Catch-up

So it's been 3+ weeks since I posted... funny how life happens.  I was stressing about how exactly to update, then I decided I'm just going to jump in and do it without regards to formatting.  I didn't figure you'd mind.

-Ira's school had an adorable Christmas program on 12-12-12.  It was titled "In A Galilee Far, Far Away."  It was so cute and you could tell how VERY hard all the kids had worked on it.  I teared up during the program thinking about how grateful I am that Ira gets to go to a Catholic School where he can learn and sing about the true meaning of Christmas.

-Thursday before Christmas Break, Pope Paul VI Institute called to schedule my surgery date.  I am so ecstatic to finally have a date in my head to look forward to!

-Got an early Christmas present from Andy - a Deluxe Lightscoop for my camera.  Here is a great example of before and after the Lightscoop.  I'm totally thrilled with it.  These pictures were taken seconds apart from each other.  Not the greatest picture (artistically or technically) but a good example of the Lightscoop's capabilities:

-Spent the weekend before Christmas celebrating with 3 different family groups.  It was good to see everyone and we (the kids and us) were spoiled immensely by good food, good company, and thoughtful presents.  Got some AWESOME pictures with the lightscoop!

-Christmas "Break" was scarcely a break (other than from routines) because Ira (& Ruby eventually) was SICK with the Flu.  He looked over at me as 4:00 Christmas Eve Mass was ending and asked "Why is it so ccccccold in here?!"  At which point I knew he had a fever.  We missed Christmas at my parents' the next day which was one of the most difficult things I've ever subjected myself to (and I've had morning sickness and delivered 2 babies.)  Because essentially after the kids opened their presents, Christmas celebrating was "over" for us.  No second Christmas Mass, no presents and meals and games with family... just us. in our jammies. all day.  I'd like to say I was a champ about it, but I moped around a lot of the day and cried a lot too.

-We thought Ira's fever was gone (it was for almost a day) and went ahead with plans to host my friends from High School whom we got re-connected with after my 10 year reunion.  Ira & Ruby went to Andy's parents and we had a wonderful time talking, eating, and playing games with some of my closest friends from High School. I am so happy for these re-kindled friendships!

-Ira was NOT all better.  When we picked him up from Andy's folks' he felt warm and sure enough, had a fever.  We took him to my doctor's Immediate Care clinic (a WONDERFUL resource) where they diagnosed him with the Flu.  At that point, it was past the time that Tamiflu would work, so we were told to push fluids and rest.  His fever got up to 103.6 that night before finally breaking.  He slept that entire day and night and acted like he felt better.  His fever never did come back, although he still seems to be physically drained from the sickness.

-We did get to host my family on Saturday for Christmas.  Everyone came and boy was it nice to see them!  I finally got to give my mom the calendar that I'd spent dozens of hours working that included this little gem at the end (thanks to my sibs for going along with my crazy idea!):

-Ruby came down with a fever Sunday night.  Knowing that the only place she could've gotten it from was Ira, I took her to Immediate Care on Monday morning so that maybe she could get started on Tamiflu.  Her swab came back negative, but they did an RV Panel that had to culture for 48 hours and said if it came back by Wednesday, they would still give her the Tamiflu.  Her fever broke Monday night, but now she has the cruddiest sounding cough and runny nose.  They called today to say that the panel came back positive for "Flu B."  Push the fluids and rest.  Blurgh...

-Andy and I spent a lot of time playing "The Farming Game."  It's part Monopoly, part Stock Market game and a LOT of fun.  In fact, I like it better than Monopoly (this coming from a person with Christmas ornaments and books about Monopoly.)  We played one game with my sister and brother-in-law and then two games by ourselves.  It has yet to get old.

-Finished my hormone series for Dr. Hilgers.  Eleven blood draws later, I'm still alive and curious about what all that blood work is going to say about me.

-Andy and I "partied hard" New Years Eve playing The Farming Game, writing birthdays on the calendar for 2013, doing double shots of Tequila at Midnight, and staying up until 2:30 in the morning talking and writing up goals for the year.  Neither of us are really "resolution" type people, but it was a good opportunity to re-align our priorities with our values and make sure we're working towards them.

-Spent New Years day cleaning out closets and cabinets, getting rid of junk and rearranging the remaining items.  It was a nice start to the New Year.

-Pulled Ira's other top front tooth out.  It was like "pulling teeth" replete with Andy holding him and me pulling.  It had to come out, that's all I have to say.

