A Birthday Weekend In The Best Of Company

                                Happy 17th to my shining star!

Being here in Atlanta was certainly not the way Kyle anticipated spending his 17th birthday.  But we made the best of it.  The two of us went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner to celebrate and then we walked the mall.  He picked out about 7 new pairs of the coolest Nike and LaBron socks to go with his fabulous shoe collection.  Just a simple present till we get back home, but non the less, it made his night.

We spent his birthday weekend just the two of us.  Neither Greg nor Alex could make it down, so I worried how we would fill the weekend without losing our minds to boredom.

We did a good job just the two of us.  In addition to the birthday celebration, we filled our time with simple things.

We went to the gym where Kyle was anxious to try running.  We ran a few laps around the indoor track but his left arm just made it so awkward and uncomfortable.  So we finished up on the treadmill instead.

We went to the park and walked two miles.

We ate nachos and watched football at our favorite sports bar.

We ate ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

We hung out on the roof late at night.

A side note about the roof that night... we've seen people come and go since we've been here.
And this night we happened to meet a new arrival while on the roof that evening.   At the late hour that it was, she thought she would be alone up there. She was embarrassed because she had come out in her pajamas. We invited her to sit and chat with us.  Her 17 year old son broke his neck on a rock while floating in the water along side his pontoon boat. We shared our stories, we gave encouragement, and then she headed to the other side of the roof to be alone.  Hopefully, Kyle and I will take the compassion and empathy that we are learning here back home with us.

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The highlight of the weekend was the zoo.

The zoo was a great place for Kyle to continue working on his walking and balance.  It was also a great place for us to really enjoy each others company.  It was a beautiful day, and it being late in the season, there were no crowds!  And I got to enjoy some much needed artistic expression (other than Shepherd Center!).

I think Kyle's favorite by far was the "budgies".   One can walk right among them.  They allowed Kyle to stroke their feathers, and me to get this "bird's eye view" for some photos!

The Silverback

Another favorite was watching the gorilla training.  They first use a clicker for reinforcement and then reward with grapes.

And what's a trip to the zoo without a visit to the Pandas!