Much rejoicing

One of my neighbours found my cat! I had to crawl under his porch and drag her out because she was too scared to move, but she's now at home, filthy, hungry, but otherwise ok.
Sometimes you take the things you love for granted, and I have spent the past couple of days thinking that I would not get a chance to say a proper goodbye to one of my best and oldest friends. She has seen me through countless men, a marriage, jobs, school, tragedies, and moments of elation. She has seen me at my best and my absolute worst without judgment or a bad word. When I have needed her, she has always been there, sometimes with a purr and a cuddle, sometimes with a bite or a whack across the head. I'm sure I deserved it all. I know that she's just a cat, and that even though I love her, she's not a person, but you get used to somethings just always being in your life and the idea of them being gone is just wrong.
She's 17, I'm not kidding myself that she will be around forever and I am dreading the day we say goodbye, but that day is not today and I sincerely hope our goodbye will be a proper one deserving of our friendship.

Petting zoos a plenty

It's Easter, so every mall now has a petting zoo with all the basics: sheep, goats, llamas, ducks, piggies, bunnies, and chickens. The kids just love the animals, and the animals love the food from those little dispensers. Ben figured out that a whole bunch gets dropped, and he diligently picked up the pellets and fed them to the sheep - smart boy!

Steve took Naomi out with the playgroup to another mall on Wednesday, but Naomi was far more excited about the indoor play structure than the animals this time.

She's also discovered that climbing up slides is fun. She's been a bit hard on Steve lately; she's very busy and now seems to have a penchant for extreme toddler sports, like climbing on to the kitchen table and rolling off and jumping up and down on the toilet. Living with a small Knieval is tiring because it's a constant race to protect her from herself. Even when she falls she's not deterred. We are very happy that the weather is getting warmer and the park is now an option for running off some energy for both kids. They love the park more than they love us, and possibly more than their Uncle Scott, although that could be an exaggeration.