Final Weekend of Summmmmeeeeeer!

The kids and I spent the majority of this weekend trying to soak up the last weekend of summer.  They go back to school on tomorrow (?!), so I wanted to squeeze in some trips that we may not be able to make once school and carpools start.

We spent Friday morning at Meet the Teacher, and then we went over to my parents' house to hang out with my brother and his fiancee.  And Wyatt and Reese always love when my Dad's childhood best friend comes to town with his three kids.  Reese and Ava made up different jumps all night!

We even had a dog try to join us for the ride home.  Sorry Bella!

On Saturday we went to the Living Museum to see the dinosaur exhibit again.  They definitely like the fossil "dig."

Reese enjoys showing off her "fancy" poses in front of dinosaurs (that's what Wyatt calls it).

And of course he had "creature adventurer" poses in front of the dinos, too!  I've gotten my money's worth out of this safari vest that we found on clearance at Target.  He wears it anytime he knows he's going to see animals.

Wyatt walked around the museum telling Finley the names of all of the animals (they practiced "fish" and "turtle" over and over again).  She loves her big brother!

After the Living Museum, I stopped and got lunch for the kids and let them watch a movie in the car (it's usually a special treat for long trips) while we waited for my phone screen to get fixed.  It's been cracked since our trip to see the big duck in May (although it's been dropped and cracked twice since then at baseball games), and I had a Groupon that was about to expire. 

Sunday morning the middles and I went to the waterpark while the bookends went to Mimi and Baba's.  We had lots of fun sliding and playing.  Hudson passed out on  the ride home!

And then we ended up doing a child swap - Reese stayed at Mimi and Baba's with Wyatt while FQB, Hudson and I ran to Target.  They looked adorable holding hands in the cart!

And this morning they asked for one more zoo trip.  Obviously, I said no.

Not.  They ran all over the zoo, but we finished before it got too hot!  Reese stopped to model her Rafiki pose.  "Correction.  I know your father."

And we stopped to see the tortoise.  Apparently the first documentation they have about the large one is from 1930?  But it could be older!

And now I will be spending the rest of the day getting backpacks ready and organizing schedules. And picking out clothes for the week because I am not fighting that battle every day this week with Reese. Or Wyatt.  How does school start tomorrow?!?!

Zoo Pictures

It's a lot of pictures.....but Wyatt was very cute yesterday!

Staring at the Red Hoofed Hogs - or something like that
Giraffes!
Brian pointing out the giraffes sitting down
This guy looked pretty cool
Staring at the elephants

Watching elephants poop - it's a boy thing

Cute little meerkat

Visiting the Prairie Dogs

Playing in the water

Kicking the water

Dragging Daddy to a new fountain

Zoo Time!

Wyatt and I went to the zoo yesterday with Shannon and Tyler. We're so glad that our friends have a son that's so close in age to Wyatt because the boys really get along and we're able to hang out with our friends while the boys play. Fortunately, Baby Girl has a big cousin (well, 3 months "bigger") and a friend (our good friends just found that they're expecting a girl!) that will be close in age to her as well. Yesterday the boys had a lot of fun staring at the animals from their strollers (well, Tyler got a few jail breaks because Shannon's not pregnant and was up for chasing him around) and babbling at each other. Almost every animal (I kid you not) was hiding somewhere in the shade of its exhibit. The giraffes were all standing under a tree, the lions were huddled together in a cave, and much to Wyatt's disappointment, the meerkats also refused to come out and play. We got to see the pigs and goats in the barnyard though...what a delight!

After we saw all the animals we let the boys play in the water fountains. They weren't as eager to get wet yesterday as they have been in the past, but they still had fun. When we left the zoo Wyatt and I stopped at Doumar's to get a limeade and a cheeseburger for Mommy and a limeade to drop off to Daddy at work. He was surprised and very grateful (he was sad that he missed going to the zoo, but I think he was a bit cheered up when he found out that the meerkats stayed in their hole). Wyatt and I ran a few errands in the afternoon and then the painter came to give us an estimate for the two bedrooms and the hallway/ staircase that we want painted. We ended the day watching the second Yankees/Mets game (which the Yankees actually won) with Daddy, with Wyatt staring at the TV saying "It'sa balla."

When we got him ready for bed he was in a really good mood (a total improvement from the day before). I have to say that I am really impressed and happy about how much my kid likes to have his teeth brushed. He's so good and opens his little mouth and then clenches his teeth together and then gives little kisses with his fresh breath. What a good boy!

The goats begging for food!

Wyatt smiling at the goats

Wyatt waving bye bye to the ducks, geese, swans and "durdles."

