A Day of Highs & Lows

Today we woke up at Jill’s. Janan had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and strawberries (some of her favorites!) and then we had lunch at Puccini's (an old IN favorite) with Aunt Jill & Uncle Jason. (Remember, they aren't married...Aunt Jill is Janan's godmother and Uncle Jason is Mama's brother). :o)

After lunch we said good-bye to Uncle Jason and then to Aunt Jill (with some tears from Mama, there) and then headed to Sahm Park to meet Tahnea & Jamela. Sahm Park is a really cool water park in Indianapolis. Sadly, while there, we discovered that Albus, Janan’s white rat had died. Albus hasn’t been well for about a week or so had recently lost some weight. I think the trip was just too much for him. As can be expected, Janan was very upset, so it took her a bit to get excited about being at the water park.

After some grieving, Janan and Jamela discovered the water slides and from there the rest of the afternoon was filled with laughter, swimming and water sliding!

After the water park, we had dinner at Noodles & Company and then came back to Tahnea & Jamela’s for a memorial/ burial service for Albus. When we arrived back at the house, Tahnea had a message from her father than her grandmother passed away yesterday. She was 94 and had survived over 15 years of cancer. Truly, this day reiterated for us the cycles of life and how we're all a part of them. Many blessings for Tahnea & Jamela who burned sage and sweet grass for Albus and provided him a permanent resting place. Jamela & Janan also made a beautiful marker for Albus's resting spot.

After the service we were all exhausted and headed for bed.

Tomorrow we are TN bound! See all ya'll there!

P.S. pics were taking TOO long to load, so I'll post them tonight with today's blog (uh, yeah, we're sitting in a Holiday Inn parking lot 'stealing' Wi-Fi time to get this posted for ya'll! You can WAIT for the pics!)

P.P.S. OK...pic are up! Enjoy!