Zoo

Yesterday afternoon we took the kids to the zoo. They seemed so excited at first when we got there, but as it got later in the afternoon, they started to get cranky as they were starting to miss their nap. We saw the penguins, turtles, snakes, elephants (of which Nicholas asked "what's that?" with a bit of awe in his voice), lions (sleepy lions), bears (briefly), giraffes, and hippos. At first, Benjamin was sad that we would not see a walrus, but they are at the zoo in Tacoma. Nicholas enjoyed just running wherever he could and didn't pay too much attention to the animals. Over by the elephant barn, he just wanted to run inside the barn and out in a circle while making an "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" sound. Thankfully, the weather cooperated with us and ended up being a really nice day. I was really exhausted toward the end there especially with having to carry a preschooler for part of that time! My back is killing me! The kids, of course, once we got home and they woke from their mini-nap in the car, they went outside and ran around. Where did they get this energy? They didn't have it when we left the zoo as they wanted us to carry them!

Other than that, I took Benjamin to the McDonald's play area for a reward for going poo on the potty. Unfortunately, we still need this reward for both of them. I took him there after their last swim class for a while. We are going to try other things for a little while like a music class! After McDonald's, I took Benjamin to the library book sale to look for some airplane books. Our first book we saw when we got there - an airplane book! How lucky for us! Then even later, we babysat a 3 year old child of our friend while she and her husband went to a wedding.

I think that about sums up our weekend. We finally got the toddler bed rail for N's bed but being so busy this weekend, we didn't put it together. Hopefully, we will very soon...

Hi again

Hi again. I was on a roll there for a while and then just stopped again.

One phrase that Nicholas likes to say a lot is "open the door" and he says this with anything he needs opened - a bag, a sliding phone, and an actual door. It is quite cute.

We transferred him to a toddler bed...sort of. The part to convert his crib STILL hasn't arrived, but we have allowed Ben & Ella to sleep on yoga mats with their sleeping bags (which they love) so Nicholas can have one of their beds. He does not want to stay in the bed at all. The only night he has really stayed in the bed was the day he barely got a nap. I can't really tell the daycare not to give them naps during the day so that means he gets out of his bed several times - as do Ben & Ella. Needless to say, bedtime is not a fun time. If anyone is still reading this and has any suggestions, we are welcome to them!

We took the kids to a free night at the Museum of Flight on Thursday night and to UW to see the cherry blossoms in the quad. Things were o.k. at first but since it was so crowded at both places, it ended up being crazy! We had to make sure that both of us knew where each child was. It seemed worse at the Museum of Flight to me because it was a confined space with many people - easy to lose sight of a child. UW quad was open so easier to keep track - though there they were fighting over who got to be in or push the stroller, then about the rocks down by Drumheller Fountain. I'm thinking the next time we want to do something like this where the place will be crowded,we should bring another adult with us as man to man defense works a lot better than zone defense (at least, in this instance it does).

That's all I can think of at the moment. Next weekend, we are visiting family in Spokane for Easter weekend. It's been quite a while since I've seen my parents and brothers - I think since September when we were over there for my aunt's celebration of life. My sister and 2 of her kids visited with us for Nicholas's birthday party.