We're So Glad When Daddy is Home

We spent Saturday morning at our favorite outing, the ZOO. It's always fun, but much better when Doug is there too. We enjoyed the usual feeding of the giraffes. Bode rode the little Toddler Train. We got to feed the "Buddie Budgies" (Australian parakeets) off of the seed sticks. Two of them obliged and actually sat on our stick while they nibbled. We spent a bit at the play area and then rode the carousel. We topped it off with an ice cream cone. I forgot my camera (mon dieu!) and missed some GREAT shots, but I guess instead of scrambling to capture the moments digitally I got to watch and savor. The boys had a great time. Bode loved the carousel exclaiming how fun it is. Keegen seemed a little bit uncertain. Keegen's favorite seemed to be the meerkats. He stood watching at their window for a long time. At the play area we ate our sandwiches and threw bits of bread to the chipmunks. Keegen wanted in on that and was holding his crust out to one. The chipmunk reached for it, which startled Keegen. Then the chipmunk simply snatched it out of his hands! Which made him cry and made Doug and I laugh. You really had to see it to appreciate it. During our ice cream eating, a chipmunk jumped up on Keegen's stroller tray and nibbled at some leftover banana, which we thought was cute until he moved on, leaving behind a pile of POOP on the tray. The nerve.

Bode was more than willing to leave the zoo for home because he was excited to play more with his new water aquaduct that Grandma Di sent. It was also the first thing he wanted to play with this morning. (And, YES, that is newly-laid SOD in our backyard, which is slowly starting to actually look like a yard!!).

Last night I asked Doug what he'd like for breakfast this morning. He requested crepes, to which I responded, "I don't do crepes." It can be such a pain to make, but, I decided to give it a try and they turned out pretty well I think. I'm not a fan of dessert crepes (love the ones stuffed with chicken and broccoli though). Doug wanted nothing more than Cool Whip and berries in them, so that was easy (wish I liked berries, but I don't). So that was his own personal eating experience.

This afternoon we drove out to Mueller State Park (about an hour away) for a picnic and hike. The hike was gorgeous--down to a little pond with a fantastic view of the back of the Pikes Peak range. To the west (?) we could see a little bit of the Sangre de Cristos. Bode did great huffing along down to the pond. He was tired on the way back up so we had distracting pinecone soccer competitions to keep him going. And I carried him some and then he rode on Doug's shoulders, too. Keegen got to ride the whole way in the backpack. Gorgeous scenery, beautiful wildflowers (I wished I could just dig a few up and transplant them at home...), lots of butterflies. I just felt so blessed to be hiking along with my little family. It felt really good.

We decided to head out of the park after that hike (the boys were exhausted and wouldn't tolerate another hike). We barely scratched the surface of that park, so we talked about going camping there in the future. On the way back home, we stopped at a county park just a few miles from Mueller where we had a blast. Great play equipment. Keegen is such a little daredevil. It was pretty funny putting him down the slide on his own. Bode was all over the place having a great time. Both boys almost fell asleep on the short drive to this park, but when we got back in the car to make the hour drive home, did they sleep??? Well, Keegen did for about 30 minutes, while Bode was in that I'm-so-tired-hyper-mode, talking silly non-stop. I finally asked him about 10 minutes from home if he could just turn it off for a minute. But he could not...

Anyway, a great weekend. The boys played inside for awhile before baths and then went straight to bed after dinner. I swear, I live for weekends and family time.