We spent the night in Chicago last night just to visit Aunt Michelle and Elliot (Bryan had to work a long day today, but they will be coming our way next weekend :)) Took the kids to the Brookfield Zoo this morning- a membership purchase that has definitely turned out to be a good buy. It's fun to have something interesting and free to do when we go to visit the Scheffers. :)
It was sunny enough to play on some of the play equipment they had there.
And warm enough inside the dolphin show area to take off the coats. In another stunningly brilliant parent move (see Thursday's post for more :)) I completely forgot to pack clothing for my children to wear today (I usually forget jammies and I did in fact remember those this time :)) So I had to buy some new clothes for them to wear- and all I could find that was worth the money at all was summer clothes! But we made do, and thankfully it wasn't really all that cold today. :) And I do like their clothes and wanted something from this Gymboree line so all's well that ends well. :)
The dolphin show was a total success this time! Both girls loved watching the dolphins, both before, during, and after the show. :)
It was fun to do something fun with them. I seem to cyclically struggle with the fact that there are only two of them when I wish there were more (go figure...)- this weekend was at least partly to take my mind off the bad thoughts of brokenness and failure that I have every month and put it back onto gratitude and joy for what has been given. So I enjoyed celebrating my girls, and we all enjoyed the dolphin show. :)
Nora especially enjoyed the music of the show. She danced the whole time! She is so full of life and joy; she is one of those blessed people who just make everyone fall in love with them.
And here, of course, is my handsome nephew Elliot, who is, at 7.5 months, now the same weight as Nora. :)
We had the brain wave to rent a wagon for the girls, and that really helped. I am sure that the "my legs are tired of walking" whining would have started a lot earlier if we hadn't had the wagon! They sat there as Shelly and I walked from inside exhibit to inside exhibit, and as long as they were fed and watered, they did great, despite being WAY overtired!
We always love visiting the large primate exhibit at this zoo. Both girls (and especially Nora!) loved seeing all the monkeys!
Another great part of the Brookfield Zoo is the penguin house. You can see lots of penguins and puffins and stuff. Pretty cool.
Nora wasn't all that interested in the penguins... but she did like the steps- up and down, up and down. Plus, the lighting was actually pretty decent for pictures... and I love her bright colors, so I busted out the camera (yeah, like I really ever put it down anyway :))
Not really sure where I got such a photogenic child- she definitely didn't get this from me!
Before long, we were taking pics of all the cousins... here are some outtakes
Why am I sitting on the ground spotted with bird poo?
And seriously, who's that crazy lady with the camera?
Everybody looking in generally the right direction...
Two look cute... one... weird eye shut thing...
Haaaaaaa! Very intense look there, boy!
Now you're going to let the 4-year-old hold me?
Well, not so bad, really. :)
1 comment:
Michelle will remember the time we drove to Lone Tree to pick you up one Saturday AM. I popped M and L in the back seat in their PJs, trying not to wake them because it was so early. But I forgot to bring clothes to change into. There is not much between Lubbock and FLT. I think we stopped in some little town, but nothing is open at 8am and we had to be there at 10 or miss the rodeo. All that was open was a dirty used clothing store --- one big room of rows and rows of stuff that should have been thrown away. We had to find shoes and clothes there for them, or go to the rodeo in PJs! Not one of my best moves. . . .
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