The Zoo

Wednesdays are 75 cent days at the zoo this summer, and since today was cooler than normal (less than 90F is cooler than normal in July), we decided to get out of the house. It rained really hard this morning, but as soon as the sun peaked through we got in the van and left. The zoo is only a 20 minute drive away, which I'm very thankful for. We ended up only spending about 3 1/2 hours there, but we were all ready to leave by that point. It was very warm and humid (think Okinawa), we were a little crabby, and I think I could have seen more wild life at Cabelas. Most of the animals were hiding or some of the exhibits were under construction. For example, the zoo's 2 elephants are female and they're on loan to the Tulsa Zoo for about 2 years to shack up with Tulsa's male elephant to make babies. The children's zoo is under construction and won't be open until next year. We'll try to go to the zoo again next year when the children's zoo is open, Howard is with me, and it's not summer.

Proof that I took all the kids out for the day.

Proof that I exist and occasionally show up in pictures.

The following 3 pictures are to be viewed in sequence. Remember it was humid...the metal sculpture was a little slippery.

Jack slipped, bumped his face, and....

viola...a bloody nose. He didn't know he had a bloody nose when I took his picture. It wasn't gushing, so that's why I took a snapshot. We cleaned it up with a diaper wipe and were fine. He did start crying AFTER I showed him the pictures of his bloody nose.

The Shark Exhibit

At the Zoo today, the kids were really excited to visit the aquatic life section. Considering that we just came from Okinawa, and they have the WORLD'S second largest aquarium...this was just a little (I say that sarcastically) disappointing. To show an example I have posted a few pictures to prove my point.

Above, Oklahoma's shark exhibit. Fascinating! (not really)

Okinawa...I think this picture speaks for itself.

The shark model behind Howie and Erin could be divided up and you could see the insides...COOL!

There were a bunch more sharks swimming around behind Jack and to the right.

These pictures were taken 13 months ago...I was about 5 weeks pregnant with Lucas.

Jack & Nadia

Jack and Nadia have a love/hate relationship. They are 3 weeks apart in age and are 2...enough said.

They were smart enough to share rides at Chuck E Cheese...their tokens went farther that way.

Thankfully Lisa had two potty seats, they were used frequently.

One of the few times that they didn't fight was when they took baths together. If one was in the bath, the other one would strip down and get in. They were best friends in the bath.

This hand holding was forced upon them...they quickly went their separate ways once I was done with my requests.

Our Vacation

I'm finally getting around to sharing some pictures of our visit with my sister. Overall, the kids and I were really lazy and just enjoyed taking it easy. It was a much needed break for me from the move and all the unpacking, painting, and organizing that I was constantly doing before we left for Missouri.

Uncle Levi, Erin, and Howie playing a rousing game of Battleship.

The local PBS station was having a special "Curious George" meet and greet at the Youseum (basically like a health museum about YOU and your body) for kids. Howie was board with Curious George while the others really liked to hug him. Howie liked the health exhibits better.

Levi took the kids up and down the street a couple times on his quad. This was probably Howie and Erin's favorite thing.

Jack is potty training. It's easier for me when they are naked, so this is how he spent most of his days. I'm not even sure why I even packed him clothes (oh yeah...church and going out).

Here's Nadia showing off her make-up that she put on. It's a clear glittery lip gloss...she used the WHOLE container on her face, hands, and arms. She posed for the camera quite a bit, she knew she was cute.

The first time it happened.

5 years ago last month, Erin had a green stick fracture in her left wrist which required a cast for 3 weeks. Her first cast was white, but it only extended up her forearm, but during her nap she removed her cast. I saved it for a keepsake. After her nap we went right back in to the doctor and they had to put a larger cast on that she couldn't slide off. I was really hoping for a pink cast, but our only color choices were red or green. Bummer. Within a week of breaking her wrist she learned how to walk, since crawling wasn't as comfortable. She actually took her very first steps on Howard's last night with us before he deployed to Iraq.

Howie was 2 1/2 and Erin was 10 1/2 months.

The Birthday Girl

Erin's sixth birthday was on the very last day of my visit with my sister Lisa and her family. Monday I drove all day to get home, and today I started the slow process of getting my life back in order. Hopefully I will be done before Howard returns!

Anyway...Happy Belated Birthday Erin!!!

We started the festivities early by having a fun filled evening at Chuck-E-Cheese on July 10th. (Levi, Erin's uncle had the night off, and Erin is practically in love with him, so we had to make sure it was a night that he could be there.)

By the expression on her face, she was so happy to get the Diamond Castle Barbie from Aunt Lisa. Since we celebrated early, I only let her open half of her presents.

Sunday July 19th, was her real birthday and like with birthday's past I let her open her presents first thing in the morning, since it's her birthday ALL day! She loves snow globes and I had searched all over the mall for one just right for her, but with no luck. Later that day I searched online and found this one. She adores it, I also had it engraved just for her.

As an extra special treat, Levi took Erin up and down the street on his quad. My boys got a ride also, but Erin got a longer turn. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather!

To top it all off we enjoyed a delicious cake from Dairy Queen. Well...Levi and I LOVED it, but the others thought it was okay. Erin wants a regular cake next year. I love her candles that spell her name. Oh so cute!

(Notice the purple candy cane cast? The white stripe glows in the dark, she picked it out herself. So far she has done an excellent job taking care of it and keeping it clean and dry.)

Not the first time this has happened!

We are currently in the show-me state visiting my sister, that's why I haven't blogged in a while. I thought this was worth sharing. Sadly, this is not her first broken bone. And of course we only get broken bones in our family during the summer! She was climbing on her uncle's back with her cousin and he wiggled her off, and down she went. She's in good spirits though.