Take Me To The Zoo!

Its been over two weeks, and I meant to blog about this sooner. Up here our city has a free public zoo. They've been working on it and remodeling and have added a really nice (although maybe still to big for Sariah) playground. Both our church and library friends playgroups decided to take trips to the zoo within a weeks period, so we went to both, because really, can you get too much zoo?

First we went with our chruch playgroup. There are kids ranging from newborn-4 or 5 years in our group, so we took advantage of the playscape for a bit. Like I said, Sariah maybe still too small for this, and the big kids made me nervous, so I was happy when we finally decided to go look at the animals.We actually didn't stay long with the group because of Sariah's short attention span. Since I decided to let her walk instead of taking our stroller, we ventured out on our own. Sariah LOVES the otter! And if he'd perform for her all day, she'd watch him!
This bird is in their rain forest building. Usually they sit off in the trees, but today he was right on the railing. I was just waiting for him to take off somebody's finger!

We finally did meet everybody for lunch, and then we headed back home.

The following Monday, we were off to the zoo again, this time with our friends from the library. We met them all at baby story time last fall. Now we all get together about once a week for a playgroup. One of the Mommy's mom lives 2 blocks from the zoo, so we parked there and treked off.

Poor Sariah, she had shots given that morning and I let her try a strawberry, and she vomited all over her and the stroller as we walked to the zoo. I don't even carry a change of clothes anymore for her, but fortunately, one of the other mommies did, so she wore borrowed clothes for a bit.

Here she is in front of the Orangutan. Both monkies seemed unintrested in me taking their picture.

Remembering our last zoo trip, I had a hard time keeping Sariah in her stroller since she wanted to walk, so back on the monkey backpack went.

Here's all the babies in front of the giraffes. You can't see any in the picture, but they're there.
From L ->R Issac, Sophie, Connor (hidden) Nathan, Cora, Kaitlin and Sariah (who will rarely sit for a group pic. She's the only one who can walk, and she's the oldest.) Did I mention Sariah loves the otter?
Here we all are again, this time at Connor's Grandma's House.
back row: Elle, Nathan, Cora, Sariah
front row: Issac, Tessa, Connor, Kaitlin

Anyways, the zoo is lots of fun, and we'll probably go back several times this Summer, now that Sariah can look at the animals better!

Here's a link to all the pictures I took both thoses days...

http://community.webshots.com/album/563626827CQpPSO?vhost=community

Brat Fest!

Its Memorial Day Weekend! Time for Brat Fest! One of our cities biggest traditions. Every year, the Friday-Monday they hold basically a big outdoor picnic. The prices are reasonable, the brats are good, and our scouting program gets all their money from it. They have "celebrity" cashires, live music, and this year there was also an (overpriced) midway. Needless to say we didn't ride any rides, but we did enjoy some brats & Sariah enjoyed a hot dog. There was also a booth from the Mustard Museum and the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile was on hand!

Here's Doug and Sariah in front of the world's largest grill. Seriously, its huge. Part of the excitement of brat fest is trying to break world records. The current world record for most brats consumed in a weekend was set here in 2004. Hopefully, we'll eventually be part of a new world record. We're suppose to have great weather this weekend, and I just checked the website, and they're halfway to their goal! We like to get there right at 11am on Saturday because we beat the crowd, get great parking, get a seat at a covered table and get home before nap time!
Sariah really enjoyed the live music. You can't tell from this picture, but she was bopping her head to the beat while she enjoyed her hot dog. The band playing at the time was the Dane Varese Band and they were pretty good for a bunch of college kids working for free.
Here she is trying on Daddy's sunglasses.
Anyway, we had a great time and we hope some of you might join us in the future for upcoming Brat Fests! For more info, here's their website www.bratfest.com

Marin, Marin, How does your garden grow? Part 2!

(btw, there are 3 new posts...)

Remember these before pictures? Well, here's the after shots.

Well, first, this is the back yard, where I planted the extra bulbs I had. There were originally 3 rows of bulbs, but the animals got to two of the rows. :(
Here's the front flower box!

And here's the tulips by the tree...

Sariah loves to try and balance on the stones around the tree. She's a cutie!

This Is Why I Love My Backyard...

Wii! Wheee!!!

Okay, So I got Doug to play with me, once, and that's it, but I did get pictures... yay!

I've ordered the Wii Fit and it should come this week, so I'm excited by that, because, from what I've read, its a pretty good workout... :)

We Eat Ham and Jam and...

Yay!!!!! As a Tuesday night special treat, Doug and I went and saw Monty Pyton's Spamalot, the 2005 Tony Award Winning Broadway Musical. I have been waiting around for this since I heard that it was coming to Broadway. Since I couldn't make it out to NY to see the orignal cast, this was the next best thing. If you're wondering, we went on a Tuesday because we got better seats than a weekend showing. We were right orchestra level row G, close enough to see all kinds of facial expressions and stuff. It was great!
The musical itself was pretty great! Here are some highlights in the form of Pros & Cons...

Pros:

There were lots of funny bits and things straight out of the movie. The acting was great. I esp. liked Sir Robin & Patsy.

The sets & constumes were awesome. Totally Monty Python... brilliant. And the voice work by John Cleese... oh yes...

Audience participation! It was seriously hilarious. Plus the sing along at the end was a nice touch. Oh, and the Knights who say Ni! added their own Wisconsin flair.

