Fun Times

The boys had a ball this past week, hanging out with Grandma and Pop Pop. We did all kinds of fun things (some of which I didn't take any pictures of *gasp!*) including a trip to the zoo and playing at the park...

Chase and Jackson. Such a shame my focus was on the dragon and not them! Darn! And yes, Chase is wearing his shirt backwards. Again. He's always so proud of himself for getting himself dressed that he hates it when I try to help him or "fix" whatever he did wrong.

Jackson and Pop Pop checking out the kangaroos.

Hope there isn't a squirrel living in that hole!

Chase flying across a bridge at the park! And yep, his shirt is backwards again... his shorts are also backwards, but that's harder to tell in the picture. 

Jackson

Not so fast, Pop Pop! 

(Don't worry, they weren't really going that fast - I just messed with my shutter speed to make it look like they were.)

In baby news, I'm now 10 weeks along and so ready to be out of the first trimester. The fatigue is killing me! My nausea had gotten better in the last week until some icky heat and humidity rolled in yesterday. Now I feel gross again if I spend too much time outside. 

An Evening of Family Fun

Sunday evening Nick found someone to cover for him at work, so that we could have a fun family night out at the zoo! Normally the zoo closes by 5pm, but Sunday night was a special night just for members of the zoo! There was entertainment, food specials and freebies. The boys were so excited to go, especially when we started the night on the train....

Then we did something the boys had never done before.... we rode a boat! The 10 minute boat tour was full of cheesy jokes by the guide and we didn't see all that many animals, but the boys loved being on a boat.

After the boat ride we found a new-to-us place to eat our picnic dinner. There was no one else up there most of the time we were there and we had a nice view of the little lake. Nick said "doesn't this remind you of Maine?". Uh, not quite but it was pretty at least. Here's Chase offering me some of his cantaloupe.

During dinner, Nick helped himself to my camera. Wouldn't you know the one in-focus shot he got was of me? Lovely.

After dinner we headed to a part of Africa we actually hadn't visited before. The boys loved it! The animals were closer, so easier to see and it was nice and shady. The boys paused at one point for a heart-melting moment that I was just lucky enough to capture.

Then Jackson stomped in a big, muddy puddle even after Nick and I both told the boys not to step in it. He then proceeded to walk around the zoo like this, and complained that his legs were dirty.

After a couple of hours of fun, we joined the masses waiting for the tram back to the main gate. I'm pretty sure the boys would be happy if a trip to the zoo just meant rides on the train and tram....

Definitely a fun, family night!

Busy Days

We had a busy end to the week last week. Thankfully, busy usually equals fun in this house!

Thursday morning we met up with another triplet family at the zoo. It was hot, but the zoo had all kinds of fans spraying water which kept the kiddos cool (and muddy).

And we, of course, rode the carousel. I'm pretty sure the carousel is the boys' favorite part of the zoo. You should see the way Tyler starts dance-walking when we get close enough to hear the music. Adorable!

Tyler

 Chase

 Jackson

Friday morning included dashing to the grocery store to buy what was on sale there as well as some picnic supplies for later that day. Then we headed to a new-to-us park to meet up with some moms from a mom's group I'm in. The boys had a ball at the new playground and giant sand pit and even more fun at the neighboring sprayground! After a full morning in the sun, we all came home and crashed for nap time. I slept for 2 hours and the boys for about 3.5!

After naptime we skyped with my mom, which is always a favorite.The boys weren't content to just sit in their chairs though... no, they needed to be just as close to the screen as possible.

Saturday morning we all headed to a nearby parade! It was hot, and the parade was long but the all in all the boys had fun.

  Poor Nick was so confused by the time we got home though. Look at all those political stickers! Who is he supposed to vote for? There are too many options!

I Love Zoo Pictures

Last week, when my parents were here, we went to the zoo. I don't know what it is about pictures from the zoo, but I just love them! Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

Pop Pop, Tyler & Jackson

 Hmmm... carrot stick in cheese sauce? I dunno about this Chase.

 Oh Tyler, animal cracker in cheese sauce is worse!

Aunt Laura teaching Jackson how to flash the "peace" sign.

