Zoo Flu

All summer I've wanted to take the kids to St. Louis for a little day trip. Things finally lined up for us to go last week and have a chance to visit the zoo, a couple of good friends and a new baby! Taking three small kids on a day trip is actually fun as long as you're prepared and have realistic expectations. I got up extra early to get in a shower and pack up all our things. I put everything in the van including the kids' breakfasts before I even got the twins up from bed. As soon as I was ready I got the kids up, got them changed and into the van they went. They always seem a little bewildered when the go from crib to van instead of crib to highchair, but they did fine. Jack mentioned when he first woke up to get ready with Paul that his tummy hurt. I honestly thought nothing of it. I should have. He wasn't feeling too good in the van but I am stubborn and didn't want my day of fun to be cancelled or even postponed. Plus, he has a tendency for car sickness so I hoped that perhaps that was the issue rather than him being sick. But really I had a good feeling he was just sick. As soon as we pulled into my friend's driveway in St. Louis, he puked all over himself. He assured me he was fine and he still wanted to go to the zoo. Even if he puked again he would be fine, he said. So we went inside, changed his clothes and took a little bit to see how sick he was. He ate a saltine and that stayed down for a while. To the zoo we went with Natalie Bell in tow. Jack insisted on eating an apple in the van. I let him. He puked it up right as we were parking at the zoo. He still insisted he would be fine and wanted to see the lions. Thank goodness Natalie came with us. With Jack out of commission, one of my stroller seats had a permanent non-two year old resident. One of the twins had to walk or be carried the whole time. It was so stinkin hot that day. Before we even made it through the gates we were dripping with sweat just from walking from the van. And pushing the heavy stroller or having a 2 year old clinging to you made it even hotter. But we got to see plenty of animals and the kids seemed to enjoy it. I couldn't actually tell if Jack was paying attention. He looked absolutely miserable. And the twins seemed very interested and at the same time very nervous about the animals. At one point a large elephant decided she was too hot and needed a swim. So she stepped into the water which was much deeper than it appeared. Her giant splash nearly soaked us. Natalie and I thought it was really cool. Schaeffer and Logan panicked. I found out the next day that Jack really enjoyed that part as well. We eventually made it to the lions where Jack puked up the grapes he insisted he eat at lunch. But the next day he told Paul all about the lions and never mentioned how sick he felt. We ended up having a really good time and Jack could tell Paul almost every detail of our trip to the zoo.

Natalie & Schaeffer pointing at a sea lion.

Logan and me prior to the big elephant splash.

Jack at lunch. His second nap of the day.

Strolling through the zoo collecting oohs and ahhs and compliments along the way for their extreme cuteness.

I just love it when they hold hands.

Schaeffer & Natalie checking out the gorilla.

Schaeffer and Mommy.

Your guess is as good as mine as to who this is. I'm thinking Schaeffer, but I'm really not sure.

Later in the afternoon I left Jack lounging on the couch with my friend Ami (Natalie's mom) while Schaeffer, Logan and I went to visit an old college roommate. Angela just had her sweet baby girl a few weeks ago and I was so excited to get a chance to meet her already. Adelaide was a sweetie and I got to have lots of snuggle time with her. As always I wish we would have had more time to talk and hang out but that gets difficult with two two year olds romping around. 

Angela, Adelaide, Schaeffer, Me & Logan

All for a Birthday Cake

Several weeks ago I was preparing for Schaeffer and Logan's birthday party and working to finish their motorcycle birthday cake. I was trying a new technique which seems to be my thing, always gotta try something different. I wanted the motorcycle to have a metallic/chrome quality and to do that I needed to paint it with something called luster dust. To make luster dust paintable you have to mix it with vodka. The high alcohol content causes the liquid to evaporate quickly leaving behind the color but not a gooey mess of wet fondant. Being the heavy drinkers we are not, I did not have any vodka in the house nor did I really know how to go about buying some. So Friday after the kids got up from naps I took us all to Wal-Mart. Turns out they don't sell vodka. I decided we would have to go to the liquor store. To be honest I wasn't even sure if kids were allowed in a liquor store, I thought maybe they were similar to casinos. But I didn't have much of a choice so I dragged the kids to Yogi's Super Liquors. Turns out kids are allowed you just don't want to take them because there are glass bottles stacked everywhere. I was convinced the boys were going to cause something to come crashing down and we'd leave the place embarrassed and smelling like alcohol. I was struggling to keep an eye on the kids and to find the smallest, cheapest bottle of vodka, so I asked for help. They pointed out a bottle and I took it to check out. As I was walking out I saw a display of tiny bottles, like sample sizes or something. Of course there was a tiny bottle of vodka...why didn't they tell me that when I asked for the smallest bottle?! I only needed a few capfuls for the entire cake. Now I have an entire bottle of cheap vodka sitting in my kitchen with no future intentions of using it. To top the whole thing off, Logan spotted some beef jerky and thought he had to have some. While Jack, Schaeffer and I were out the door leaving, Logan was still inside pointing at the jerky. I went back in to get him and of course a tantrum ensued and I ended up hauling him out, football style and dragging the other two to the van. Between that, my brown bag of liquor and my oh so casual tank top and ratty shorts...we looked like quite a crew stumbling out of Yogi's.