Bouncing Like Kangaroo's

We miss our Idaho Falls friends terribly and sadly we haven't found anyone here in our new area that the kids can really play with.  We live in a neighborhood full of a lot of really little kids and so there are not kids for Ben and Sarah to play with. The ward constantly has people moving in and out and we've just gotten lost in the mass of people.  It's probably my fault, but it's made it so we haven't really met anyone. It's been hard on the kids, mostly Sarah.  She talks constantly about her Idaho Falls friends and asks when we can move back.  I hate it.  I'm hoping our next house will provide a larger variety of children and some good friends for my kids.

With that being said, I was leaving Walmart one morning with my 3 youngest kids, when I noticed a little girl walking in that looked strangely familiar. I watched her run up to her mom and as the woman turned around a huge smile spread across my face.  It was an old friend from a long time ago, Jillian McGregor.  Jillian and I go back to high school days and our story is kind of a different one.  You see I've only met Jillian one other time in my life, but I feel like we've been great friends forever.  We know each other because of our dad's.  They have been friends since college and have managed to keep in touch over the years.  When Jillian's family moved back to Utah, when we were in high school, my dad took me to Salt Lake to meet them.  We went to a football game and then I spent the remainder of the weekend with them.  It was so much fun and something I'll always remember.  That was the one and only time I'd ever seen Jillian, but through the beauty of Facebook I've been able to reconnect with her.  Turns out she was neighbors with my sister-in-law in college and married a Grace boy just like me.  Who knew we'd have so much in common.  Anyway, I knew she lived nearby and I was so excited when I ran into her at Walmart.

We talked a little in Walmart and then decided to get our kids together during the Christmas break.  She was taking her kids to Kangaroo Zoo and asked if I wanted to come along.  It's kind of pricey, but we'd budgeted some money for fun activities like that during the Christmas holiday so I readily agreed.  We met that Thursday for some bouncing, running, giggling and talking fun.  She has 2 older girls, a boy and a new baby girl. Sarah and her oldest hit it off quite well and I really enjoyed watching Sarah play with someone again.  Jillian's boy really liked Ben and Ben did a good job to include him.  It was a great day and I think it's about time to get together again.

Sarah and Jillian's oldest going down one of the many slides.

Hannah climbing up to go down a slide.

Adam was very fascinated with the bounce houses and slides.  He was not, however, a fan of them.  I tried to take him in them a few times and he'd kick and scream and tried to claw his way out.

Gracie just chilling out.

Dan was a little scared of the slides at first, but after Sarah took him on one or two he decided they were awesome.  This little boy had a blast.

Adam admiring the slide from a distance. He would just wander around looking at everything and everyone.

The boys in the obstacle course.

Gracie going down the slide on her belly.  FUN!!!!!

Hannah wandered around asking me to take a picture of her on every slide.  She loved the slides.

The kids ran and ran and never stopped.  They were red faced, tired and very happy when we left. Not to mention very cute. 

After all of his wandering around, Adam finally found something he really liked at Kangaroo Zoo.  The drinking fountain.  He was soaked when we left, but he was a happy boy.