Stones, Angelina, and Walter

After sleeping in (all of us) and having a big breakfast, we decided to celebrate Father's Day at one of our favorite local attractions, the zoo!  We braved the clouds, loaded up the wagon, and had an interesting visit!

At the end of March, we purchased personalized paving stones as a fundraiser for the purchase of a new cougar.  And today we were pleasantly surprised to find our bricks had been installed just the day before!  I loved seeing the girls' names carved into the stone and nestled next to each other.  Natalie pointed to and named each letter.  Charlotte stuck her finger in the heart shape and proceeded to crawl around.
 

The stones were placed in an area that overlooks another part of the zoo.  It's directly above an exhibit of rather large birds called Emus.  If I knew what I was talking about or thought it would even help, I would compare emus to an ostrich.  Large.  Flightless.  Small head.  Large body.

As you can see from the photos above, Natalie is clutching a small animal in a dress.  Well, that's a newly-acquired (during yard sales yesterday) Angelina Ballerina doll - sporting a delightful yellow tutu.

We aren't entirely sure of all the details, but that well-dressed mouse took a nice, long fall into the emu enclosure.  Natalie screamed out and started crying immediately - fairly certain she was fearing for Angelina's life.  The crowds down below all turned to look. A nearby zoo intern radioed for back-up and tried to distract the emus.  Despite her efforts, several of the large birds trotted over for a closer look. And I grabbed the camera ...

Walter, in particular, was quite smitten with Angelina.  Thankfully, the zoo keeper was able to retrieve the dancing mouse!  She was returned ... dirty but all in one piece with yellow tutu still in tact!

another Saturday night

Honestly, I barely remember what I used to do on a Saturday night before kids.  Okay, that's a lie.  I do remember ... sort of ... but I choose not to think about the details of that carefree time of my life ... lest I get all depressed and stuff!  No, I am only kidding!  I won't trade this time of my life for anything!

After a rainy, dreary day, CPV rallied the troops and took all three of his girls on a date.  Or maybe we took him since it is Father's Eve.  Either way, we were all presentable and left the house in a semi-not-chaotic state - always a good thing ... on both counts!

Daddy got to choose the restaurant, and no surprise ... he wanted to go to Stan's BBQ.

 Charlotte loves food with a little "kick" ... she gobbled up smoked meatballs and baked beans!

 Natalie tends to be drastically less adventuresome with her palate.  She opted for mac-n-cheese and whatever bread she could get her hands on!

Dinner was followed by ... drum roll, please ... dessert!  At our favorite local cupcakery, which just happens to be walking distance from the barbecue place.  Trust me, Chad's choice was most definitely not a coincidence!  We ordered two cupcakes: banana with whipped chocolate frosting and chocolate with cookies-n-cream frosting ... both were delicious!

I am super bummed that I didn't take a photo of the cupcake eating!  That would've been so much cuter than a bowl of processed cheese-covered noodles!  We did, however, have a delightful conversation with an older couple, who were there when we arrived.  They have 9 grandchildren living in three different states, which explains why they were so entertained by Natalie's journalistic sense of question-asking and story-telling!

We finished off our date night with a walk down the railroad tracks.  The rain had finally stopped, and despite a heavy layer of clouds, it was actually a very nice evening.  I especially love that I was able to get four good photos ... with my point-n-shoot!

Perhaps the best part, we were home and in our jammies by 9:00!  Now, that's my kind of Saturday night!

May Day

The sunshine has NOT been in abundance here in the NW. It has been a rainy, dreary spring with a very occasional ray ... I mean, day ... of sunshine!  Today was beyond beautiful!  Seeing the sun on the weekend is like winning the lottery!  The mountains were calling, and so we drove east to one of our favorite hikes, Rattlesnake Lake.  We did not attempt the scenic hike with the girls - this time, but we did have a picnic lunch by the lake.

Natalie was thrilled to finally be able to wear a tank top without a sweater on top.  It's the simple pleasures, I tell ya!  She even took off her shoes and felt the grass and muck between her toes!

Charlotte just wanted down ... to crawl amongst the muck and goose poop.  Oh, what's the mama of a very active crawler to do?  You guessed it, invest in some good stain treater and lots of hand sanitizer!  She was in a little slice of heaven all her own!
 

A little father-daughter bonding in an amazing setting!

And, look, there's even proof that I was there ... with my two crazy girls!

We can tell you how to get ...

... how to get to Sesame Street!  Yep, we know the way ... it's a long car ride,  detour into a parking garage, and a few blocks walk from where we live!

Natalie has herself a completely normal and healthy obsession with love of Sesame Street.  It's probably something I've fostered, much like her love from owls, because, well, I am not afraid to admit that I enjoy myself a little SS. I have great nostalgia for the episodes from my own childhood, memories of a Cookie Monster cake my mom made for one of my early birthdays, and tremendous respect for an iconic show that has been around for 40 years and pioneered educational programming for the preschool population.

The live show was fantastic!  Seeing Natalie absolutely light up with the excitement of it all ... was magical and brought me to tears.  At first she was stunned into silence and just took it in.  Eventually, she was up dancing and singing along to the songs she knew.  We purchased the "best available" seats according to the venue's website, and they were "on the floor."  Live and learn because that was a mistake.  The folding chairs were lined up on flat ground, which made seeing over all the adult heads in the crowd really impossible.  After intermission Chad asked an usher if we could take empty seats in the raised section - I insisted he ask permission before me moved - and we got the go-ahead.  Best decision!  The view of the stage was far superior plus we had a little extra wiggle-room and Natalie could stand and dance the whole time.

