Sunshine, Koi and Turtles

Husband's Mom is truly a sweet lady.  She is very loving and a good sport about doing anything we want to do.  She isn't demanding and doesn't boss us around in our own home like I know some mother-in-laws do.  But that doesn't mean she isn't high maintenance.  *wink*  

Her health is terrible, largely because when she is home in Tehran she doesn't take her medications regularly or take good care of her health in general.  I have to give her all her meds when she is here because otherwise she doesn't take them.  Arthritis in her spine has almost crippled her and she cannot walk or stand for very long at all without horrible pain.  But GOD FORBID she should sit in a wheelchair!  So we haven't been going out as much this year.

And walking is v  e  r   y   s   l   o   w  with mother-in-law.  She and Grandmother are a couple of turtles now.  They've both slowed down a LOT in the last year and when we go shopping it is exactly like taking two turtles for a walk.

However, the Japanese garden at the Seattle arboretum is a great place to take someone who can't walk very far because it is full of places to sit and rest and enjoy the scenery.  So yesterday that is where we went.  Here is husband and mother-in-law...

At the entrance to the garden you can buy a bag of koi food for $1 so we bought some, started a koi feeding frenzy and the Things put their toes in the water for the koi to nibble on.  I can't get over how HUGE the koi are!

It was so nice to see the kids enjoying some time outdoors, relaxed and happy all together.  Daughter was watching a blue heron and the Things were watching the fish.  I think they would have happily sat here all day if we had let them.

Doesn't daughter look thrilled to be out with her whole family?  This is right at the beginning of the garden before the relaxing atmosphere had time to melt away her moody, sulky attitude.  It sure did the trick though, I plan on taking her there once a week this summer, by the end of the day she was ALMOST pleasant!

So far this summer has been a lot of fun, I dearly love having the kids home all day and not being a slave to a schedule.  We can do what we want when we want to and it is wonderful.