Happy and Sad

Today was a little bit sad, but mostly happy!  We started the morning with a quick stop at the cemetery.  Today would have been my grandma's 88th birthday.  I have lots of fun memories of my grandma - eating Klondike bars on the railroad tracks in her backyard, the time she had lunch with me at school, watching Dallas with her when she babysat us - but the thing I hold most dear was her love for roses.  My grandma grew the biggest, most beautiful roses in a tiny little stretch of dirt between her driveway and her garage.  All summer, she'd let me pick my favorite bloom and then cut it, wrap the stem in a damp paper towel, and send it home with me to enjoy. 

Here's a picture of her with roses.  These aren't hers - I'm not sure where this photo was taken.  I know there's a great one of her with all the roses at her house, but I'll have to borrow it from my mom!

When Tom and I moved into our house, I knew that a rose garden was something I had to have.  I made a little garden in the corner of our yard, and I have 5 rose bushes of my very own now. For my grandma's birthday, I took her one of MY roses.  (They're small, but boy do they smell great!)

After our time at the cemetery, Sarah and I continued our outing with a trip to the zoo.  Little did I know, the "older" half of the zoo was closed so they could set up for Jazzoo (big fundraiser).  We got to the zoo, parked, and then loaded all our stuff onto a tram to ride around the parking lot, through the staff entrance, past the old and broken zoo attractions, and into the newer "Africa" section of the zoo.  It was a long ride, but the weather was gorgeous and we really enjoyed our visit!

Sarah also enjoyed walking at the zoo for the first time!  She was really good about it and stayed pretty close to me...most of the time.  She's such an adventurous little spirit!

On the way back to the car, Sarah got to ride on the same tram they used when I was her age!  (They had anything with a motor pulling people around that day!!!)  It was so fun to share that scratchy fiberglass memory with her...