Charlotte was great the whole time.  She slept on the way, rode in the carrier, took in all the excitement, decided it was time to eat, and hung out in the bathroom with me for a bit.  Public venues that are hosting families should make some kind of accommodations for the littlest ones of the crowd.  There was plenty of room in the bathroom for a few chairs - where moms could get away from the noise and lights for a few minutes or, dare I suggest it, have a nice place to breastfeed?!  With a full belly and new seats, Charlotte settled in for a snooze.  It always amazes me when babies can sleep just about anywhere and with all kinds of ruckus going on around them!

The show was over at lunchtime, and mama was hungry ... a quick 10-mile detour took us to our favorite burger joint where we enjoyed our "sunny day, sweeping the clouds away" kind of day (look at the blue skies and white puffy clouds) during our picnic lunch ... 

We got back home well after naptime, and both girls were exhausted ... but I still managed to snap this cute photo of their Sesame Street attire:

Thanks, Chitown Momma, for the hand-me-down onesie for CJV ... it was too big but adorable nonetheless!

Impromptu Camping

A newly finished post from July 11th ...

Chad called at 10:00 yesterday morning (while Natalie and I were eating breakfast because my sweet girl slept until 9:30) and asked if we wanted to go camping tonight. Hold up. What exactly was my husband asking? Allow me to translate: Hi, honey, would you like to ....

• Sleep in a tent - essentially on the ground - while pregnant AND with an almost-two-year-old?
  
• Entertain an almost-two-year-old around a campfire, large rocks, and annoying bugs?
  
• Pack enough food (and variety of food) to feed two adults and an almost-two-year-old for at least three meals and snacks in between?

My response, "Sure, I'll try anything once." We packed and headed out in the late afternoon. The campground and campsite were great, and the tent set-up was flawless. For dinner we roasted hot dogs and enjoyed fruit salad. Natalie played with her Little People, ate rocks, fell off the picnic table, ... basic toddler stuff. And we went for a walk along a mostly dry river bed before roasting marshmallows and calling it a night.

After about 12 hours in the great outdoors, Chad asked another question, "It's going to be at least five years before we try this again, isn't it?"

Honestly, it wasn't anywhere near that awful. Here are a few of the more memorable moments:

It took Natalie about two hours to fall asleep in the tent. All three of us went to bed (or sleeping bag) at the same time. In hindsight, we should've done a more "normal" bedtime routine and got her settled inside the tent. And then we should've hung out by the campfire and enjoyed some alone time while she fell asleep. Instead, she wiggled around in between us and had a hard time going to sleep because of the excitement of having us there.

I had to relieve my bladder about a bazillion times. Hey, that's what pregnant ladies do; I couldn't help it! The walk to the "pit toilet" wasn't bad - in daylight or even dusk - admittedly, the name is awful and the smell not so nice either. But in the middle of the night, there was no way I was going to stumble around like bear bait! Not even with the headlamp that Chad provided. Thanks, honey, now I can look like a dork while projecting a 12-inch radius of light and signaling the bears to my exact location! And so at some crazy hour of pitch-blackness, I asked Chad to go with me - away from the tent - so I could squat and get some much-needed bladder relief. I figure two humans must be more intimidating to bears, right? Besides, I needed someone to watch my back ... quite literally ... my bare, white little backside! Following my lead in his groggy state, Chad managed to scoot to the door of the tent ... and then zipped it closed behind me! I was like, what are you doing? Leaving me out here to die? He, of course, assured me I would be fine - he was watching. Yeah, I wasn't' even slightly reassured. So I tiptoed about two feet and dropped drawers within maybe a foot of the tent. I really had to go, and brave hubby left me no option.

4 Days to 2

Kid's Hamburger - $1.99

Water* in a "special" cup - Free

This face - Priceless

*Chad says an asterisk is required because I put a splash of lemonade in Natalie's water cup ... without paying for it. He's hoping I'll finally do a "double feature" with him at the movie theater ... a request he's been making for the past 15 years. It's not going to happen!

Tiptoeing Through the Tulips

We made our 3rd "annual" trip to see the tulips on Sunday. It's about an hour and a half drive north of here and worth the trip, especially if you can go on a weekday - as we did the past two years. This trip - on a beautiful Sunday - involved far more traffic and crowds than hubby and I find delightful.

I never would've guessed that I live so close to the "tulip capital of the world" (or something like that). I had a college roommate from the "pumpkin capital of the world" - Morton, IL in case you're interested - and I was always just a tad envious. But now I have my own claim to fame and yearly mecca. I am guessing that tulips photograph much better than a bunch of pumpkins!

It was hard to get photos of Natalie's face because a) she was looking down at the flowers - who can blame her? they are gorgeous, b) when she did look up, it was to check out the huge kites - again, who can blame her?, and c) it was high noon with sunny skies, which required a lot of squinting. But I did take plenty of shots, and CPV must've taken the hint in this post because he grabbed the camera to take pics of me and baby girl together, too :)