Random Monday-June 10, 2013

First, a weight loss update...I didn't drink any pop (or soda, depending on what part of the country you're from, lol) this week and I ran out of the chai latte mix on Tuesday so that's been pretty easy to stay away from, haha.  I exercised on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Thursday, we spent the day walking all over the zoo and Ikea so I'm counting that as exercise.  Friday and Saturday were kind of slough days because the kids and I were off of our schedules from being at the zoo all day on Thursday.  I'll only be weighing myself and measuring my waist for the first Random Monday post of each month so no numbers this week!

Okay, on to more fun stuff!  Did I mention that we spent Thursday at the zoo?  It was an awesome day, and the first thing I can cross off of our Summer Bucket List!  Hubby had to work so I went with my older sister and her four kids, my parents, and my little sister.  It rained almost all the way to the zoo and we were pretty worried that we were going to get rained out again like last year when we attempted a trip to the zoo.  Right before we got there, the rain stopped and, although it was cloudy all day, it didn't rain again the whole time we were there!

We started out the day with a picnic in the park and then walked over to the zoo.  The kids LOVED seeing the different animals.  The giraffes were definitely the favorite animal of the day though.           

Little Man watching one of the giraffes eat grass

Of course, it's obligatory to take your kids' pictures sitting on Toby the Tortoise when you go visit the zoo, so we piled on as many kids as could fit and snapped some pictures.  The three youngest kids (Star and my sister's 20 and 2 month olds) didn't quite fit on the tortoise with the older four.

From left to right: Little Man, my 3 year old nephew, Princess, my 5 year old nephew

I tried to get a picture of just my three kiddos, but Star needed a little help staying on the tortoise as evidenced by my dad's phantom arm and my little sister "hiding" beside Toby.

The other kids hopped off as soon as the pictures were done to go look at the flamingos, but Star was a captive audience for my camera.  

Star was fascinated by the tortoise's head

 

"This is fun!"

Princess---awesome Veggie Tales skirt by BumbleMonkey

Little Man holding his light-up giraffe he picked out at the gift shop

Star was a happy and perfect baby all day long!

 

On the walk back to the vans, Star passed out in the stroller.  Going to the zoo is hard work!

After the zoo, we headed to Ikea to meet my grandparents, my brother, and my cousin for supper.  I bought 10 Ikea chocolate bars while I was there and they may or may not be almost gone already.  I'm not telling.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Little Man piped up from the back of the van:
"It's a boo (blue) store! I wike a boo (blue) store.  Mommy, we can go dere?"
He was so thrilled when I said yes.  The kid loves music, chocolate, and Ikea.  Yup, he's definitely mine!

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Let's All Go To the Zoo!

We went to the zoo yesterday. There's a free zoo a few hours from our house so I decided that we had to plan a trip this summer.

Okay, see if you can keep this all straight. My mom, my older sister (Lelia) and her 18 month old son (Maximus), my younger sister (Squirt), Princess, and I drove to the zoo and met my younger brother, his wife, their 11 month old daughter, and my youngest brother there. So in all, there were 7 adults and 3 children under the age of 2.

We had a lot of fun. We brought my sister's double stroller for Princess and Maximus , but we also brought their safety harnesses so they could walk if they wanted to. I was a little worried about people frowning on us using safety harnesses for the kids, but we actually got a lot of compliments on them. Well, except for my younger sister. As I was strapping Princess's monkey backpack harness on her, Squirt looked horrified. "You mean you're putting a leash on her? You're going to scar her for life!"

I pointed out to her that at least this way, I didn't have to worry about Princess disappearing in the crowd while I was blinking and besides, my older sister and I used to put a child's safety harness on Squirt and pretend she was our puppy and she turned out okay. I knew as soon as I said it, that that may not have been the best argument for me to use to make my point, but hey, when she has a toddler who could probably give Nascar a run for its money, she'll have no problem putting a "leash" on her kid either.


Anyway, we had a ton of fun seeing all of the animals, but the definite favorite of the kids were the fish and the monkeys. They thought the zebras, giraffes, and lions were cool and they seemed to enjoy the tropical forest, too. The staff at the zoo were all really nice too. When we were all still there at 5 minutes after closing, they showed us exactly where the exits were.

Unsolicited Advice:
If you have a little girl, chances are that you have a ton of headbands, hair ribbons, barrettes, etc. Hang an over-the-door shoe organizer on your daughter's door and organize her hair stuff in it. If you're lucky, she might leave it all in there for a day or two before spreading it around the house again.