Grillin' for Food Gatherers

It's an amazing charity program here in our area. Food Gatherers collects all manner of unwanted, unsold, and uneaten food from stores, bakeries, restaurants, etc., sorts it for edibility (my spell checker is going to yell at me for that one), and redistributes it to people in need. You know that mound of carrots at the grocery store that you've always wondered "how can they possibly sell all those?" or maybe, like me, you've often lamented "why do they stock so much of XXXX? There's no way they sell it all. What a waste!" Well, this program does the amazing thing of connecting people in need, with food in need of homes.

My dad volunteers there. He's done this since he retired and needed something else to do with his time (other than all the other fun things in the world, that is). He has ridden in the trucks to pick up or deliver pallets of food, and he's stood in the warehouse sorting. He's met many interesting people, and helped many more that he has never met.

Once a year Food Gatherers hosts a grilling pow-wow at the fairgrounds in Saline. Many delicious local restaurants and catering services donate their food, many more people donate their time or other expertise, and others of us go to enjoy all those donations and all that hard work. Food Gatherers makes their money in the fundraiser on tickets sold to event and on raffles and auctions that takes place within. My dad has worked the beer pouring station for a couple of years now. It's a good place for him, and we take him "out for dinner" on his break.

Our community is pretty supportive of the group, and even this year's stormy weather couldn't bring it down.

Partying

Have I have told the story here of our "camping friends"? I call them camping friends for the purpose of simplification, because we've gone camping with them at least every year for the past five, but that's not the only basis for our friendship. Sarah and I were friends growing up. We've been friends, in fact, since we were in first grade (Sarah likes to tell it that it would have been earlier, but she got stuck in afternoon kindergarten while I had morning). We lost touch somewhere midway through high school and did not reconnect until the miracle of facebook, when we found that our children were born just two days apart. Two days.

So we get together several times a year, including to go camping, and to celebrate the kids' birthdays together. It's a tradition now.

And, because one party per weekend isn't enough for a ninth birthday, we also had a party with the grandparents this weekend. You could say it was a grand party. Because you only turn nine once.

Week 23, in pictures

June 4: In the wild
by Cortney

by Calvin

June 5: A little nerdy
by Cortney

by Calvin

June 6: Create a scene
by Cortney

by Calvin

June 7: In my hands
by Cortney

by Calvin

June 8: Open to receive
by Cortney

by Calvin

June 9: Where I stand
by Cortney

by Calvin

June 10: Selected
by Cortney

by Calvin

Birthday evening

Dinner (crab legs) and a book store shopping trip. And he asked to park at the very top of the parking structure, and so we did. It feels so great, as parents of such a great kid, to have a day where we can basically say yes to everything.

Birthday Zoo

If all Spike Jones and the Chipmunks wanted for Christmas was their two front teeth, all Calvin really wanted on his birthday was a trip to the zoo. The poor kid had earned it weeks ago with a good showing in his end-of-the-year school work and had patiently been waiting ever since then, but one thing or another (weather, car trouble, and other events) had gotten in the way...until last week, and then it just seemed fitting to wait. And maybe to surprise.

Recently, in talking with my parents about fun memories and events, I mentioned how fantastic it was that they were so spontaneous when we were kids. I distinctly remember several days, sprinkled here and there through the years, that started like any other day but ended at a fair, or a zoo, or eating ice cream the next town over. The best example I had was my brother and I being awakened early one morning and asked if we'd like to go to Cedar Point. You have to ask??? Of course! I mentioned to them how wonderful that seemed, both at the time and even now, looking back, and they had this to say: it wasn't spontaneous at all. They'd planend it all out, they just didn't want us to be disappointed if it rained and we ended up not being able to go. I guess you could say said spontaity was a little like Santa Claus.

So when we got up on the morning of Calvin's birthday, and we'd filled his floor with balloons in the night, then served him the breakfast of his choice and given him a card I'd been saving for for him for years, I asked him what, if he could do anything in the world, would he like to do for his birthday. Go the zoo, was his obvious answer, and I simply said yes. And it seemed spontaeous, and it felt like a gift in and of itself, and it was great! And I'd planned it all ahead. I learned from the best.

So to the zoo we went, along with, apparently, dozens of schools taking elementary kids on equally well-earned end-of-the-year field trips. That's okay, though, because outside venues don't get crowded the way indoor museums do, and we were able to avoid most of the cumbersome foot traffic. We did do several of Calvin's favorite things: the dinosaur exhibit was back after several years away, we rode the train, we visited the penguins, and, because this was top on his list of things to see, we visited the Black-crowned Night Heron roookery, which is not an official zoo exhibit, as the birds are entirely wild but have made the zoo trees their home for decades. We also saw a tiny baby Oriole being fed by his parents and a family of Wood Ducks in the free pond (i.e. also not zoo animals), and there were two entirely new animals, Gentoo Penguins and Wolves, which delighted both of us.

Although sad that Jon could not join us, I cannot think of a better way to celebrate this little boy turning nine.

Mexican Bluewing

Owl Butterfly

Scarlet Ibis

Read the sign, don't remember

Taveta Golden Weaver

Wood Duck family

Baltimore Oriole

Styracosaurus

Red Panda

Amur Tiger

Polar Bear

Grizzly Bear

Black-crowned Night Heron (wild)

Gray Wolf

Pairie Dog

American Robin (wild, bathing)

Giant Anteater

Flamingo (bathing)