(sometimes) I (want to) scream

We went out for ice cream last night.  There was (as usual) much debate about where to go.  Finally, the majority (well, the majority of the people under 5.  Greg and I pretty much don't count for anything.) decided to go to the "one with the eyes."  (They put little candy eyes on the kids' cones.)

Emma got chocolate in a cup, and after issuing her grievance for the lack of sprinkles, she was fine.  Didn't get a drop on her.  (Or her sweatshirt.  She insisted on wearing it, even though the rest of us were ok with the mid-80s.)

Becca (and her dress) thoroughly enjoyed her chocolate cone with eyes.  (See how short that dress is on her?  And that's while she's sitting down.)

Julie insisted on strawberry after she tried some of my mom's when they were here.

I'm not sure if she just wanted it because it was pink, but after a few bites, she decided she didn't like it. I wasn't about to stand in line again, so I gave her mine.  And she ate all of my mint chocolate chip, the little brat.  And, for the record, the mint chocolate chip *was* better than the strawberry.  

Next time, I'm going for ice cream by myself.

Aunt Toria, part 2

We took Victoria to the "red bowl house" for dinner on Saturday.  (Hm, we've been there a lot lately.)  We'd been thinking of going to the mall for a train ride, but the girls hadn't had a nap, so I was afraid they would fall asleep on the car ride over there.  Plus, it was really nice outside, so instead, we went across the street to a shopping center that's got outdoor concerts on the summer weekends.

The music was billed as "jazz," but it wasn't what I'd call "jazzy jazz."  It was kind of an "easy listening jazz."  Kind of hard to dance to.

But they took that as a personal challenge.

Julie has the drama thing down.

I'm really not sure how head stands fit in.

A little headstand/breakdancing action.  And yes, I try to get my kids to wear shorts.  But they choose dresses and skirts at any chance they get.

We got some ice cream, too.  Emma has been all about the mint chocolate chip lately.  A girl after her mama's heart.  Though, mama has become kind of partial to anything peanut butter lately.

Never a dull moment.

On Sunday, we got up and the girls wanted to play outside.

The lilies are blooming.  Now, the girls call all flowers "lilies."

Safety first, especially when you're kicking a big soft ball.  (And look, Emma's in that black and white striped dress AGAIN.)

Julie playing catch with Aunt Victoria.

Beating the Heat

Greg was cat-sitting for some friends of ours who are out of town for a little while.  They bought an inflatable water slide earlier this season, and let us borrow it while they were out of town.  We surprised the girls with it on Saturday morning.

We still were back in the house before 10am, because it was so darn hot, but it helped beat the heat for a little while.

On Sunday, we let Greg sleep in.  Becca went upstairs by herself to get some clothes, and apparently (even though I told her not to) woke up Greg saying, "Daddy, can we go on the waterslide?"

We also went to the mall for a while, because I'd bought some vouchers for a train they've added and they expire soon (which reminds me we still have some to use in the next week...).

The ladies rode with daddy.

They were in car #3, ha.

We stayed for a little longer, and went to the play area.  Julie became obsessed with this thing.  I think she even pushed Emma away when she got too close.

Our schedule got totally off that Saturday.  The girls fell asleep at dinner time, and we tried to just put them straight to bed.  Did.  not.  work.  Greg was trying to put them to bed, and I could hear how bad it was going.  So, awesome mom that I am, I went up and asked if they wanted to go get ice cream in their pajamas.  They think I'm so cool now.

Ladies and the Animals

It had been a rough week at work...  One of those where it just seemed like everyone was driving me crazy.  In hind sight, of course, it wasn't really that bad.  But by the time Thursday rolled around, and I had no meetings scheduled for Friday, so I decided enough was enough.  I took a vacation day on Friday, and surprised the girls with a trip to the "big" zoo.

One of my other deciding factors was the weather.  It was supposed to be perfect.  And I have been here long enough to know that there aren't many "perfect" (meaning bearable) weekends once summer finally hits.  It's been so nice spending time outside the past few weeks, so I really wanted to take advantage of it.

 We made it out without buying this guy.

