We are staying with her and her husband Dan this week at Dan's sister's lake house.
Grand Rapids was about an hour away and so the girls all traveled to John Ball Zoo this morning.
The guys headed to Detroit to see the Tigers play baseball.
It was a really great zoo and *(history lesson here)* is named for John Ball who was a lawyer, educator, and agriculturist who traveled with an expedition to the west coast in 1832 before the Oregon Trail came became a popular route. He donated land in Grand Rapids where he settled later in life and this land now holds the John Ball Zoo.
The zoo was full of trees and was one of the most relaxing and entertaining zoos I've ever been to.
Tigers, lions, camels, otters, a maned wolf (so cool!), and chimps.
This chimp looks very much like some of my relatives.
It's because of chimpanzees like this that I am certain, beyond any doubt, we are creatures of evolution.
My girls did a high ropes course.
High ropes course?
What is that?
I'll explain...children and adults are fit into harnesses and attached to a cable system.
Then they traverse high in the sky through a rope bridge, steep staircase, high wire labyrinth.
Gigi had a bit of fear, but certainly wasn't going to let her sister do it without her.
Zoe also did a zip line that shuttled her high amongst the treetops and over zoo visitor heads.
Gigi doesn't weigh enough to do a zip line course yet.
Sad.
Zoe shows no fear in doing these things.
I think it's because she's been through hell and back with her cancer treatments.
Zip lining isn't scary at all to her.
Blood draws and cranial radiation scare her more.
Knowing she isn't scared leads me to not being scared for her.
There's always the possibility that a harness will break or that a rope won't hold.
But I can't go through life being outwordly afraid of these things.
That's not fair to her.
So I pay the money and sign the forms.
I shut my mouth and keep my fears inside my head.
I do push them back, though.
I watch her zip though the trees like a bird.
Knowing she's free up there.
She's not sick anymore.
She's spreading those wings...
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