Yesterday we ate lunch...

with the flamingo's (Its hard to see, but they're in the background):

Cornbread and I had a fantastic weekend away in South Haven while the girls enjoyed themselves at grandma and grandpa's. When we initally began planning to go away that weekend we decided that it would be nice to do on the weekend of Columbus Day since the girls would be off of school that day. That way we could take our time getting home on Sunday and then we could all have a day at the zoo on Monday after missing them oh so much over the weekend:)

We LOVE going to the city so Lincoln Park Zoo was the destination. We had such a nice day together even with the heat and humidity. The animals were really active - which is a huge change from every other trip I've made to the zoo. And the zoo is much bigger than we remembered from the last time we went (couple years ago)... I was exhausted by the end of the day (had no idea I was also getting a head cold). And the girls all napped in the rush hour traffic on the way home.

This was Georgia's first trip to the zoo and her reaction to every new animal was the same: A really loud shriek and the following look on her face directed at one of us - like "Oh my gosh, LOOOOOK!!! Mom and Dad - LOOOOK!!!" We laughed and laughed with her - it was awesome!

We saw everything - even though I tried to skip a few (who wants to see wolves and black bears anyway?)

Nora's favorites were the anteater, the deer and the giraffes. Ryann's were the giraffes and the zebras (even though that is the one animal that we missed). Georgia's favorites, apparently, were all of them.

Cornbread also got to witness one of those disapproving other mom situations... We were walking out, Ryann was in the back of the double stroller and Georgia was in the front - I was pushing. Georgia decided to stand up for some reason (she had not done this at all prior to this) and she fell forward and got her foot caught in the front wheel. Now, she wasn't hurt all that badly - no scrapes or scratches, she didn't hit her head, but it was 3:15 and she had not had a nap and was tired and a little over extended - of course she cried. I stopped immediately to find out what happened and to help her - another mom rushed over to see if she was alright, I told her she was and she walked away, rolled her eyes at Cornbread and said in kind of a self-satisfied tone of voice, "She wasn't strapped in." I wish I could duplicate the way she said it - I was quite annoyed.

Do people REALLY strap their kids into the stroller at the zoo? Come on? They're in and out, in and out the entire time - do you REALLY take the time to strap them and unstrap them every single time? If you do - I'm really happy and proud of you, but we don't - obviously.

I had a situation previously while Cornbread and Nora were somewhere else. It never ceases to amaze me how much people feel a need to butt in and comment on the way I take care of my kids - perhaps instead of clucking in disapproval and hovering over top of me to make sure that I take care of things the proper way, one should instead say, "Oh my - you only have two hands and two small children climbing all over a stroller. I can see you may need help - what can I do?" Hmph.

It was a good day - with those two exceptions:)