The Brookfield Zoo
Ivana and I took Vivianne and Isabel to the Brookfield Zoo this past Monday. They had a blast. Vivianne especially liked the dinosaur exhibit! It was amazing. It felt like you were walking on set of the movie Jurassic Park. The dinosaurs would move and make noises, it was awesome. She also loved the carousel ride. Thankfully, we did that at the end, because I doubt we would have seen half of the stuff we had, had we started off with the merry-go-round…she was in tears when I told her we had to go home.
I definitely want to go back there again, but I think I’ll wait until this second baby is out! That completely wore me out. I am still tired and it’s Wednesday!
Labor Day Weekend
We spent the holiday at John and Kris’ in Minneapolis. The girls had so much fun together and the best part of all was the surprise we got when we arrived…Grandma had flown in from Alaska for the weekend too! It was so good to see her and spend time with family. The second best part was the delicious breakfast sausage and cheese bread that John made for us-YUMMY! It was fun to see our niece, Kaitlyn, and how much she has grown. She is the best baby ever :-)
 |
 |
 |
 |
Vivianne's First Day of Pre-School
Today was Vivianne’s first day of pre-school! She was SO excited to go. There are 15 kids in her class, a pretty good mix of both boys and girls, ranging from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years old. They meet two morning a week for 2 hours and 45 minutes. This week they are learning about, “Friends, Old and New.”
When I picked her up she was beaming. I doubt she had missed me as much as I missed her. She couldn’t wait to tell me all the stuff she’d done. She was especially excited about the snack :-) Apparently they had goldfish and apple juice. She rambled on and on about all the other fun things she’d done, most of which I could understand. She said she had fun playing in the house outside (they have a play house in the backyard). She even said to me, “Mommy, I shared toys!” She was so excited to tell me this, I might just believe her…then again, she has been known to stretch the truth ;-)
It’s amazing to see how much she has grown in just this past 6 months. It wasn’t long ago that she would cling to me for dear life where ever we went, not wanting to be away from me for a second. Don’t get me wrong, she still likes to “check-in” with me from time-to-time, but has realized she will be OK even if I’m not there ALL the time. I’m sure there will come a day when she will prefer to not “check-in” with me at all, but hopefully that day is far from being near.
Pick-up Time at Vivianne's Pre-School
All the moms gather outside in front of the school and patiently chit chat while waiting for the class to be dismissed. As soon as class is finished, the teachers release one child at a time (once the teacher sees the child’s mom/caregiver). The kids just come marching out with the biggest smiles on their faces holding their little coats or backpacks. When they see their parent they just start running and give them the biggest hug. It’s almost like the kids feel so proud and so grown up! It’s so much fun to watch and be a part of.
She had another great day today. She was so excited to tell me everything she did, who she played with, what the snack was, etc. She gets talking so fast that the words are just spilling out of her mouth, most of the time I can make out what she is saying and the rest of the time I just smile and nod as she rambles away.
Side Note: While she was at pre-school today, I went to the library to return some books we had checked out the week before and I picked her out a few new ones, some movies, and CDs. So I had all of it in a small green shopping in between the driver and passenger seat of the van. On our way home from pre-school she notices the bag.
She asks, “Mommy, what’s in that bag?”
“A surprise for you!” I say.
“Ooooo, s’pise! Let me see, mommy!”
“I’ll let you see when we get home. Ok.”
She sits there for about 2 seconds quietly.
“A piano, momma?” she guesses.
“No, it’s not a piano.”
“Hmmmmmm…Play-dough in there?” she says.
“Nope. No play-dough.” I answer.
“Strawberries?”
I can’t contain my laughter anymore and bust out giggling, she giggles too :-)
When she finally did get to open it she was thrilled, maybe not as excited as she would have been had I pulled a piano out of there, but it was still a good “s’pise” in her book ;-)
He Jumped!
This past Sunday Thomas jumped from 12,500 feet! One may think he’s having a mid-life crisis…but on the contrary, the client he is currently working for forked over the dough to cover the cost of any of it’s employees who wanted to try sky-diving! Thomas said the whole ride lasted about one minute from the time they jumped out of the plane until they hit the ground, thirty seconds of which were free-falling :-0 He said it was awesome!