 Jackson, Aunt Laura, Grandma, Chase & Tyler

I

It's our zoo tradition to take a picture with this elephant.

L-R: Chase, Jackson & Tyler

Couple of lovely little notes for you now....

1. I've finally caught up on our 365 Blog, so there are lots of cute pictures to view over there!

2. I bought the domain name www.threetimesthegiggles.com, so now you can just type that in to get to our blog! Until I get things figured out, you MUST type in the www or it won't work. You can also continue to use the original blog address. Fun times :)

Family Fun

Last weekend Nick sort of had a 4 day weekend. I say sort of only because he did go to one of the Easter services on Saturday afternoon to help out and then he signed one of us up to help in the nursery Easter Sunday and I took that shift. Basically though, he was off from Friday-Monday. It was great having him around!

Monday morning some rain and storms passed through early and then it was supposed to clear off a bit. We took advantage of the impending sunshine and took the boys to the zoo! Even though I had my camera with me the whole time, I refrained from taking it out and snapping shots of every little thing. Towards the end of our time there, I did snap a few shots of the boys waiting for the Tram and then on the Tram.

Chase

Jackson

Tyler

The "Put the camera away, Mom" look

March for Babies update: Bad news! I've lost two of my walkers! Bummer! Any of my KC reader friends want to step up and walk in their place? On the brighter side, thanks for the donations that have been steadily coming in! We're at about 30% of my goal now. I figure if I can raise $30 a day between now and the walk I should be able to hit my goal. Can you give even $5? Remember, if each of my regular readers gives just $5 I'll blow my goal out of the water!
 

Best $80 Spent!

I made a very wise purchase yesterday morning. I bought a 2010 membership to the zoo! I took the boys to the zoo a couple of times last year and they had fun. The most recent time we went was early last fall when my parents were in town and they really had fun then (of course Pop Pop bought us all tickets to ride the little train, so the boys thought that was super cool).

This week I started thinking about the zoo again (especially yesterday after I posted that picture of us in t-shirts at the zoo in February 2009) and realized it would be extremely convenient to have a membership to the zoo this year. After all, the zoo is only about 15 minutes away, the boys are getting to the point where they'd rather walk than ride in their Choo Choo (which is fine by me - hauling 100 pounds around behind me is no longer fun!) and our favorite petting zoo type place is going to start charging for out-or-towners (us) this year.

So yesterday morning at about 10 I looked outside and saw the sun shining. I looked on weather.com and saw a projected high of 45. I looked at my kids, slowly going crazy in the living room and then I had an idea.

"Do you boys want to go to the zoo?"

A chorus of "yeahs!" came back at me, along with some jumping up and down. We all quickly used the bathroom, put on socks, shoes and coats and headed out the door. We pulled in to the parking lot and I turned and asked the boys if they'd like to ride in the Choo Choo or walk like big boys. They all excitedly chose walk, which I was fine as long as they obeyed me and didn't collapse on the ground in a tantrum when I said it was time to leave. I told them that and they all nodded.

Can I just tell you what an enjoyable experience yesterday was? They all held hands through the parking lot like I asked. They all sat in big chairs while I bought our zoo membership (which I paid $80 for and includes a guest with me each time and unlimited train, tram and carousel rides!). They all stayed with me when we were walking around. When I said it was time to leave one building and head to the only other indoor exhibit in the zoo they all willingly agreed. And there were ZERO tantrums!

We practically had the place to ourselves, which was great! We only stayed for about 90 minutes, but considering we have a membership now and can go whenever I wasn't worried about the waste of money like I would have been last year.

 

This monkey hanging on the glass made Chase pretty nervous!

Not Tyler though! He wanted to sit and chat with him.

 

  

  

L-R: Jackson, Chase & Tyler

 

  

  

 

This little monkey was extremely playful! He kept running back and forth along the glass and batting at the boys' faces. They thought it was hilarious!

 

  

  

I let them all "drive" one of these mechanical cars for the first time. Jackson went first and was a little concerned when it started to move!

 

Tyler

 

Chase

After their nice long naps, the boys woke up asking to go back to the zoo. Yup, the best $80 I could have spent right now!