so fun to watch.
There was a place between exhibits where you could go down through this big log. Leah went around to the end so Naomi could see her and Naomi wasn't exactly positive about it. But she started going and then what could I do but follow her!
It was so fun seeing Naomi's excitement (not to mention Leah and my own) each time we would see something new. This was fun to see how big we were compared to the bears. Wow!
This picture was Leah's idea. We were watching the penguins and they were swimming all around and I had Naomi on my shoulders and snap went the camera.
Our dinner consisted of pizza--great pizza--which we didn't get a picture of it before we demolished it. We were all pretty hungry and I am not sure, but I think Naomi out ate us all. That girl can put the food down. They sang happy birthday to me and we had more rice crispy treats for our dessert. (They were the best rice crispy treats ever!)
I really did feel like a queen! It was awesome and we had such a great day. Visiting and talking and seeing all the animals was just a really fun time. I am so blessed and grateful that they were willing to spend their day with me and brought such joy into my life. Each time I think life can't really be a lot better, Heavenly Father blesses me in new ways and shows me that it can indeed get better.
I couldn't be more grateful today for having such wonderful things and people in my life. I really am so blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment