August 8 DTJ Part Four

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This will be the last posting of our few hours at Deer Tracks Junction ... I don't have that many more pictures to show you; but they are GOOD ones of Kaity and Gabe with the Budgies ...

I purchased 3 feed sticks for us to use inside the pavilion. Gabe was definitely NOT a fan of having birds land on him--he did okay if there was ONE bird at a time; but they are rather excited little creatures and tend to FLOCK on people without much warning.

Gabe did a real nice job remaining steady, though--look at Kaity's tongue (below)!

Gabe lasted about five minutes before he gently put his feeding stick DOWN on the ground where the birds could attack it without landing on him ... at one point, I picked it back up and put it in his hand again--but that was before I realized he was getting a little creeped out by the birds. When he put the stick down the second time, it finally registered in my brain that he did it FOR A REASON (duh!).

Kaity and I love these birds. I do believe Kaity would take every one of them home with her if she were permitted to do so! She especially favors the pretty blue and white ones.

Aren't they beautiful? Kaity too!

I actually had a cockatoo land on my stick--a beautiful light grey with yellow markings. I wanted a picture of it so badly, but I couldn't operate my camera and kiss it at the same time--so while I had the chance, I took the opportunity to kiss it all I could! The cockatoo gave me a few "how dare you?!?!?!" stares, but as soon as he put his head down to eat more seeds from my stick, I stole another kiss. His feathers were SO soft!

After the birds, we wandered past the tortoises ... aren't they pretty? Look at how cool the design on their shells is! Only God can be awesome enough to create such beauty and detail!

We spent a very little time here with the little goats, fed them all, Kaity declaring she "WANTED ONE!!!". She thankfully missed reading the sign stating that the baby goats were for sale! Gabe wasn't too sure about the goat thing ...

The two of them climbed around on this playground for awhile ...

... and then we walked back to the little pig place with another playground and tractors too ...

We received a text from Jesse that he'd gotten word from Gabe's dad that he needed to be HOME by 6:00! We looked at our watches and it was nearly 5:00 already! We had to walk back through the gift shop to exit the park, so Kaity and Gabe played in the JAIL while I checked out prices of puzzles at the gift shop (WAY overpriced, so I did NOT purchase!) ...

This was when Gabe scraped just below his knee on one of the jail bars--to the point where it was bleeding!

We refilled out water bottles--the people at the counter just took our empty bottles and filled them up without $$ charge--how kind of them. We used some of the water to cleanse Gabe's wound, and then I was thankful to find some medicated ointment and bandage in the First Aid box in my car--which we applied to Gabe's leg. 

Our ride back to Jesse's was unremarkable--except, you see, I didn't realize Gabe would have to be home by 6:00 and had planned for us to eat dinner over at my house--that was NOT going to fit into our narrow timetable--so Plan B was implemented. However, I silently talked to the Lord about this quickie Plan B--which was to drive almost to Jesse's, pull in the drive-thru at McD's to get the kids some food, and then still get them to him with 20 minutes left for Jesse to get Gabe back to his house! But what if the drive-thru has a long slow-moving line?! 

I asked the Lord to give me wisdom about what to do: If there WAS a long line at McD's, perhaps I could just give food money to Jesse and hope that he would have better success finding a fast-food place that wasn't crowded ... however, I really didn't want to do that. The kids were hungry now!

As we turned into the parking lot at McDonald's, there was NO LINE AT ALL [at 5:35pm!!!], so we were able to order nuggets, fries and drinks for KT and Gabe and still make it to Jesse by 5:40, with time to get Gabe home at the requested time. It's important when you have a guest (who is a minor), to comply with what their parents have asked you to do! Thank you, Lord, for making it possible for me to still feed the kids and get them to Jesse in a reasonable amount of time.

ALL AND ALL ... this was the best three hours I have lived in over two weeks. Happiness! Joy! Laughter! Photographs! Animals! Friendship! Memories!

We owe it all to you, dear Lord. Thanks for taking such good care of us today.