-Spent the last day of Christmas Vacation going to lunch and eating sushi, then going to the mall and letting the kids do the "Bungee Bungee" and play Glo-Golf.  It was enjoyable to actually spend some time together doing something fun.

I am filled with hope for 2013.  Blessings to you and yours this year!

Random bullets...

So it's been a few weeks since I've updated the blog, which means that I have been living my life and thinking about posting on the blog, but not actually doing it. Then I get overwhelmed because of "everything" I would need to do to update it, then I procrastinate blogging until "next week."  But my house is clean (for once) and Ruby is sleeping and Ira is in school, so what have I left to do but blog...or sleep... I suppose I'll blog.  I'll fore-warn you that it may be random and incomplete, but it's a start and then hopefully next week I'll return to the "regularly scheduled" What I Loved posts.

• Ira went to Totus Tuus for the first time this summer.  He totally loved it!  We hosted the girls from the team again this year.  It is always fun to get to know young Catholics on-fire for their faith.  They give me hope!
• My best friend from high school, Laura, came down for a visit during Totus Tuus week.  We talked and talked and talked.  It was so nice to spend some time with her before life gets busy again with school (she's a teacher.)
• That same week, (what is it about Totus Tuus week and bad things happening in Andy's family?) Andy's mom ended up in the hospital because of stomach pain.  We spent many hours up at the hospital and the kids were troopers about it.  She ended up having to have a laproscopic surgery done to straighten out a "knuckle" in her small intestine that was causing an obstruction.  The whole thing was a pretty miserable experience for her, but luckily, she's recovered well and quickly!
• Successfully used my new pressure canner to put up some tomatoes for fall/winter/spring.  My first try, I didn't know what I was supposed to be listening for with the "jiggler", plus I used the raw-pack method, which left me with not enough product in the jar to create a hermetic seal and not enough certainty about the canning process that I just decided to freeze that batch. (the Mirro canners don't jiggle constantly, only 2-3 times per minute they let out a big puff of steam - of course, it couldn't say that in the directions... I had to dig that up on the internet)  I wasn't going to give up though, so the next week, I successfully canned 9 pints of tomatoes.  We have enough for about 4 months now, but I think I'm going to have to supplement with store-bought tomatoes (that I'll can myself) that I saw on sale the other day.  Our tomato plants are looking pretty dried up at this point.  
• Went to the Catholic Family Conference as a family for the first time.  Ira really enjoyed the Kids Program and Andy and I enjoyed many of the talks.  It was kind of a crazy weekend because we also had an out-of-town wedding to go to on Saturday afternoon/evening, but we made the most of it and made it through the weekend and hope to go back next year.
• Went to my cousin's wedding (whom I haven't seen for 6 years!)  It was so good to see family and celebrate!
• Sent the kiddos to Grandma and Grandpa's for the weekend!  Andy's parents had all 4 of their grandkids (6,6,3,&2) over for a fun-filled time (Fri afternoon 'till Saturday night.)  Andy and I went out to dinner and then had movie certificates to use.  So we decided to go see a movie for the first time in probably 5 years.  I regret (and hesitate) to inform you that we saw "The Campaign" because we'd seen previews and thought it looked funny.  Although there were some funny parts, it was filthy and raunchy and just downright uncomfortable oftentimes.  I'm honestly embarrassed that we saw it.  What was even worse was that the theater was packed and everyone else seemed to think that the whole thing was just a riot.  I guess that's what I get for going off previews alone and not looking up reviews in advance.  Epic. fail.  Lesson learned (for 5 years from now when we go see a movie in the theater again.)  We did enjoy sleeping in the next day and then went to lunch and worked in the yard.  It was a nice break, but we were both ready to see the kids by Saturday night!
• "Dreaded" the end of summer.  Unlike last year, where Ira and I were BOTH ready for school start, I was really sad to see him go back to school this year.  He's growing up and maturing into such a neat little boy that I truly miss having him around during the day.  I didn't spend as much one-on-one time with him as I would've liked to this summer, but we really did have a great summer with him at home.
• Rubyism: "I need a dan-daid.  My tummy's on wrong."
• Prepped the garden for fall, leaving only the tomatoes, green peppers, green beans, and okra still standing.  The squash bugs had obliterated the zucchini and were moving on to the cukes and melons, so we just pulled it all up and sprayed with malathion to try to curb the problem.  Seems to have worked so far.
• Need to get all the fricking bermuda grass out of my front flower bed before it completely swallows up my flowers.  I was on top of it until mid-June, then it laughed and said "you think you can stop me, watch this!" and proceeded to fill in most of the flower garden.  We've worked on it a little bit, but it's such an obnoxious task that part of me just really wants to mow it all down and say "to heck with it."  Real mature, I know.
• Andy and Ira had "boy time" on the weekend before school started.  They camped out (in the backyard) and then went fishing.  Ira positively loves "boy time" and I think Andy enjoys it a lot too!  (Ruby and I cleaned and played and painted our fingernails & toenails while they were gone.)

