Insectinator

My insect disliking nephew just makes extra sure the bug on the pavement is properly terminated:

Back to School Zoo Trip

(click for more pix)

Snuck up to the zoo today with Jessica today in between carpool trips. Now that school has started, mid-day trips are much less crowded. Most of the animals were having a pretty good day as well. The penguins were splashing around and all the new babies were out and exploring.
We ate at Ruth's afterwards which is just barely worth the lunchtime wait with a couple tired, rowdy kids. I had some so-so vegetable wontons and an awesome fried pickle sandwich. I also had good intentions with ordering a dessert to share, but flubbed the whole no nuts thing for Dylan... Dessert or not, we all had a great time :)

Fruit Loop Monster

Fruit Loop Monster, originally uploaded by eouio.

We had a ball watching Greg and Jessica's boys last night. Avyrlie is always up for spending time with cousins and worked pretty hard to show them a good time.


First they pulled out all the stuffed animals from her room and transported them to 'safety' in the living room. Then they transported them back to Avyrlie's room when dad suggested the animals might be getting tired and needing a nap. They watched Avyrlie's favorite cartoons for a bit, but holding still didn't last long!
Avyrlie got everybody a little bowl of Fruit Loops to pack around and snack on. Unfortunately it quickly became spread around and snack on so the bowls went back to the kitchen, except for Adam's. He was not about to lose track of a single Loop! Food is serious business with that kid ;)

Cornbelly

While Aimee and I took the broken boy to the ER, mom and dad offered to watch Avyrlie. Really they were just looking for an excuse to do some playing ;) and play they did. When I finally dropped Ian and Aimee off at home, I found mom and dad at Thanksgiving Point with Jessica and Greg as well. It took me an additional 45 minutes to get through the insane line and join up with them, but it was well worth it.


The kids were having a great time, and there is a ton of stuff to keep them entertained. Avyrlie loved the princess dress-up and carraige as well as the 'princess castle bounce house'. Label anything 'Princess' and she's there! Dylan had a great time in the bounce house as well, but both kids started getting restless during the storytime so we headed to the next activity.

Avyrlie and Dylan spent the next 20 minutes picking up kernels of corn and throwing them at each other and any other unsuspecting victim who ventured into corn-kernel throwing range. They were finally lured away with the promise of playing on the diggers. This turned out to be a little disappointing as kids were a little to small to handle the heavy machinery ;)

Then off to the corn maze! Dylan and Avyrlie both had to take a bite of an ear of corn. Even Jessica gave it a taste and found it just as unpleasant you might imagine old, dried, corn kernels to be :o The kid maze turned out to be just the right size for the kids with enough turns to momentarily escape, but not complex enough to got very lost. We tried it a second time with an egg hunt, which turned out to be very confusing, unorganized, and chaotic for the adults, but the kids were happy to do anything involving free candy :)

A couple obligatory 'face on the farm animal' and 'huge rocking chair' pictures later, and we were done enjoying the dusty, hay-filled playland, and ready to head for home.