Nods to other musicals: I saw Phantom, Les Mis, West Side Story, but I'm pretty sure there were more...

Cons:

It def. was raunchy in places. I could've done without the French hand gestures and lots of scantily clad women.

Minor nit pick: I thought Sir Robin didn't sing his main song as fast as David Hyde Pierce does on the soundtrack. (It was still great though.) And the Lady of the Lake sang all her songs way too fast.

All in all, we had an awesome time! We're totally going to do it again. We've even got tickets for a show in Aug. called Church Basement Ladies (the poster is behind me in this photo) starring William Christopher, who played Father Mulchahy on M*A*S*H. Not just tickets... FRONT ROW tickets. WOO HOO!!!

And yes, this is the dress that I bought for the Epic Anniversary Party, in case you were wondering...
Of course in true Monty Python & the Holy Grail fashion... Here were the first 3 pages of the playbill, mooses & all. Although read at your own risk, there is one part that is pretty naughty...
Just a small note at the end, this is my 100th blog post, I was going to do something epic for it, but I decided that Spamalot was pretty epic enough. Hurray for blogging!

Happy Mother's Day!

Edit to add: The story w/ the flour isn't that exciting. My mom went shopping, left the flour on the table, turned her back on me, and when she came back, I had climbed up on the table and was sitting on the flour. She though it was so cute, she took a picture. Let's just say I had a slightly harder time w/ Sariah recreating the picture... ;)

Hope all those Mother's (and women who are like Mom's to us) have a wonderful Mother's day! Here's just a couple pictures to show that mothering hasn't changed that much.

Here's Marin... Here's Sariah...

Just a quick shout out to my Mom... love you!!!

We Got A Webcam!

Mother's Day came early in our house! I was having a particularly rotten day Tuesday, so when Doug got home from work, we went shopping for my gifts. I got this nifty webcam so we can send live video to Grandmas & Grampas and Aunts & Uncles and other fun people. I'm very excited about it. There's no sound, but hey... Here's a small sampling of what to expect from our exciting webcam!

I also got a Wii! Originally Doug was going to get me a couple of games for my DS, but when we went out, there wasn't really any games I had to have. Then, my non-spontanious husband decided to be spontanious. He bought me the Wii. I'm so excited. I'm having lots of fun with it. I'll post pictures of us play it later....

More on Mother's Day on Sunday... :)

Decorating Bug!

I've caught it! While Doug was away, I got to play! I've finished Sariah's room (except the ceiling fan, but I need Doug for that.) I rearranged the furniture in our bedroom, I hung some pictures and things and I outfitted our family room with curtains and throw pillows (just in time for the book club and play group we're hosting next week!)

For all you wondering, here's what I finally did to fill that void space on the shelf. I admit, the "see/hear/speak no evil" monkeys might not be the most cutsie thing, but they were the only monkeys I could find. I'm hopeing that the butterfly girlies it up a little more. As to who actually won the contest? Um, I guess it was a combo of Susan/Jenny/Lisa/My ideas, so pictures will be in the mail sometime this week to the three of you. :)

I don't remember if I offically posted pics of Sariah's new furniture, so here it is. It came with 3 different color knobs for each pull, so I thought it was kinda cute. I hung this frame this week as well, although you'll notice that there are only 3 actual pictures of us and 5 that came with the frame because I'm going to add as we grow.
Here's Sariah's desk. The pack n' play is not a permenant fixture in the room, but Sariah still sleeps in it for now. We tried to move her to the big bed while Daddy was away, but that had disasterous results.
Here's the nightstand, perfect for books!
Here's a cute magnet board that we got for Christmas from Justin & Jamie that I finally got around to hanging. It took me awhile to find a place where it would match well, and I really like it here next to our front door.

And finally the big project for the week was the throw pillows and curtains for the family room; where we'll be holding book club & play group.

Here's the pillows close up.And here are the curtains. Everything kinda came out pinkish in these pictures, but they're more of a copper/orange color.The finished product! (Although I need to vacuum... The work is never done...)

Oh where, oh where has my little Doug gone?

3rd Update: Doug made it home just after 2am. YAY! We've gotten about 4.5 hrs of sleep, but thank goodness its the weekend.

2nd Update: Doug phoned about half hour ago to say he was in Millwalkee and they were in a minivan and driving back now. I'm expecting him in an hour or so. YAY!!

Update: Doug is in Atlanta now, and is scheduled to be on a plane at 8:21pm my time (which is btw, right now) so hopefully he's on his way to Millwalkee!

Doug's been on a business trip since Tuesday afternoon. He's was scheduled to come back this evening at 10:30pm, flying Springfield, Chicago then home. He called earlier to say he couldn't fly through Chicago and was flying through Detriot instead, but would be home around the same time. Now he's on a flight to Altanta that was suppose to fly at 3:15p, but was delayed and then from there to Milwalkee on a flight he didn't have a seat for and then drive back home from there. Who knows where he is now or when he'll get home.

Meanwhile, Sariah and I have been on our own for 4 days and we are driving eachother nuts. This morning at story time, she wasn't a very good girl, and this afternoon at play group she had a bad run in with a cat.

Needless to say, I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown, so if ya'll would keep us, and esp. Doug in your prayers tonight, I'd appreciate it.