Well, I think that catches you up for the most part.  Now I can go back to just being "whelmed" about posting.  Hopefully you'll hear from me again next week with a normal "What I Loved" post.

What I Loved About Last Week 17th and 18th Ed.

So, I'm doubling up weeks again, forgive me!

What I loved about July 9-15th:

1. Wet and Wild.  Our local volunteer fire dept. came to the city park to spray the fire hoses for the kids to run around in and have fun.  Surprise, surprise, brave, crazy Ruby was more into it than cautious Ira.  Both of them did have a lot of fun though.

2. Playing together.  Ira and Ruby really do play so well together.  The other day, I overheard them playing with dinosaurs.  Talk about your total boy/girl difference.  Ira was knocking them down and having them fight with each other.   Ruby having the dinosaurs bite each other than give each other a kiss and say sorry.   It was so funny!

3. You may have noticed that the pictures I feature on my blog are on SmugMug (a photosharing/storage site.)  Well, it saved my tushy the other day.  I usually try to keep 2 copies of my pictures for back-up purposes: one on my external hard drive, and one on SmugMug.  Well, I was reorganizing some folders on the external hard drive and accidentally deleted the entire month of December 2011.  (And no, it wasn't in the recycle bin, before I deleted it, it said "this folder is too big for the recycle bin - delete files permanently?")  Luckily, they were on SmugMug and I was able to recover them all in about 4 zip files.

4. Put up 7 quarts of dill pickles!

5. Had a new nephew!!  My beautiful sister had her baby on July 11th and we got to go up to the hospital and snuggle him before he was even 12 hours old.  Man do I love me some squishy newborn!  The kids were absolutely enthralled too.  Come on God, give us one in our house too!

6. Picked out Ruby's hair.  What do you do when you're bored... you pick out your daughter's extremely curly hair to see how "big" it gets.  What do you think???

Girl would've been a rockstar in the 80's... or in Texas...

7. Updated our budget.  It was about 6 weeks behind, and although it's a pain to track every penny - it is totally worth it for us.  It feels really good to know where we stand with our finances.

8. Along those lines, I am so proud of my hubby who got a promotion and a raise!!  We sat down together and re-worked some of the budget to allow for more savings in a few places.  We'll see how diligent we can be!

9. Spent a crazy Saturday going to 4 different events.  1.Met up with a good online-friend who I'd never met in real life.  We also got to snuggle her sweet new baby!  2.Went to an anniversary party for a family friend where I got to catch up with some people that I hadn't seen for 15+ years.  It was a really neat party!  3.Celebrated the baptism of aforementioned nephew.  It is such a beautiful ceremony - welcoming a baby into God's family.  Love it every time!  4.Went out to my younger sister's house and played cards and toured their new property.  It was a full day, but boy was it fun!

10. The day after all that craziness, I wasn't sure how productive we'd be, but we actually got something checked off the to-do list that I'd wanted to do for a LONG time.  After we laid Ruby down for her nap, we set out all of Ira's toys in the basement family room and decided which ones to keep and which ones to chuck (or sell, any ideas on how to go about that?)  We started by asking Ira which toy he absolutely couldn't live without (his drum set) and then asking him to pick one that he absolutely didn't care about at all anymore (a hacky-sack.) And continued asking those same 2 questions until we'd gone through every single toy in the house. If you're good at math - you'll realize that means we have HALF as many toys as we used to!  It's working well for us.  Ira seems proud of the job he did and is happy with the toys he has left.  Combatting commercialism/materialism one toy at a time here...

Before

After.  Kind of hard to tell, but there really are a TON less toys.
All the toy box lids close now!

Here's what I loved about July 16-22

Hmm.... I can't even remember what we did last week really...

I know we took care of Andy's parents' plants while they were out of town...

