The best few hours of yesterday...

Sigh. I must say that it's been quite awhile since there has been a week in my life quite as difficult as this one has been. Thankfully, this is not the "norm." But yesterday, after work, I drove over to visit Little Fellow and his mama. We had an agenda, and the first item was to go to Hopscotch because our little man needed a few extra training pants. He is doing really well so far with his training! Yay, Brendan (actually, the credit goes to Dylan and Kelly, who consistently put him ON the potty).

 Brendan enjoys a good shopping trip ...

 He explores every corner of every room he is in ...

 But he is a very careful little child … he never empties shelves; nor does he touch the merchandise ON the shelves. However, if there is a basket of toys at his level with a table on which to play them … well, that's an open invitation!

It's been so perfectly lovely, weather-wise, we decided to take advantage of it and re-visit the zoo.  

We practically had the entire zoo to ourselves … which is very special! 

 The stingrays continue to thrill this little boy ...

 There are 17 stingrays in this pool of water, plus ONE six-month old "pup." Brendan takes extra delight in this little pup, and says: "Oh, the baby!"

 Brendan loved watching them sail through the water ...

 They were quite friendly with us! They would raise their "wings" and almost give us a "high-five!"

 Kelly was showing Brendan how to put his hand flat in the water and how to softly touch them as they swam by … he did a very nice job following her instructions.

I know! I know! SO MANY PICTURES! 

I just loved watching these two sweethearts play and interact with these interesting sea creatures. Isn't God so good? 

On our way to look for a bathroom (!), we wandered by the grizzlies who were out and about and … quite close for us to see!

 Little Fellow looks SO LITTLE next to Mrs. Grizzly!

 I love going to the zoo with these two … they are never in a hurry … everything is interesting … such a happy time!

 And look at the golden leaves in the parking lot at the zoo! Yikes! I am NOT ready for what follows our beautiful autumns ...

We decided to bring home some yummy pizza for dinner, which we enjoyed, and then we played outside for a little while before I had to go home. I had a wonderful few hours with this dear family.

The beautiful crocuses in Little Fellow's yard!