I may have forgotten how to blog

I'll try to remember.

really.

until then, here's a cute picture of my kids with a kid that we wished lived in our area code.

DINOSAURS at the Birmingham Zoo

Seriously, Birmingham area friends, go.  And gripe about how you have to pay $3 a person to see these dinosaurs ($5 for nonmembers)  grrr.   

But really, that's my only beef.  And I know, I know.  It's probably expensive to have these things here, plus the zoo has to feed lots of actual real animals.  But it'll limit the number of times I take my kids to the zoo because I don't want to hear them complain about how I won't shell out $9 every time they want to see them.  ($12 if Husband comes).  But I'm a softy so we'll probably go a couple of more times.

Anyway.  back to the awesome part of the post:  the dinosaurs really are super cool.  All four of us REALLY enjoyed it.

The kids were hesitant at first, like we assumed they would be.  So in the car we talked a lot about how we all know dinosaurs are extinct and these are robots that can't chase you or even move anything except their heads or tails.  (some spit water, but that really is a fun surprise.  even better in a hot day)

Daughter and Son really like dinosaurs and thanks to many, many library books, Dino Dan and Dinosaur Train, they already knew the names of over half of the dinosaurs just by sight. seriously.  They were telling us if they were carnivores or herbivores and imparting all kinds of knowledge. They had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun.  Husband, who isn't a zoo lover, had a lot of fun too.

it took a little coaxing to get this first picture

full on dino love

Son kept looking over his shoulder at his carnivore.  

t-rex

this one was intense.  like, had a fish in his mouth with blood AND spit water  AND was pretty close. 

The last dinosaur and also a spitter.  Her babies were close by.

waiting for the train

she's always my seat partner on the train.  Notice my glasses.  My last pair of contacts were a casualty of pink eye.  And I've been more than lazy about scheduling an eye exam.

"PLEASE stop taking pictures of the television"

Daughter got a camera for Christmas.  And she loves it.  She takes pictures of anything.  ANYTHING.  But her favorite thing to take pictures of ... the television.  Seriously,  The television.

In an attempt to broaden her horizons, the two of us took a trip to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the Birmingham Zoo ... armed with nothing but our water bottles and cameras.  She must have taken over 100 pictures at the Gardens but by the time we got to the zoo the picture fun was over.  It was the first time ever it's just been the two of us alone at the zoo.  And she took full advantage of getting to go where ever she wanted for how long she wanted.  No time for pictures.

Here's a few of our favorite pictures:

She took this shot with her camera after she saw me take it with mine.

She's still trying to learn all the camera settings.  She has macro down pat.

"Mom, take a picture of me taking a picture of you."  Sure.

"Try  to take a picture so you can see the bridge's reflection in the water."
"Sure, Mom.  That's easy."

at the zoo.  climbing ant hills.

The Zoo 5k and kids' race

Before I get started on this post, I need to tell you the reason I'm almost a month behind in posting updates ... I dropped/lost my camera in the Tidal Basin in front of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC.  True story.  I had a couple of ugly cries about it and I'm (a little) over it.  I lost 6 months of photos (all that hadn't been posted on the blog) And it really killed my blogging and picture taking mojo.  Luckily, Husband took a few pictures at the zoo and a few in DC on his phone so we're not completely pictureless ... but I am completely cameraless. boo.

Anyway, the zoo race was fun.  I didn't have any kind of record setting time (not by a long shot) but I did finish two minutes faster than I had been practicing at home.  So that WAS a victory.  My iPod froze right after the first mile and that was frustrating but I just tried to keep my pace and walk as little as possible.  There was a woman power walking behind me that would catch up to me when I was walking and she'd encourage me to keep going and get back to running every time she caught up to me.  She was a really big help in keeping me going.  I tried to find her after the race for a sweaty hug of thanks but I had zero luck with that.

The biggest most exciting part of the day for the kids was getting to run in the Chicken Cha-Cha (the short race for 3 and 4 year olds).  It was their first race and we practiced for weeks.  There were about 30 kids and it was mass chaos.  The kids had to run through and around the petting zoo barn and back to the finish line.  Son was in third place until he spotted the llama (every one remember when the llama spit on us last year? HE sure does.)  Well, he saw the llama, shrieked and turned around to run away.  luckily, one of the volunteers turned him around and encouraged him to keep going.  Bless is heart, he was a blubbering mess of llama fear and race excitement when he finished almost last.  Daughter ended up finishing 6th and did a great job.  They were both so excited to get race medals and race t-shirts to celebrate the day.