Ruby got her hair trimmed to help some major tangle issues...

I went to the dentist to get a pesky tooth looked at... it still needs some work...

We welcomed Andy's folks home from their trip and looked at awesome picture of whales and eagles and glaciers...

We played at home...

We welcomed Totus Tuus teachers into our home on Saturday...

We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and homemade pizza for lunch on Sunday...

I don't know - apparently last week wasn't that exciting.  I have no pictures, and no notes written down about anything that happened.  So there you have it I guess.  I bet you're hoping I take notes about this week.  Definitely makes for much more exciting posts!  Blessings!

What I Loved About Last Week 16th Ed.

Did you know this is my 200th post?!  Not bad for 4.5 3.5 years I guess...

Here's what I loved about July 2-8:

1. Made some zucchini bread.  That is a great way to use up a lot of zucchini (especially if you're gifting friends with the loaves.)  Does anyone have a healthy zucchini bread/muffin recipe that you'd be willing to share.  The recipe I have is delicious, but it calls for a CUP of oil.  I subbed a cup of unsweetened applesauce this time, but I wasn't super pleased with the results.  

2. 4th of July.  I have always held this date dear to my heart because it was always a big day for my family when I was growing up.  This year was especially poignant as it was the day we were due with our baby that we lost in November.  I hadn't given it a ton of thought during the day, and didn't say anything to anyone about it, but my sweet, loving daddy gave me a big hug at the end of the day and said that he'd been thinking about me all day.  It meant the world to me and still brings tears to my eyes that he remembered.  Although my arms are empty and my heart breaks, I am trying let my heart rest in God's plan for my life.  I heard this song this week and it took on a new meaning for me.

3. Independence Day Celebrations.  There are lots of traditions surrounding the 4th of July in my family.  Painting patriotic finger/toenails, parades, ice cream cones, cookouts, fireworks... And this 4th of July was no different.  We had a wonderful day!  I got to see all 3 of my best friends (although I didn't get a picture with Jolene), we spent time with my family and some more great friends, we played games, we shot firecrackers and lit dozens of smoke bombs, ate lots of ice cream cones, got candy at a parade, seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better day.  We had oh so much fun!

Ira doing a little dancing before the parade started.

Me and best friend from college, Brianna

Me and my best friend from high school, Laura

Ice cream face

4. Watched (finally) Toy Story 3 with Ira.  Ira absolutely loves the first 2 Toy Stories, but when Andy and I "pre-viewed" the 3rd one, we were worried that it might be a little too dramatic for him (when he got it a year or so ago.)  We finally decided to watch it with him one day while Ruby was taking her nap.  Wow.  He loved it, and it was so surreal to watch it with him.  I won't ruin any of the movie for those who still haven't seen it, but it's about the main character, Andy, growing up and going off to college.  I was literally bawling at the end (just like I did the first time we watched it, but probably even more so because I was watching it with my little boy.)  

5. Chronicles of Narnia.  I decided to start reading these aloud to Ira.  We started with "The Magician's Nephew" and I can't decide who is more into them, Ira, or me.  We've been reading a chapter or two a day and are on the 10th chapter right now.  It's been about 4 years since I read these, so I'm looking forward to reading them all again and sharing them with Ira in the process.

6. Charlie.  We finally (after about 8 months) brought our Charlie Brown (our chocolate lab) home.  8 months ago, he was digging/jumping out of his cage all. the. time. One of our kind neighbors (the one who died of a heart attack last December) brought him home more times than I know and I bailed him out of the pound once.  Not knowing what exactly to do, we took him to Andy's parent's house (the farm) until we could figure out a way to secure his kennel.   Andy had been saving leftover rebar from his jobsites and cutting them into 16-18" pieces to hammer in around the cage so that even if Charlie dug, he couldn't get out.  But we were still concerned about him staying in his small (10x10ft) kennel.  We priced fencing our yard with chain link, but it was ri.diculous.  Finally, Andy's parent's had the idea to buy more panels for his kennel.  It's more than double it's original size now and we are thrilled to have him back home.  Andy's parents nearly cried when we brought him home because he is such a good dog.  Ira and Charlie have become very good friends and play together every morning now after we feed him and fill up his water bowl and swimming pool (he's so spoiled.)  

Well, I think that about sums it up!  Have a great rest of the week!

What I Loved About Last Week 7th Edition

Here's what I loved about the week of April 30th - May 6th.

