Sunny Afternoon at the Zoo

Life has been really really busy this week. Yesterday, though, the kids and I had lots of really nice time together. Alice napped early for our babysitter, and when I got home I made a nice lunch for the kids and then we took off for the zoo. We were there for 4 hours and the weather was absolutely perfect. We played house in the african savannah, both kids drummed together, we transformed into superheroes and ran to where the "trouble" was in the "my backyard" area of the zoo. This is one of the kids favorite spots, and since we don't have a backyard, it really is like their backyard. They climbed on and played in a cave. There was a grandpa in there playing and roaring like a bear at the children. They would shriek and run out. But not Alice, she turned and roared back at him and they both laughed and laughed. It really made Alice's day, and soon she had all the kids roaring with her, back at the grandpa. Max taught Alice how to climb the rope spiderweb, they climbed into turtle shells, and played in the water with sticks.

We then found a nice spot to have a snack and went to play with the dinosaur robot behind zoomasium. There weren't many kids there so both Max and Alice had very long turns of moving this robot around. Max was especially enthralled. He convinced me again to shell out $6 so we could go through the robot dinosaur exhibit. Alice said "Wow!!" as she stood in front of each dino, and Max excitedly asked me the name of each one. We played on the boat by the penguins and finally called it a day. Max fell asleep in the stroller on the way home at 5:30pm! I thought he was out for the night as he wouldn't wake for dinner, but around 8pm he stumbled out of bed. Shawn and I enjoyed feeding him dinner while Alice was asleep (we had a lovely dinner with just her, too) and then Shawn and Max read a superman comic and played some games. After some dessert and a chat with our neighbors Max and I settled in for a slumber party with his stuffed animals. We read 2 books, turned out the light and snuggled to sleep. Shawn and Max are still asleep in our bed. I'm off early to chat with a mechanic at an auto shop. We had a buyers inspection done on a used volvo sedan yesterday. I hope it all checks out! The price is affordable, and our Honda is really on its last legs.

Grandpa Tim arrives on the train tonight. Tomorrow will be a busy day of taking both kids to the dentist, playing with Grandpa at the zoo, buying food for Max's party, and making tons of cupcakes and cake! The party is Saturday and we are all looking forward to it, especially Max :)

Dinner tonight

I just have to gloat: alice dipped steamed brussel sprouts in feta cheese dressing. Both kids ate brown rice and tofu sauteed in teriyaki sauce. Max even asked for seconds. And that was after a birthday party lunch of pizza, juice boxes, and chocolate cake. I'm so glad healthy food tastes good to them!