M and M come to town- Yippee!!

Cousins doing their thing!

My sister in law Madeline and niece Macy came to visit this past weekend. We had such a great time! How seriously lucky I am to have a sister in law I can also call, friend.

On Monday we decided to take the kids to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a beautiful fall day- the best a fall day can get. The weather was warm, but with just enough of a cool breeze to wear jeans and bring a sweatshirt. Golden leaves were falling everywhere in our path.

While I'd considered bringing all the boys, at some point I switched my goal to bringing Colin and just one baby. The other two (both of whom seemed to be getting colds anyway, would stay with Amelie). So that means Maddes and I only had three kids to get out of the house.

Yet getting out the door took hours. Hours! 

Why is it SO hard to get out the door?! Or at least for me it almost always is. 

Just moving the car seats in the mini van around to accommodate Macy's car seat, my Valco and Maddes' BOB was a spectacle in and of itself. 

But we made it and the zoo was delightful!



Very worth it!

A few highlights for me were when Colin turned to me, after staring for a few minutes at the camels and said, "Mommy, what IS that??"



He'd never seen a camel before....

Finn's got his tough guy face on.. "You talkin' to me?!"

And then taking Finn on the merry go round for the first time. I was thinking about this time too.

Unbeknownst to me, Colin also brought his pocket flashlight.... I guess to see the animals better. Oh how this kid cracks me up! I had to tell him that I wasn't sure if the Gorillas like having a light shined right in their eyes....

I can't go to the zoo anymore without remembering this most perfect day there. Since that time, I've never gone again when there haven't been hoards of people there.

Still, it was a great day watching the cousins explore together!

Come back soon Maddes and cousin Macy!!!

Zoo

Colin giving his best lion growl

Yay! We made it out of the house! Yesterday we did a trial run by taking all the kiddos to the park. It was a success and it felt great to be out and about so today we went to the zoo. We planned to leave at 9:30. At 11:30 and exhausted just from getting everybody ready and packing the car, we finally pulled out of the garage. 

We had a great time together but got LOT'S of stares which felt totally uncomfortable. It was as if we were also a zoo attraction.

Colin was so excited to be back at the zoo. It reminded me of this day, which seems so long ago now. 

The Zoo

I took Colin to the zoo yesterday on a whim. It had been rainy all morning and after exhausting all indoor play ideas, we were both getting a little stir crazy. Grocery shopping was done, didn't need anything at Target.... what could we do to get us out of the house? So- we headed to the zoo. It was Colin's first real trip there. Last summer we met family there, but c was only 4 months old and slept most of the time. This time however, it was a whole different story! I can't describe the joy that came from watching him get so excited over seeing the animals. And the best part was that we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves! I think the early rain scared most people away. It was just the best afternoon ever. I felt like we were best friends discovering the zoo together.