Last night I made the mistake of telling Kyle we would do something special today.  He came out of bed 3 times because he was so excited about our special day.  I kept sending him back to bed but I don’t think he slept well.

This morning he got up and crawled in with me.  He wanted me to tell him what our special thing was today and I told him it was a surprise.  I got him breakfast and he played computer games until Erika got up.  I took my shower and got ready for the day.

About 9 I told the kids to get dressed, brush teeth, wash up, go potty, etc.  Amanda knocked on the door and Kyle asked if he had therapy today.  I said no, but Amanda was going to go with us on our special trip.

We are all trying so hard to get Kyle his 80 hours of therapy by the end of this week.  We figured out hours yesterday and he wasn’t going to make it so we had to add another day of therapy on Wednesday - normally his day off.  I asked if we could make it a fun day for him so he wouldn’t realize it was a therapy day.  There are still lots of goals we can work on during an outing.

We drove for awhile and the kids were trying to guess where we were going.  As we got closer Kyle recognized where we were and asked if we were going to see the black train.  A few minutes later we pulled in and they were both really excited.

We bought our tickets and checked out all of the train cars before the kids settled on one.  The conductor came and took our tickets and we were off.  The train whistle blew and the trip took about 20 minutes.  We arrived at a logging camp with a barn and petting zoo.  The first thing the kids wanted to do was find the kittens so we did that.  There were several litters of kittens there and we all too turns holding all of them.  Next we moved on to feeding the goats.  There was a bridge with goats on it and a bucket and pulley system to send the food up to them.  Both kids dumped the rest of their food in the bucket and took turns pulling the rope to send it up.  They were excited when the goats ate it. 

We saw llamas, a miniature horse, cows, calfs, bunnies, pigs, turtles, chickens, turkeys, and goats.  They had fun with the animals.  We played on the playground awhile and took a tram for a nature ride which the kids found pretty boring.  When we got back we had ice cream and we had time to do one more thing.  They wanted to see the kittens again so we did that.  We heard the train whistle so we lined up for it’s arrival.  When it stopped the kids picked a caboose to ride in.  Kyle crawled way up high where the men used to sleep and Erika sat in a kitchen area.  Another little boy crawled up by Kyle so they had some conversation.  The other little boy said he was afraid of heights and Kyle said he used to be when he was little, too.  He’s 6 now.  That made me laugh.

As we got closer to home we stopped at the eye doctor and picked up the kids new eye glasses.  They had to have them fitted, but both seemed excited to get them. 

When we got home they played and watched “Cars”.  Dad came home shortly so they had to show off their glasses.  Dad played lincoln logs with them and built buildings.  I made supper and we ate.

My friend, Sally, called with the funeral arrangements for Ronda.  We discussed the whole situation again.  So sad.  She appeared to be such a happy, bubbly person.  I never thought she had a care in the world.  I still can’t believe she committed suicide and left a 12 year old son behind. 

I took the kids down and read them a story and tucked them in.  We talked about what a fun day we had.  I asked them what they thought the best part was….they both answered - the kittens.  I chuckled to myself.  I spent $75 today and the best part was petting the kittens.  We could have done that for free at the humane society…:-)  Oh, well…..it was a day they will remember.