A wishing star.

Did you know that you can only make a wish upon a wishing star? Autumn informed me of that this evening on our way home from church. I heard her whispering something, but didn't want to break the cardinal rule of asking someone what they wished for.

Autumn: I wished for something very special to come back to me.

Me: Oh really.

Autumn: It is black. Do you know what it is?

Me: No. I'm not sure.

Autumn: It is black. It has four legs and is very special to me. Do you know what it is?

Me: Yes I do. I wish he would come back too.

Our cats, both Prince and Penelope have gone missing. Penelope has been missing well over a month and the last time I saw Prince was February 5th. It is hard to hang on to much hope that they are still out there somewhere. It is hard to just not know.

We've had quite the busy day today. We went to church this morning, and then after church, we stopped by Zaxby's and picked up a chicken finger plate. Headed home to change clothes, grab the jogger and a few supplies and then made our way to

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Callaway. I was a little nervous because of my ankle, but it was fine. I even ran a tiny bit to test the waters. It hasn't bothered me one single bit. Of course I haven't taken my shoes off yet. I am thinking everything will be alright though.

We walked a mile and a half to the

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Butterfly gardens.

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We sat on a bench and ate our lunch.

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We examined some of the flowers outside.

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There weren't many butterflies flying around today. It seemed odd. A couple from Florida complained to me. I told them it was quite odd. We always see lots of butterflies in here. We were having a good time though and I made a choice not to let a complete stranger sour my day! Millie looks adorable, doesn't she?

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Autumn wanted to take some pictures.....

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Crooked eye smiles for her!

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So I know I look totally ridiculous (thank you Autumn), but right at that moment, one of the butterfly workers came out with what looked like Autumn's winnie the pooh laundry basket. It was full of butterflies and she was evicting them right next to where we were standing. It was so cool. Take that whiny whiners from Florida!

We headed back out because I wanted to get over to the birds of prey show. Autumn and Millie were

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Hopping around the butterfly garden.

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They were having such a good time. I told them we needed to get going so we could see a show. They got all kinds of excited.

We ran approximately 1 mile from the butterfly center to the ampitheater at the discovery center. We arrived to this scene.

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We picked a seat on the second row.

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Autumn thought sitting on Millie would be more comfortable.

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Seriously, these children are easily entertained.

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Meet Mark (the trainer) and the predatory bird. Mark explained to the kids that predatory birds like to eat meat. Then (before any birds came out) he asked the kids what are these as he held out his hand. The children all replied, fingers. The parents all replied, MEAT! I told Autumn and Millie to keep their hands down at all times!

I cannot remember the names of all the birds we saw, but the next one....

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Juniper. An owl. She was awesome!!!!!!!! All the birds would fly over, through, on top of the audience. It was hard to get a picture of it because 1, they were super fast, but also because of where I was sitting. If I get to go back to one of these shows, I would have you sit with the girls down front while I sat in the back. Anyway, Juniper came flying across and actually brushed right overs Autumn's head. I mean, Juniper actually made contact with Autumn! Autumn said she even felt her on her nose! It was crazy. I put my arm around her because I wasn't sure if she would keep going, but she did. Autumn screamed for about half a second and then

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Laughed. She thought that was the coolest thing ever and she cannot wait to tell you about it. I have this feeling that Juniper has a thing for blonds.

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When I pushed the button, the bird was in the shot. This should give you an idea though of how the audience would respond each time a bird would fly by. Seriously, the coolest show ever! Oh and it was totally free.

After the show

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We measured our wing spans.

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Millie was an owl.

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Autumn was a falcon.

We went in to the Discovery center and explored some more. After, we started making our way back to the car. We took our time though and explored just whatever we wanted to on the way back.

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We stopped at the chapel and Autumn wanted to climb the rocks. She got up there all by herself. I see her confidence building in the area of rock climbing. I think it will keep getting more and more fun as she grows and can do more challenging climbs.

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I helped Millie over there, but she wanted to do it herself. I just don't trust her! A lady sitting on the bench behind me told me that the girls were very well behaved and listened to me quite well. I said, "really?" She said yes and that she saw us at the birds of prey show and that the girls did exactly as I had asked them to. She told me that is so rare these days. I thanked her for her kind words and honestly, it was nice to hear. Sometimes you lose sight of simple things like that when you are around the kids all the time.

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I think this might be my favorite place at callaway. We always have to stop by and check it out. When we went by the first time, there was organ music playing. I think someone was getting married. Autumn told me, "I think someone is getting married because the music is playing and that means you have to dance and get married. I don't want to have any babies, they are disgusting, so I am not getting married. Dancing is fun though."

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Random stranger took our picture.

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Random dancing? Actually, Millie was showing you her muscles. Her muscles are so big, she doesn't even have to flex!

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Autumn just scares me.

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Awww! Sweet, sweet I want to be a chicken Millie.

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Autumn says that she cannot wait for you to come home so we can take you to the bird show. Also, both girls want to know if you have a mustache.

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Don't you wish you could jump like that?

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Our girls are so cool.

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And super sweet.

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We finally left Callaway just after 5 pm. Church is at 6 pm. We drove back towards home, stopped at the BP in Ellerslie so I could pick up cookies and milk! That is what they had for dinner. Autumn went to Iguana's, Millie went to nursery and I sat in service and listened to a sermon about family. I enjoyed it.

We are all home now. Both of our little girls are completely tuckered out and in bed. I hope they sleep well. I think I will.

I miss you so much. I am so sorry about the cats. I know it is especially hard on you. Mr Prince has been our friend for almost 14 years. Mr Penelope, 7 ish.

I love you.

Your current wife and favorite airman. xoxo

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The count: 118 and 114 days of jumping into life and wishing upon stars.

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