All three racers celebrating their finishes.

Daughter pretending to be a lion.

Son enjoying his carousal ride.

It was a lot of fun and, I think, easier than last year.  But I think that was because I was more familiar with the route that was mostly the same.  

I've only signed up for one more race (the Color Run on Labor Day) but I might do one or two more between now and then.  Right now I'm just concentrating on increasing my pace so that the power walkers can't catch up to me when I need to slow down and walk! It's slow going and hard but unless I break an ankle or some other such horrible thing, I'm going to keep at it.  My ultimate goal is a 30 minute 5k.  It's a long way away but I want to do it.  badly. 

A 4 Year Old's Birthday Adventure

Friday night Husband and I stayed up late and he made/created/decorated a Peppa Pig cake and I decorated the dining room with as many balloons as I could blow up and as much crepe paper as I could hang.  And when she walked in Saturday morning for her breakfast party, Daughter was ecstatic.  After "Happy Birthday" was sung and candles blown out and birthday cake eaten and presents opened and played with, Husband got dressed to head to Tuscaloosa for the game and the kids and I got dressed to pick up Nanny and head to the zoo.

The Peppa Pig cake.  I HATE HATE HATE when Husband says he's not creative.  Look at this cake! Are you kidding me?  amazing. If you're familiar with Peppa, you know, this is spot on.

this was about half way through the decorating process.   I blew up 30 balloons and used 2 rolls of crepe paper.

Daughter drawing on her mini-magnadoodle that Son picked out

Son loved that Peppa's shoes were made of nutella

The kids wanted to pose with Big Al and Aubie. And that mostly happened.

SIDE NOTE:  I was amused the whole day.  Son wore his bama hat and sunglasses ALL day.  People would come up to him and say "Roll Tide" and he was terrified these strangers were getting in his personal business and yelling at him.  Fortunately, I didn't start a brawl in the zoo and we usually just ignored these people and kept walking.  He has no clue what that means.  That and "War Eagle" are not phrases we encourage our kids to say.  They don't even know names of teams.  We say "Mommy's team" and "Daddy's team" and talk about teams in terms of their colors and mascots.  Son wears "that red hat" as he calls it, because his daddy also wears a red hat.

On the lion

her favorite, the zebra

We walked through the petting zoo but it was lunch time so we couldn't really pet the animals.  And that was fine by Son.  On the way out he said, "dat llama not 'pit on me dis time. I stay 'way from him." 

Daughter, mid roar.  They were more interested in the plywood lion they could stick their head through than The Royal Family <-- a lion family - mom, dad and at least 3 babies

playing the drums

Daughter loves zebras but today she only looked at the zebras for about  30 seconds because they smelled horrible.  "Mommy, these zebras smell like old socks dipped in the ocean."  yes, thanks Peppa Pig. So she loved seeing this non-smelly picture of a zebra

my mom is the worst photographer I know.  seriously, I was looking at the camera and that was good enough for her.

We had such a fun trip to the zoo.  The weather was amazing and the kids had a fantastic time.  I'm glad my mom was able to go because it would've been a lot harder without her there.  After the zoo we went to Nabeel's for lunch and Daughter ate, ate and ate tzatziki. Well, Son did too.  It was mom's first time there and she enjoyed it too.  

The best  part of the entire day:
bedtime
Husband: night night, pea pie. I love you
Daugther: night night, Daddy. I love you
Husband: happy birthday.
Daughter: hap ... Daddy will you go away.  I want to tell myself Happy Birthday
Husband: ok, night night.
Daughter in a whisper: Happy Birthday, Ryland.  It was a great day.

Discounts at the Zoo = We're There!

 Two weekends ago the zoo had $5 admission and FREE carousel rides.  um, YES.   So, after a morning of errands, we spent Sunday afternoon at the zoo.  (and I packed swim suits for the splash pad)

Husband and this rooster while the kids played at the splash pad

oh my! We rode the carousel 11 times.  And no, I am not exaggerating.  The kids picked different animals every time and loved every second.  I told Husband they will NOT understand why they can only ride it once next time we go and it actually costs money!  FINALLY, I lured them away with promises of the butterfly house and petting zoo!

On the Zebra.  Her favorite animal to look at while at the zoo is also her favorite animal to ride on a carousel.

The back of Son, Husband excited to be on a rabbit and Daughter in the background in a frog. 3/4 family picture.

