Staycation

Libby tacked two extra days off to the last weekend. It would be nice to say that she did this so that we could properly celebrate my 36th birthday with a big three day long party or some other bacchanalian escapade to put my aging body through the ringer and teach it a valuable lesson about putting up or shutting up. But, no. Mostly we went about business as usual, treating it like two extra days of weekend, and got a few odd jobs done around the house that had been waiting for awhile now (also, Libby and I have been suffering through pretty nasty summer colds, which discouraged anything exciting happening--though that did encourage her to buy a neti-pot, so we both added the experience of flushing our sinuses with warm water to the list of things we've done with our lives, so maybe that can be considered an exciting birthday activity).

But we did manage to work in one little adventure to the Hutch Zoo yesterday. Our plan was to get there when it opened at 10:00, spend an hour or so wandering around, then getting back home in time for lunch and the kids' naps. Instead, circumstances encouraged us to stay at the zoo until nearly noon and then we decided that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat at the Amish restaurant that was sort of on our way home. As such, we didn't get back until about 2:30. Both kids only got as much nap as they could grab in the car, but it was still a fun little outing and we got some good pictures, which I thought I would share.

This picture and the next were actually taken a week or two ago but I found them on the camera and thought they were worth sharing. Gabe has made a bit of a habit of bringing accessories into the bathroom with him. Sometimes it's an audience--one of his toys, a stuffed animal, or even his blankie--that he'll put on the sink to watch him go to the bathroom. That's normal, right, wanting to share your evacuations with an audience? I hope so. And sometimes it's something to use or wear on the toilet, this time his sunglasses, which, for reasons known only to him, he prefers to wear upside down. I just like the idea of dressing up to use the bathroom.

And I had to add another future blackmail picture. Really, we're pretty set on blackmail pictures. Thanks to digital cameras, gone are the days when aspiring girlfriends can be amused/dismayed by a single picture of a boy with his pants off doing something silly. Now, we have an entire arsenal of such pictures. Gabe's future girlfriend(s) will be able to spend a solid evening leaving through pictures of Gabe doing something embarrassing. His young adult years should prove most interesting.

And here's Norah testing out to possible professions that involve the use of glasses. This first is what it would be like if she grows up to be Elton John--certainly not a BROAD career path, but one that I bet would prove interesting.

Here she is trying out Dour Librarian--a 180 turn from Elton John, to be sure, but possibly a safer bet as far as employment options go. There might also be School Marm considerations here, who knows.

On the train. The zoo has a train that runs all along the back side of the park. It's a weird thing. Since it doesn't actually go by any of the animals, they've put up a number of concrete animals along the way for the passengers to look at. Still, it was a train ride, and, for these boys, it wouldn't have mattered if the only thing they had to look at was a raw sewage treatment facility, they were happy.

Libby had finally had enough of Gabe's sass talk, so she socked him in the nose. No, no. Only kidding. He held her hand up so Gabe could "pound it"--something he's always preferred to do to "high fives" for some reason (probably because he's a terrorist, as this is one of their favorite things to do, I hear).

This is a "working" cow model. Visitors are encouraged to milk it. We just liked the curious way the kids approached the situation. The udder is filled with water which can be squeezed from the teats into the bucket (or onto passers-by). Speaking from experience, this isn't a very good model. If you tried to milk a real cow the same way, you wouldn't get anything out of it. Cow milking requires subtle hands for maximum output and efficiency. Just saying. It is nice when my farmer past allows me to pass judgments of the most esoteric sort. It makes me feel all warm inside.

And, finally, a picture of Norah at dinner. The fact that she's eating and playing with a spoon isn't all that unusual. What's all over her face is. Libby, in an inspired moment, opened up a little tub of whipped butter (which wasn't home whipped by the Amish--a point I found a little disappointing) and let her go to town with it. That's right. Butter. Not surprisingly, considering the only foods she will pleasantly feed herself these days are crackers, fruit loops, and fried foods, Norah LOVED it. She loved it so much that she had to spread it all over her face and up into her hair in an attempt to become one with the greasy topping.