Category Archives: family

The Zoo! Again!

I know what you’re thinking… the zoo again?  Well, that’s what happens when you have a membership.  You tend to go a lot.  Plus, I really wanted to see the new baby tiger, and the kangaroos will be going away soon, so it just seemed like the right time to go back. Also, I kind of insisted on it since everyone was cranky and I will not be trifled with!

Besides… isn’t she adorable?  I should have brought my better camera, but didn’t, so I guess I’ll just have to go back soon. Granted, it’s also hard to shoot through glass that is smeared and has a ton of glare.  Serious cute aggression happened, though.

It was overcast and we seemed to have arrived during nap time for most of the animals… again. Haha!

These kangaroos were not about to get up and I found it amusing that there were just a bunch of kangaroos lounging on a hill that usually has bison hanging out on it…

Sometimes it’s really just best not to ask what they’re doing.

Also… note to self that it’s time to invest in better anti-aging creams… Seriously??

Excitement, however!!  I have NEVER seen the beaver out when we’ve been to the zoo and there he/she was!

And then more animals slept…

We did get to see the Lynx stalk a bird, which was fun.  It was so cute when it’s butt and little tail started to do the whole wiggle.

They had to climb and fight over every single one of these damn statues throughout the zoo.  WHY???

Cuddle party, Lemur style!

The bats will never cease being cool.

Another guy we often don’t see up close… both of them actually. They don’t move and they always look fake.

A bigger version of Bowser. Ha!

And a flamboyance of Flamingos.  They are such a strange, but glorious bird.

And that is all I’ve got for this slightly overcast Wednesday.  We have Enzo’s Kindergarten open house this afternoon and then plans to go the gym, so we’ll see how that goes. We’re going to drop the kids off in gym childcare and see how the evening progresses!

Family Outing and the Stuff Kids Say

It’s been a few weeks now, but a weekend finally worked out where we could all go to the zoo together.  There are kangaroos temporarily there and the kids wanted to see them, so on a chilly day with rain on the horizon, off we went. Haha!

It’s also nice to have Josh there because then I don’t have to shuffle kids, a stroller, and coffee.  Enzo decided to bring his camera to the zoo that day too, so I need to grab it and see what he took pictures of!

It was a really nice, slow day without too many people, which means it’s perfect to walk on the Tropics Trail – especially when it’s chilly outside.  The kids can wander off, and Phoebe can run into at least a dozen people because that’s kind of just what she does.

As difficult as this age is at times, there are some pretty great moments.  The kids have been really into realistic imaginative play.  They like to set up a store and go shopping, or one night we set up a restaurant.  Not gonna lie, it’s one of my new favorite games.  The kids wanted to go out to eat after swim lessons, but that wasn’t happening, so Enzo actually had the great idea to play restaurant at home.  As soon as we got home, I set up a little table for them (with flowers too) and grabbed some “menus” and crayons and led them to their seat.

Phoebe kept calling me Restaurant instead of Waitress, so I finally convinced her to just call me Heather.  They loved ordering drinks (Enzo said he would have a beer) and Joe their friendly waiter served those while I took their food orders and set about preparing that.  They were both unbelievably polite – way more than they usually are in an actual restaurant – and it was adorable when they would ask Joe for something (Phoebe: Joe, can I go to the restroom?) or when Enzo told me quite politely “I think I forgot my wallet.”

We sent Joe out to the parking lot to see if he had dropped it next to his car and sure enough, Joe was able to find it. 😉  I wrote up a receipt and everything and ran Enzo’s card through, and even more adorable, I saw him grab a crayon to sign his receipt.  I had no idea they paid as much attention as they do when we go places, but sure enough… he knows the drill.

Phoebe wanted to pay as well, so she ran and grabbed her wallet and tried giving me her actual money telling me she wanted me to buy something nice. Haha!  Tempting…

The game isn’t old yet… last night Phoebe asked for an apron so she could cook me something to eat in her restaurant.  “Um, ma’am? Ma’am!  What do you want?”  Haha!  She’s full of “Yes, Ma’am’s” lately and it’s pretty cute. I realize I’m completely biased.  Enzo is full of sass and usually keeps us laughing as well.  He’s a big fan of knock-knock jokes right now, which reminds me of myself as a kid.  I remember buying a joke book and rainbow sherbet and being in heaven.

Simple things, right?  Some days I long for simplicity, though modern day conveniences are quite nice.

Or just a big kitty to snuggle… I’d be okay with a leopard too.

7 Year Anniversary

Technically our 7 year wedding anniversary was yesterday, but I was away the from computer all day, which seemed like the better idea.  Where does the time go?  It’s hard to believe that we’ve also been living in Minnesota for 9 years, and together for 10 years. I also never thought I’d still be living in Minnesota, but kids have a way of altering your entire life path, you know?  Suddenly you start to worry about which schools are good and where the safest neighborhoods are and what the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow is.

This post is mostly just a nostalgic look back as I reminisce about times gone by and look to the future with googly eyes, imagining future adventures and the journey to come.  You may think it’s easy and straight-forward to love someone, but it isn’t always and navigating parenting can be hard, and marriage in general can be a tricky beast to manage, but I really can’t imagine any other path.

Here’s to a lifetime of adventures together!

Road Trip Part 6 – Durango

The trip from California to Durango, Colorado was done overnight, so we didn’t make many stops along the way, however count on small children to need to use the restroom at the worst time possible when there are no bathrooms around.  Haha. We also started to run into cooler drizzly weather which made exiting the car even more enjoyable.

I really failed at taking pictures during this portion of our trip and I don’t know why!  Maybe because it felt so much like just being at home?  I know at home I have to make more of an effort to pick up my camera at times.  Plus, a lot of our time was just spent hanging out and chatting and unfortunately we were only there a few days, so that has a lot to do with it as well. Lots of good food and just nice to be home where really not much has changed, and as always a part of me thinks of moving back one day.  Just maybe.

My dad has several of these large creepy crawlies around the yard and on his Jeep that he has made.

Enzo disovered Sprite on this trip, and now we’ve had to come to an agreement that he only gets it occasionally as a special treat. 😉  Also… while I try to avoid the kindles at restaurants, at this point in our trip the kids got cranky pretty fast and this battle is one I chose not to fight.

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Road Trip Part 4 – Beach, Please.

See what I did there?  Yeah, yeah, not original in the slightest, but it’s been a long week and it’s cold and rainy, so it’s the perfect day to relive some fun at the beach!

First, though, we spent Friday after our Disney fun just relaxing. The kids played and then we took them to the swimming pool to really wear them out.  Phoebe was very excited to don her fancy gloves and play with her new tea set.

We went to Coronado Beach on a Saturday and surprisingly enough it wasn’t even that busy and the weather was gorgeous!  The water was a tad chilly, but we were so excited to dip our feet in and soak up the warm rays from the sun.

They’re not even a little excited. Ha!

I love how he just carried that shovel around. You never know when you might need to dig a hole, right?  Enzo didn’t necessarily enjoy how cold the water was, but Phoebe couldn’t care less.

Yeah, we all enjoyed the nice weather and change of scenery just a bit.  There were also a ton of tiny clams everywhere!  It was really kind of bizarre, but neat. I’ve never seen so many and it was a little odd to watch their very squishy, gelatinous… selves try and hold on to the sand as the waves came and do whatever it is they were trying to do. Clearly I know nothing about clams.

We’ve been listening to ocean waves as bedtime background noise and it really is so relaxing. I can see why people would choose to live close to it. I have a feeling the kids would say the same. Alas, back to reality and time to pull out my sweatshirt for the high of 48 degrees and even more rain tomorrow. 😉