Outings...and My Birthday!

You've got to keep it fresh when you have a super active guy who is only a little over a year old. My little guy likes to get out of the house and I'll be honest with you, sometimes (in his eyes) the back yard gets old really fast. And then, sometimes (in my eyes) the park gets old really fast! Peter can't really play on any of the playground equipment by himself yet and I can only handle the slide so many times in a week, myself!

So, you've got to mix it up and try new things and go to new places.

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium at the end of April. Peter loved it. It's a small aquarium, but perfect for a child Peter's age. Not too long and overwhelming, but also a lot of fun.



Above: Peter and Dad paddling in a "canoe" in the South American section of the Living Planet Aquarium.



Above: I've got kind of an absent look on my face because Jeremiah wanted to take a picture of me, but Peter was making a b-line to the opposite end of the exhibit and around the corner out of my sight. So, it took all of my will-power to look at the camera and try to look pleasant for the amount of time it took to take the picture. As soon as the flash went off, I was off dashing after Peter!

For my birthday (yup, I turned 31! Crazy, eh?), Jeremiah took the day off of work and we went to Hogle Zoo in the morning. It was a cold, drizzly day...so I was REALLY surprised at how packed the zoo was. There were a ton of people there for a cold, wet, Wednesday. I think a couple of field trips were partially to blame for the crowds, but still!

By the way, I have to vent...this spring has been a gyp. It has been way too cold and I have had to keep Peter inside way too much because it has been raining. No fun...for either of us!

Oh, and there was one blemish on my wonderful birthday. While we were taking pictures by the elephants, Peter came running toward me with a huge smile on his face and some stupid 7 or 8 year old girl cut Peter off and tripped him with her foot (she nearly ran him over). She didn't run him over, but she did succeed in sending him straight down...where he hit his chin, then his mouth, then his nose, and finally his forehead. She hooked his leg so well with her foot that he didn't even have a fighting chance. It made me so mad at that girl. She stood for a second, looked right at Peter, and then ran off without saying a word. Stupid girl. It was horrible because I saw the whole thing and it seemed like it was all happening in slow motion (though it only lasted a few seconds). I immediately went to Peter and scooped him up. Poor Peter got a bloody nose from it and a goose egg on his forehead. It took him about 10 minutes to calm down and another 30 minutes to shake it off and get back to his normal, cheerful self. It made me so sad! Stupid girl!

But Peter did shake it off and for the most part, he had a wonderful time at the zoo.



Above: Mom and Pete just pointing at the monkeys.



Above: Lounging with Dad on top of some lions. The lions were cool with it.



Above: Howling at a wolf.

After the zoo, we went home so Peter could take a nap. While Peter was asleep, I decided to make myself a cake. I had one of my biggest cake mishaps ever! I put the layers on top of each other with both layers right side up. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. This time, it didn't work. I should have put the first layer top side down and the second layer top side down on top of that (because of the way the middle of the cake puffed up). So, because I did both layers right side up, I was having a really hard time keeping the cake from being lopsided. I had the "bright idea" of turning the top layer over--even though I was already in the midst of frosting the cake. The result? The top layer began to crumble as I tried to turn it. Once the crumbling began, there was no turning back and no salvaging the cake...at least in that form.

My hands were covered in cake and frosting. I quickly washed them off (after first sampling some of the cake and frosting off of my fingers) and then crumbled the cake into a bowl to create a make-shift trifle instead.

So, it turned out to be one of the ugliest cakes I have ever made, but it was soooo tasty. Mmmmm mmmmm chocolatey goodness.

When Peter woke up, we went to the park and then went over to my Mom's house. She offered to make dinner on my birthday so I wouldn't have to cook. I love to cook, but I'll never turn down an offer like that!

So, all in all, it turned out to be a lovely birthday.

We got an annual pass to the zoo, so we took Peter again on Saturday afternoon. It was still chilly (darn this spring!), but I was surprised that it wasn't nearly as crowded on a drizzly, rainy Saturday as it was on a drizzly, rainy Wednesday. Go figure. The only explanation I can come up with is that the field trips and all of the mom's with their weekday "play dates" must have been a factor.



Above: Going head to head with a lion drinking fountain.









Above: As you leave the zoo, there is a cool fountain with a large stone sphere that rolls in the water. Peter was fascinated by that fountain. All he wanted to do was put his hands on it and stick the top of his head on it (for some reason). Peter has light hair, but when it gets wet, it looks a lot darker. One little girl exclaimed "Daddy, that fountain turned that little boy's hair brown!" It did indeed!

All in all, we had some fun outings and I had a great birthday!