Family Day

Life around here has been a little bit crazy.  Last night we celebrated the life of Jake's Grandpa Joe, and this morning we all gathered around as his ashes were placed in their final resting place, next to the love of his life - Rosemary. We rejoice in knowing that they are together again - not in that little wooden box, but walking side by side on streets of gold.

With all that has been going on lately, we decided to just have a fun day.  No 'chores'.  No 'errands'.  No phone calls, even!  Just the three of us, enjoying our time as a family.

+The Zoo+
Carter has never been to a zoo, so we weren't too sure how he'd do.  Would he freak out by the monkeys?  Would he be terrified of the penguins?!

Ha!

Carter spent the whole time relaxing in the comfort of his stroller.  Let me tell you - it was hot out, again, and I don't "do well" in the heat.  Translation: The heat makes me very, very crabby.  But Carter held it together, and so did I :)

The zoo we went to is small and perfect for little kids, because you can linger for hours, or just make a quick trip through.  We opted for the quick trip :)

Carter loved waving to this horse.
Please don't tell him it's not a horse.

Clapping 'yay' for the horse :) 

 Next up was the giraffe.  This was one of the exhibits that could have forced us to pack up and go home :)

Well, Carter surprised us (which he seems to do a lot!) and he loved this long-necked guy :)  He was all laughs and giggles!

Almost grabbed Mr. Giraffe's tongue...!

 Carter really does love kisses.  Proof:

We went on to the petting zoo and Carter enjoyed petting all the dogs.

No, it's not a goat.  We prefer 'dog with horns'.

Of all the animals at the zoo, I'm positive that these were Carter's favorite:

 Every time a dirty little zoo bird would fly by, or tweet in our general vicinity, Carter would go crazy - signing 'bird' and saying 'duh-duhh!! duh-duhh!!' (his word for bird).

We spent $30 to look at birds.

We also went on a little train ride.  Carter screamed 'go, go, goooooo!' pretty much the whole ride :)  I'd say he liked it!

 
Our morning at the zoo was a success, and we'd like to go back when he knows more animal signs, and when it's not a bajillion degrees outside :)

We laughed at lunch, because Carter's world (and vocabulary) is so very small.  To him, the only animals that exist are birds, horses, cats, dogs, and fish.  That's it.  Every animal must fit into one of those categories :)

+Lambeau Field+
The stadium (where the Green Bay Packers play, for all my out of town readers!) is close to the zoo, so we thought we'd make a full day trip and head there for lunch!  This was part of Jake's birthday gift, since I stink at gift buying.  It's becoming more 'safe' to let him buy his own gifts :)  What could be better than a gift from the Packer Pro Shop?!  :)

Keep in mind - we just spent the whole morning at the zoo, and Carter didn't have a nap.  Just explaining in advance why there are no happy photos of Carter smiling :)

We ordered lunch at Curly's Pub (inside the Atrium), and Carter finally settled on his usual - chicken tenders :)

After lunch, we walked through the Packer Hall of Fame.

Later, we went through the Pro Shop and Jake picked out a shirt.  Anyone that knows Jake, knows that this was no small feat.  He finally, finally, FINALLY settled on the first shirt that I pointed out to him.

:)

Great family fun day :)  Loved spending some time with my boys!

One Thing I Know For Sure: My cup runneth over....