Contemplating a run through the fountains

"Mom I don't feel like running through water. How about climbing across chairs instead?"

Excited!

Yesterday the Virginia Zoo broke ground on their new Asian Exhibit "Trail of the Tiger." We love to go to the zoo. We're members, so we can go as much as we want and Wyatt always has a great time! It's the same zoo that we went to as kids with a lot of improvements (and some things are still the same). They also have a lot of neat programs for kids, like the Zoo Boo at Halloween and the EggStravaganza at Easter. The area that we currently like the most is the Africa exhibit, where there are giraffes, elephants, zebras, rhinos and lions - including two baby ones who were born at the zoo last year. The Africa exhibit is so nice that it's always difficult to go to the other parts of the zoo because they just aren't as built up. Alright - the barnyard is a nice place and Wyatt and Daddy really like it - I just can't stand the smell of the pigs. The reptile house hasn't been touched since we were kids and it's dark (obviously) and just not that fun. Every time I'm there I also think about the part in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when Harry talks to the snake (in Parseltongue obviously) and the snake escapes. Eeeeeew.

Anyway, the new exhibit will have orangutans, siamangs and gibbons plus Malayan tigers, either sun or sloth bears, Malayan tapirs, otters, giant hornbills, rhinoceros iguanas and giant water monitors. These are animals that my boys especially (they love apes and tigers) have been missing on zoo visits. While the exhibit itself isn't going to open until 2010, it will really be just in time for Wyatt and his sister to really enjoy everything. The new train is supposed to open at the zoo later next month, so that's exciting too.

And as a follow up to any great trip to the Zoo, it's always best to stop by Doumar's Drive-In for a burger, french fries with hot sauce, limeade and a Ringo sundae!

Here are a few pictures from the Zoo Boo in October - I can't believe how big Wyatt's gotten, or how fast the time has flown by!

Baby Yoda with his pacifier with his name on it (fortunately an easily broken habit if your baby gets a cold and can't breathe through his nose!) that we got from my pacifier.

Colin the UPS Driver in the bounce house

Poohzie and Mommy

Wyatt in the pumpkin (Picture People was doing free shots).

Wyatt and Daddy looking at Meerkats

Brian in a Meerkat Mask. Meerkat Manor is one of his favorite shows.

Brian, Baby Yoda, Colin and some storm troopers

Darth Vader, Baby Yoda and Brian

We Missed our Little Fella!

Brian and I had to leave Wyatt alone at some point (I'm going to be in the hospital at least 3 nights when the new baby comes), but we missed him so much! We had a lot of fun on our trip but we still couldn't wait to pick Wyatt up from my parents. We took him to the zoo as soon as we got him. He had a blast. He's not one to be a grump (usually he's not anyway....the last few days he's been a little off), but he can be very serious. When he plays with his toys he gets very focused on what he's doing and concentrates very hard. At the zoo he was in a serious mood. We could tell that he was enjoying himself, but he was almost so busy trying to figure out what all the animals were and why they looked different that he wasn't smiling much.

Daddy decided to take Wyatt out of his stroller and let him run around, and he was all over the place! We kept trying to get him to focus on the animals. He's really into ducks and kept calling the geese "ducks." We tried to tell him that they were geese, and it sounded at one point like he said "s a goose?" which in Wyatt speak translates to "What's a goose?." He's picking up now on "what" and "where" and he'll say little things like "s that?" or "ere's Daddy?," but he's not that consistent with it. He only uses them in select little phrases like that.

Very seriously staring at the tigers

With Daddy

With Mommy

Oooooooh

Playing in the water

He spent the rest of the week hanging out with his Grandmothers while we were at work. Something especially exciting happened at my parents' house this week. They had a HUGE oak tree in their backyard that had gotten some sort of disease that caused it to rot and it needed to be cut down. The company came to cut it down on Wednesday while he was over there, and he had a blast watching it get cut down!

Wyatt playing on the oak's stump after it got cut down!

Wyatt at the Zoo!

Our little fella LOVES to be outside, and he LOVES animals so we took him to the zoo this past weekend. Here are some pictures from our trip.....

Looking at the elephants....this is very serious business.

So unlike the parent next to us, we didn't actually allow Wyatt to stick his finger through the gate and get snapped at by the goose.

This giraffe was seriously looking right at Wyatt. And Wyatt found him to be mesmerizing.

Walking down the ramp to see the baboons with Daddy.

Wyatt stops to take a picture.
As you can see by the huge smile on his face, Wyatt loves walking!

Okay, so this was at Target, but we found out Wyatt really likes Boba Fett. Brian was rather excited about this, and though it's not age appropriate, it will probably end up in his Easter Basket....