1. The scent of roses wafting through the house.  When we have the windows open, I often catch the smell of the rosebushes in the front of the house.  I don't like the smell of rose-scented things (lotions/soaps/perfumes) but there is nothing like the smell of a fresh garden rose (our yellow ones are especially fragrant.)

2. My Kitchen Aid Mixer.  It was our wedding present from my parents and although it's almost 7 years old, it still works (and looks) like it's brand new.  The kids and I used it this week to make pretzels and it made the whole process SO simple.  Well, as simple as baking can get with a 6 year old and a 2 year old bicker over pouring in every. single. ingredient.  Not that that frustrates me or anything.

3. Mulberry Vinaigrette.  Andy was feeling all hunter-gatherery and foraged some Mulberries from a vacant lot that backs up to ours.  Then he made them into the most delicious vinaigrette to eat on our home-grown lettuce.  Pretty cool if you ask me.

4. Ira. Ira. Ira.  One morning before school, he was looking at some papers on the desk.  One of them was a sign up sheet for Room Mothers.  At the bottom it said "Please circle which grade you would like to serve" then had each grade listed out: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.  So he says to me, "Mom!  Look what the teachers are doing this year!  What grade do you think I should be in next year?  I'm pretty smart."  And in case that isn't clear as mud - he thought that he was going to get to pick what grade he'd be in next year.  Love that kid!

5. Diary Fieldtrip.  Each year Andy's mom's kindergarten class takes a field trip to their dairy farm.  Before Andy was in Kindergarten, he got to go along.  Before Ira was in school, he got to go.  Now Ruby gets to go.  Marilyn delights in showing off her grandchildren and her students love getting to meet the kids behind the stories she tells at school.  Not to mention it's just a little more in-depth of a look at the dairy than we get when we go to get milk each week.  The kids get to see a cow being milked, feel a milker, feel fresh, warm milk, see and learn about the milk tank, bottle feed a calf (pronounced "kev" for those who've never been around a dairyman), take a hay-rack ride, climb in a tractor, a combine, and a swather, and eat an ice cream sandwich.  Ruby was a little shy at first, but after awhile she was marching around acting like she owned the place.  She put her finger in the milker twice (that's a big deal, a lot of kids are scared of that) and ended up being in each of the 3 kindergarten classes' pictures (with "Crampa Beel")  She's such a goose!

6. Swimming.  It was hot on Friday, so I set up the kids' pool for the first time.  They LOVED playing in it.  Seriously, they were in there for no less than 2 hours.  I foresee LOTS of swimming this summer for those two.

7. Cream in my tea.  I've been skimming the cream off the top of our milk and using it in my tea in the mornings.  It adds such richness!!  I always wondered why my friend Jolene's tea tasted so much better than mine (despite the fact that we had the same tea.)  Turns out, cream vs. milk makes a BIG difference.  Yummy!

8. Playing Monopoly.  Monopoly has LONG been my favorite game to play.  When my younger sis and her hubby come over, we like to play games.  We usually rotate between Canasta, Pitch, International Rummy and Monopoly.  For the longest time we avoided Monopoly because it took FOREVER.  Well, it turns out, if you play by the REAL rules (not house ones like putting money in free parking, selling houses/hotels back for the same price you bought them, giving immunities when trading properties, etc.) it actually doesn't take any longer than any other game.  So we played on Friday night.  My brother-in-law royally trounced all of us, but it was still tons of fun.  I got out first, so I made the pizza (because it's not a get-together with my sister if we don't make a second dinner at 11pm.)  Life is good!

9.  Saturday.  It was just a great day.  Andy and Ira got up early and went fishing.  They brought home enough fish for lunch.  After lunch, I got to go shopping for new clothes by myself!  Andy watched the kids and put in the rest of our garden (tomatoes, peppers, herbs, melons, cucumbers...)  I shopped 'till I dropped and for once had WONDERFUL luck.  I feel like a new woman!  It's so nice to have "pretty" clothes to wear each day.  Maurices and Vanity were where I got most of the clothes.  Those stores just "get me."  I never have luck at the department stores because I feel like all the clothes are either way too young (and tight and short and skinny) for me or way too old (and baggy and dull and big.)  Although I did pick up a few pairs of shorts at the dept. stores (and another 2 lightweight cardigans - that I now have 4 of because I love them SO much - the picture in the link really doesn't do them justice) I got about a dozen (I really needed clothes) short sleeve/sleeveless shirts between Maurices and Vanity.  Vanity also had some really GREAT camis/layering tank tops that were both long and had modest necklines.  I am excited that all the clothes I found are both stylish and modest.

