Sunday, July 11, 2010

Petting Zoo, Playground & Pool Playdate

Friday morning, we met a gal Melanie from my MOPS group this year and her daughter Kate at the petting zoo. We were supposed to go the week I sprained my ankle, but I emailed her to reschedule when I couldn't walk. She picked this Friday, and I went with my cast on. Since Lisa had off work and I accidentally double-booked myself to go swimming with her as well, she agreed to change plans and come along for this playdate since I hated to cancel a second time on the other gal.
I couldn't believe how the animals just roamed free in this area. The other petting zoos I've been to have most of the animals caged up, but here we dodged piles of dung to walk around and be close to the animals. Joshua is almost nose-to-nose with this donkey!
Their favorite animal that day, though, was the peacocks. They kept making all sorts of funny noises that the kids would crack up at and then beg for more. Sometimes it sounded like "hi" or "honk" etc. They laughed and laughed at them.
Then they finally started petting the animals.
Caleb enjoyed the goats. In the second picture below, he's waving 'hi' to the one who's lazily laying and not bothering the kids. I think they had all just been fed when we got there.
In the photo below, Isabella & Joshua are checking out the llamas big tooth.
And here's my handsome boy petting the llama (we washed their hands in the sinks provided afterward).
The kids loved petting these small animals, and I was surprised that not one of them got bit.
In the picture below, Josh & Kate are checking out the pig underneath the feeding trough.
After we were done at the petting zoo, we walked over to the playground. I don't love this particular playground at Long's Park because I think it's too difficult to see the kids in the maze. For one parent, it's a nightmare having more than one child when they run through these slats that are taller than they are and difficult to see through, etc. The area is really big and I always panic that they'll get hurt or worse, someone will be there that likes beautiful children and wants to take one home. I always pray over them, but particularly there my guard is up.
They had a fun time, though. Joshua somehow attracted a quite large and rough little boy who followed him everywhere throughout the playground. I was exhausted following them both around to make sure the Bean was okay. Joshua didn't seem to mind at all, though. He had fun playing with him. I was the one freaking out a bit.
The kids enjoyed sliding and running and playing. It had cooled off a bit from the triple digits we had experienced earlier in the week.
Here are the kids in the train area. I couldn't get them all to look at once. We did have a fun time that day, though. Soon enough, Joshua's laxative kicked in and it was time to go back to the car to help him get changed.
I invited Lisa & Isabella to come back to our house to swim in the pirate pool afterward, which she accepted. The kids ate peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, grapes, cheese crackers & watermelon for lunch and us moms enjoyed another piece of cake & ice cream as we chatted.
The kids enjoyed swimming and snacking, but Isabella soon requested to go inside to play with the trains.
They left just before nap time. (Thanks for coming, friends!)
While the boys napped, I had my second appointment at the chiropractor for my ankle. He explained that a paper cut will heal itself if we don't pull it apart everyday. The fact that I had been more busy and active (between yard work, cleaning the house, throwing a party, going to the petting zoo, etc) was hindering my healing process. He cracked my back & neck and they did some ultrasound therapy on my ankle. He also gave me exercises to do to start speeding up the healing process. That night, Shawn & I ordered sandwiches from Carusos and ate on our deck while we processed the week and what was going on in life, etc. We decided to try and take it easy this weekend and rest some since we have been on-the-go nonstop. So, we watched some TV after playing with the kids and took it easy. Happy Friday!

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