Son got really excited when I showed him the mirrors on the inside.  He spent an entire ride just watching himself!

His favorite was the giraffe

Standing still in the butterfly house, waiting on a butterfly to land on us.

(Notice I'm wearing the Red Knit Maxi Dress?  Two ladies in Jo-ann and one at the zoo asked me where I bought it.  That was nice.)

This is the part of the day when we went to the petting zoo and a LLAMA SPIT ON SON AND I.  sigh.  And that's all I really want to say about that.  Son is still talking about it though.  "Mommy, llama 'pit on me."  "Yes, I know, buddy.  Me too."  Have you ever had to pretty much take a shower in a sink in a public restroom after a llama covered you in his spit and partially eaten food?  Well, say a prayer tonight thanking God if your answer was, "no."  And, sorry.  There is definitely no pictures of the llama incident.

riding train.  I was more interested than anyone else in the party.  I found the interesting information the conductor was saying, really interesting.

After the train ride, we were ready to go.  But Daughter asked for one more carousel ride.  And you want to know what she wanted to ride?  THE LLAMA.  "p-cause he spit on you and Finny and that was really silly."  Unfortunately for her, there was no llama and she had to settle for a deer that she said was a llama. seriously.

BTW, here is an old Wordless Wednesday of me at the zoo.  I'm probably somewhere between Son and Daughter's age.

Membership Day at McWane? sure. um, NO.

Saturday was "Membership Day" at Mcwane. We had no idea what that meant until we got there and the place was C.R.O.W.D.E.D. like I've never ever seen before. ever. An employee handed me a piece of paper that listed all these organizations/attractions in Birmingham that included McWane, the zoo, Vulcan, The Ballet, The Alabama Theatre, the art museum, the Civil Rights Museum and the public library. Basically, they, (and many other places that I'm forgetting now) all partnered together so that members of ALL these organizations could get into ANY of these organizations for free. all.day.long.


Sigh. This would have been fabulous to know BEFORE we got to McWane. Sure, it was listed on the website, but there was no description of what membership day actually was. So, it was close to 100 degrees and anyone with a library card could get into McWane for free. Genius idea if you want people to visit your attraction for free for the possibility of loving it and paying to come later. Horrible idea if you're already a member and just want to enjoy an afternoon with your kids.


After about 45 minutes the kids were still having a fantastic time but the noise level (WHAT WAS WITH ALL THE SCREAMING UNATTENDED CHILDREN?!) and the crowd, I was done.


It was 3:30 and not getting any hotter outside ... Hey, let's go to the zoo. For free. Admission for a family of 4 to the zoo is $46 and that's if you don't ride the train or the carousel.


I was optimistic about the zoo and it really turned out to be a fantastic family adventure. I loved it, the kids loved it, Husband at least acted like he mostly loved it. Great fun.

the only picture from McWane. Listening to the ocean. See Daughter's yellow bruise under her eye? That's what's left over from falling off the futon in Mobile!

Son's favorite. This big guy was roaring and roaring and ROARING some more. It was pretty amazing. But by the time I grabbed the camera, he'd tired himself out!

Daughter's favorite again.

Son actually said, "I go pet 'dem." Ok, good luck, buddy.

It was a lot of fun walking around seeing everything I didn't get to see after the 5K. I think we saw everything. Then we went to the children's part. They didn't go there last time so we all got to discover it together. Splash pad, butterfly house, petting zoo, nature walk and the carousal (which we didn't ride) - oh my. It was fun.

we didn't bring bathing suits, but that didn't stop anyone.

Daughter didn't even have a change of clothes. So the best I could do for her was take off her dress, wring it out well and put it back on her. She didn't mind at all. They both loved the water.

Daughter petting a goat

Son petting a goat. I'm not going to lie. I think I had the most fun with the goats. Everyone was ready to leave WAY before I was!

We all took turns getting very close to this rooster. I think he was our tour guide because he followed us around the petting zoo for awhile!

Daughter petting a sheep.

She was singing Old MacDonald to the rooster.

Son taking his turn. "cock-a-doo-loo-doo, roos-der."

"look, Mommy, we found a bunny."

And then we REALLY did find a bunny!

"I say ROOOOOOAAAAAR like 'de lion."

Sigh, it really was so much fun. We stayed about 2.5 hours and I just kept marveling about how I never would have imagined the zoo could be this great especially when it was so hot outside!