10. Birthday party.  We celebrated my Mother-in-law's birthday on Sunday and had a wonderful time.  The kids got to play with their cousins, we ate lots of delicious food, and just had a great time in general.

What I Loved About Last Week 6th Edition

Lots of things to love about last week (April 23rd-29th)!

1. Ruby. doing. puzzles.  65 piece puzzle.  Perhaps 2 pieces? connected together that actually go together.  So funny!

2. Ira's Baptism Anniversary.  We celebrated with cookies and one of his favorite meals (fried chicken with mashed potatoes) as well as a Renewal of Baptismal Promises.  It was the first year he seemed to really understand what was going on with the renewal and that was cool!

3. Spring Music Program.  Ira's school held their second concert of the year.  His class sang 5 great songs.  One of which I cannot get out of my head! ("Never Polka with a Porcupine.")  The whole concert was very well done.  I am so impressed with the way that their music teach has them singing (enunciating, breathing, holding notes, and dancing.)  It was a very enjoyable program.

4. Cleaning.  Got my car washed/vacuumed, cleaned our disgustingly dusty/sheetrock-muddy oscillating fans, and cleaned out closets and cabinets throughout the house.  Not fun tasks, but definitely feels good to have them done!

5. Confession.  Needed it.  Did it.  Got grace.  'Nuff said!

6. Date night!  Sweet Andy surprised me with a much needed date night on Friday night.  We ate dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant that we hadn't been to in probably 5 years, then went out for ice cream and coffee after that.  It was so nice to spend some time together away from the crazies kids.

7. Visitors.  Ira got to meet with a very special lady on Saturday who sends him postcards from all over the world.  It was wonderful to get to meet her and have her meet Ira.  She is traveling to Hungary/Austria/Slovakia in July and we are excited to see the postcards and stamps from those countries!

8. Garden.  We FINISHED the 6th and 7th beds.  All told, we moved between 35-42 tons of dirt by shovel over the course of 3 weekends.  I. am. SO. DONE! with that!  

9. Professional Pictures.  We got 2 and 6 year pictures of the kiddos taken as well as family pictures.  Although I've had better experiences, I think Portrait Innovations still did a great job on the photos.

Look at that Farmer's Tan!!!

9. Sleeping kiddos.  The circus that is "going to bed in the same bed at the same time" is mildly improving.  They both slept in the big bed all night twice this week.  We have a "zero-tolerance" policy on Ruby getting out of bed/goofing off too much.  That's really seemed to help her understand the boundaries and to be successful twice!  Hooray!

10. Shout out.  A  dear friend of mine started doing her own "What I Loved" posts.  I always enjoy her perspective on things.  Can't wait to see more posts from this beautiful woman!

Have a GREAT week!

Good friend, good time

A dear, dear friend of mine just returned home from a 5 month mission trip to Bolivia. So of course, I couldn't WAIT to get together with her when she got back. We decided to go to the Zoo so that we could blab and Ira could have something to do (other than be bored to tears by "grown up talk".)



We had an amazing time catching up. And we also got to see some really cool things at the zoo! We watched the river otters eat lunch, the gorillas getting fed, and the coolest thing happened in the Apes and Man exhibit. For one, there was a (just shy of) 2 month old baby chimpanzee. He was the tiniest little adorable thing! He was the seventh baby for his 40 year old mother. He had quite the curious personality (sounds like a little boy I know) and the zookeeper told us that he has fallen off of his mama's chest more than once because he's too busy gawking around and forgets to hold on!


The zookeeper was absolutely fascinating to talk to. She told us a lot about the mama chimp and also about another female chimp who positively loves babies. She (this other female chimp) happened to wander over to the glass where we were talking to the zoo keeper, so my friend held Ruby up to the glass for the chimp see. Then the chimp put her hand up on the glass where Ruby's hand was! It was just absolutely amazing to watch. It's no wonder the chimps have always been my favorite thing to see at the zoo.


After about 5 hours at the zoo, we finally decided to call it a day! We went to Sonic afterwards and got half price drinks (2-4 happy hour!) Brianna introduced me to Strawberry Vanilla Limeades. If you've never tried one - do next time you're at Sonic - they are positively delicious!!