I was trying to get a picture of them on the elephant statue, but they were too busy looking at the real elephants.  You know how they like animal statues.

I almost think we could have skipped the animal entirely and just played in this rock garden for hours on end.

It was feeding time at the giraffe exhibit.  They've got a feeding platform, and you can buy (of course) giraffe food.  I believe giraffe food was lettuce.  The giraffes come right up to the platform, which was pretty awesome for taking pictures.  But not awesome if you prefer animal statues (and stuffed animals) to real ones.

Julie checking out the turtles.

The zoo is right along the river, and immediately on the other side of the river is the botanical gardens.  They're connected by this bridge, and a free tram runs between the two.  (It's a deceptively short distance on the zoo map, but oh my goodness, I'm so glad we didn't walk.  Huge hills.)  Anyhow, they loved riding the tram.  We got up to the botanical gardens and I asked if they wanted to walk around; no, they wanted to get right back on the tram and go back to the zoo.

Earlier in the day, we had passed the pony rides.  I asked if anyone wanted to go on a pony ride; Julie and Becca piped up.  I gave them a little while to think about it, and we came back.

I should preface this all by saying that there's a horse farm on the way into our neighborhood, so they see the horses all the time.  And when we go by, they're always saying "When I grow up, I'm going to ride on a horse!"  or "I want a horse at my house."

So, Julie and Becca still wanted to ride.  Emma was a no-go.  We got up to the front of the line, and they put the helmets on.  All of a sudden, Emma wanted to ride.  She put a helmet on.

Becca got on the pony with no fear at all.  Started going.

When it was their turn to get on, Julie and Emma said "I don't want to ride a pony!"  Even after Becca got back safe and sound, I was still giving them a chance to change their minds.  But no.  Just Becca rode the pony, and she loved it!

They were all also kinda infatuated with the milking-the-fake-cow thing.  Should I admit that I was kind of relieved when other kids came up and I told them they couldn't have any more turns?

More statues.

Oh, the smirk.

They were itching to get on the carousel all day.

Ice cream, of course.  And then a little playing on the playground.  And I know that it's sacrilege to complain about ice cream, but by this point, it's HOT out.  All the tables out the ice cream shop are full.  And they really overfilled the ice cream cups.  So, we had to walk for a while to find somewhere to sit, and by then, everything's melted so much that it's already running over the (overfilled) cups.  Sigh.  I'd be happier with less ice cream and fewer clothes to try to get stains out of.  Well, this time.

 

I told them we had to leave once they had ice cream, but I'm soft.  They talked me into one more ride on this little train.  Crazy girls.  But you'll notice the big chocolate ice cream stain on Emma's shirt.

Our last stop was supposed to be the flamingoes, but somehow in our wanderings, we had missed the penguins.  We walked in there right at feeding time, which was pretty cool to watch.  The girls loved it, too.  On the way out of the penguin house, there was this little dinosaur statue.  I didn't get a chance to figure out its relevance to penguins, since my kids were fighting with each other to get on it.

A long, but fun, ladies' 'venture day.

Ice Cream

Did I mention that our favorite pizza place closed?  And that we got a Dunkin Donuts?  Well, we also got one of those make-your-own frozen yogurt shops.  (I'd been desperately missing the TCBY we had that closed a few years ago now.)

Any how, we take ice cream very seriously around here.  (This was after that birthday party, so Becca still had a pretty nice black mustache/beard going on.)

And, yes, the cups are almost the size of their heads (those are the smallest cups they have).  You got a problem with that?

Now back to our regularly scheduled chaos

Last week was mine and Greg's 7th wedding anniversary.  The girls love any excuse to party (although I don't think we were actually invited to the party).  They stole the cats' scratching post and set it up in front of the front door.  I believe it was a pizza party.

They're having a grand time.  Like I said, I don't think Greg and I were invited, although the girls did keep saying "happy anniversary!"

 

For dessert, we had some ice pops out of our new ice pop molds.  I had to include these first two pictures, because when I look at them, I can see that Julie is in the process of making a point.  She's a little dramatic.