On Monday and Friday mornings, I start out nervous - wondering what the day will bring, and will I be able to handle it? I've only just started cutting my teeth with this SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) gig, and there is a distinct learning curve. My patience can be short at times, so that takes great effort on my part. It has helped me in recent weeks to make a concious decision to be calm. And I have discovered that using a calm voice, rather than yelling (which I was doing way too much of) can do wonders when dealing with irrational 2 and 3 year olds. Well, it does wonders for me anyway!! At the very least, I'm not about to jump out the window by the time Mitch gets home.
Another good trick is getting out of the house. This can be difficult with all three, but I'm getting better at it. On rainy days, if I can recruit an extra pair of hands to watch Maddy, I'll take them to the "House of Bounce" where we do some good exhausting running around. But even a quick trip to Target or Toys R Us is a good way to break up the day. Every time I master one of these trips without blowing my top, or losing one of the children, I feel as though I've earned another SAHM badge!
Last Friday was an outing to top all others so far. We met up with Ashley, Nathan, and Charlotte and headed to the Reston Zoo. I had been wanting to go for a while and I wasn't disappointed. It's a fun little zoo that is really perfect for kids. they can get up close with the animals and even do some feeding.
We started out walking through the barn with all the goats and sheep. Aunt Ashley distributed the food to the boys -
Tyler had a blast feeding the goats!!
Poor Evan was petrified, so Tyler go to use his feed as well!
Look at this sweet little lamb!
And this baby goat was just too cute!!
The boys were riveted by.....
the CROCODILE!!!!!!
Here's another sweet little lamb....
And here are all the cousins (minus Maddy), in age order, sitting on a rhino statue:
Bunnies!!!
On the other side of this water was a monkey paddock.
Tyler loves his cousin Nathan!!!!
Duckies!!!
Here we were headed across to the Reptile House:
I did NOT take any pictures in the Reptile House. I was too freaked out by the giant snakes and spiders! {{SHUDDER}}
Tortoises!!!
Roos!!!
And here are all the cousins (minus Maddy), in age order, sitting on a rhino statue:
Bunnies!!!
On the other side of this water was a monkey paddock.
This is probably my favorite shot of the day:
Tyler loves his cousin Nathan!!!!
I'm not sure what was in this cage, but I think they were little monkeys....
Speaking of little monkeys...... !!!
Duckies!!!
Here we were headed across to the Reptile House:
I did NOT take any pictures in the Reptile House. I was too freaked out by the giant snakes and spiders! {{SHUDDER}}
Tortoises!!!
Roos!!!
Goin' on safari.....
And the pièce de résistance, at least as far as I was concerned, were the PONY RIDES!!!!! When I was a kid, whenever we went anywhere that had pony rides, I ALWAYS went. My entire life, any time I've had the opportunity to ride a horse, I've taken it. So it was upon my insistence that my boys did this. But they were up for it!
Tyler was first.
He loved it!!!
Evan was next. I thought he might freak out and refuse to go at the last minute, which is why I had Tyler go first - I thought maybe if he saw his brother do it, it might make it easier. But he did fine!!!
I was thrilled!
After the zoo, we went back to Ashley's for popsicles. The perfect way to top off a fun, hot day at the zoo. Actually, the perfect ending was that everyone passed out in the car on the way home so I had a nice peaceful ride!! And because it was Friday, Mitch brought dinner home, so things just kept getting better! :)
And outings are about to get even easier - in less than 2 weeks, Mimi will be moving in for good!!! We are very excited and can't wait for her to arrive.
Maybe we'll tackle the National Zoo next!! :)
And the pièce de résistance, at least as far as I was concerned, were the PONY RIDES!!!!! When I was a kid, whenever we went anywhere that had pony rides, I ALWAYS went. My entire life, any time I've had the opportunity to ride a horse, I've taken it. So it was upon my insistence that my boys did this. But they were up for it!
Tyler was first.
He loved it!!!
Evan was next. I thought he might freak out and refuse to go at the last minute, which is why I had Tyler go first - I thought maybe if he saw his brother do it, it might make it easier. But he did fine!!!
I was thrilled!
After the zoo, we went back to Ashley's for popsicles. The perfect way to top off a fun, hot day at the zoo. Actually, the perfect ending was that everyone passed out in the car on the way home so I had a nice peaceful ride!! And because it was Friday, Mitch brought dinner home, so things just kept getting better! :)
So, zoo outing badge earned - with help of course! There is no way I could have done it without Ashley being there - and it wouldn't have been as much fun either. The cousins love spending time together and they're so fun to watch. It was a great day.
And outings are about to get even easier - in less than 2 weeks, Mimi will be moving in for good!!! We are very excited and can't wait for her to arrive.
Maybe we'll tackle the National Zoo next!! :)
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