I'm Here!

I'm back.  I didn't really go anywhere, I just haven't posted.  The above photo was taken on our way to Omaha recently, when we stopped at a rest area to geocache.  We found the cache and we were supposed to take our picture with the camera enclosed in the cache, however, the camera was full, so we used our own camera.

To celebrate the end of the first trimester, Cool Daddy-O took a day off work and we went to the zoo in Omaha.  It was a fun day.  After the zoo, we found our first out-of-state geocache.  It was pretty easy.  We tried to find a second one, but ran out of daylight.  It was in a wooded area, it was getting dark and our gps was acting weird.  

We have spent the past few weekends doing some deep cleaning, preparing to host a family Thanksgiving dinner.  Today's task was washing windows, doors, and curtains.  To celebrate the completion of this task, I spent a couple hours at Target.  

Well, that sums up my excitement.  We're watching the Iowa Hawkeyes trounce Minnesota.  It's pretty exciting!

A Snickers update:  we've been visiting the vet regularly.  For now we've changed his food to prescription diet food and he's recently started taking Amitriptyline for treatment of "litter box incontinence".  Things are improving, but not yet perfect.  We'll continue this treatment and hope for continued progress.  

My new promise to myself.  All future cats will be female.  No future cats will be persian.  I've owned 3 and haven't had such good luck overall.  Their personalities have been AWESOME, however, the health problems, not so much fun.

Current gas price: $1.61. How low will it go?

One more thing:  I'm going to make an effort to post a bit more often.  

Sunday Trip to the Zoo and Pondering the Number 4

On Sunday afternoon, we made a spontaneous trip to the Blank Park Zoo. It was the elephants' last day (they were visiting for the summer). The girls didn't seem interested in watching the actual show, so we just watched them get ready for their show. We watched them get brushed and washed up for their performance.

We also visited the Baby Brazilian Sea Horses. They were born in May. To put things in perspective, they are in a regular sized fish bowl. Yes, they are extremely tiny. They are black.

It was feeding time for the bats. Bats are Big Sis's favorite animal. I think it's fun to take pictures of them...I get to use the Night Scene mode on my camera, which I think is COOL!

We had some down time while in line for the train. I decided to take some close-ups while we were wasting time. Here is Big Sis. She's starting to get a little bummed out that she doesn't have any loose teeth yet, however, we pointed out that she wouldn't be able to bite into an ear of corn if she had a loose tooth. Hopefully, that will boost here spirits for a few weeks.

Lil Sis enjoyed a little down time also. Looks like she's planning something mischievous. She's kind of like that. It's just her nature.

Today, we struggled a bit. She refused to sit in a chair at little kid story time at the library. After 3 failed attempts to sit in a chair, she ended up sitting on my lap in the play area at the library in a time out of sorts. I didn't allow her to play with toys, however, I explained to her she could rejoin story time if she wanted. We remained at a stalemate and we just sat there.

I continue to struggle with the whole 4-year-old thing. I know it's an important stage...increasing independence (can also be viewed as stubbornness), wanting to do big kid stuff, yet scared to and wanting to stay close to a parent. It's frustrating for all of us involved.

And, finally, our favorite part of living in Iowa in the summer. SWEET CORN aka CORN ON THE COB!!!! Very delicious!! The girls are getting very good at husking the ears. In fact, Cool Daddy-O and the girls husked the corn while I made a peach cobbler for dessert. We grilled hamburgers, too.

There's no way we can top that meal tonight. In fact, I'm not sure what we'll have tonight. Better sign off and think of something...I'm getting hungry!

A chilly, windy, fun day at the zoo

We were very glad we saw the outside exhibits at the zoo on Thursday. Friday was chilly with a brisk north wind. Cool Daddy-O took the girls to their favorite exhibits (Desert Dome and Kingdoms of the Night) while I spent time watching the gorillas and orangutans. I had a blast. I think the rest of the family had fun too.

One gorilla pulled a big stick out of the icy pond. He seemed to be having fun with it. Another gorilla was eating the ice he found. They had just been released into the outside part of the exhibit when I arrived. They were a lot of fun to watch. It seems they're performing at times and interact with visitors.


Here's Big Squirt posing with a shark in the aquarium.

Fun at the Zoo

We've gone west! We had a nice, fairly quiet journey and spent a couple hours at the Henry Doorly Zoo. We visited the zebras, sea lions, elephants, giraffes (in their winter enclosure), and watched some fairly active gorillas doing interesting stuff. We ate at a cool pizza place near our hotel and now the girls have jammies on and are getting ready for bed. Tomorrow, we're going back to the zoo for the day. We did the outside stuff today as the temps were in the 60's. Tomorrow we'll focus on the inside displays because it will be in the 40's outside. Fortunately, we'll be dodging the snowstorm this time.

Our original plan was to go to Minneapolis for the weekend. We'll do that some time when it's warmer outside.

Signing off from the Cornhusker State...