Sacramento Zoo!

So, today we finally were able to enjoy a California Summer day! We've had a VERY long winter, completely passed over spring (though a couple weeks in February was very spring-like), and now we're enjoying Summer weather! The perfect day to visit the Sacramento Zoo and Farytale Town on Devin's day off. The kids all had a great time, and Elizabeth loved the Giraffs and birds the most. Kyle was the most excited over seeing a Jaguar, and Ranen just enjoyed the ride in the umbrella stroller all day.... We took lots of pictures, but I had of course forgot the camera so once I get the pictures off of Devin's camera I'll post them! My favorite animal to visit were the monkeys... they were so similar to the kids behavior that I felt right at home!

I hadn't been to Farytale Town in a long time (if ever... I can't remember) and it was cute with a bit of a petting zoo with the Three Little Pigs (three potbellied pigs), Billy Goats Gruff (three goats), the Little Red Hen House (chickens running everywhere - Kyle was able to "pet" one but Elizabeth was just content to watch them from a couple feet away), and there was a donkey named Eeore and a cow named Daisy. There was also "Three Blind Mice", but we weren't able to pet them, thankfully, and I never could find Charlotte the Spider... We have plenty of "Charlotte's" in our garage... The rest of the park was cute, but was pretty much just a bunch of slides made out to look in line with the farytale theme. The longest one was a slide down the home of the little old lady who lived in a shoe... Also, you could climb up a hill "to fetch a pail of water" but instead of falling down and breaking your crown, there was a slide provided... I did get a couple pictures of our little princess in her pumpkin coach with Daddy driving the 4 horses...

All in all, it was a fun day and the kids were able to sleep on the way home.

Elizabeth has started calling her daddy "Devin" or "Dev" because that's what she hears me and Kyle calling him, and a couple of times she's called me "Ams" hearing Devin call me that... I think it's kind of funny, though Devin makes a point to correct her and let her know that to her, his name is Daddy. So, to try to help him out I'm trying to remember to call him "Daddy" whenever I talk to him...

I'm slowly making improvements to the house. It's slow going because it's best to do it when the kids are napping, so I have to decide if I'm going to do schoolwork, housework, home improvements, or (if I'm feeling selfish) read a book... As tempting as it is to give them Tylenol or Benadryl to help their naps last a bit longer, I haven't resorted to this... yet... Yesterday I scraped the popcorn off the ceiling in the downstairs bedroom. Next, I'll re-texture it, paint the whole room, change the closet doors and move Kyle to that room and then do the same in his current room so that each of the kids have their own room. I figure if I go room by room I can get things done in a systematic way. I've also cleaned up and organized the cave of a laundry room that we have and am planning on tiling and painting to finish it. I've never tiled before and am looking forward to completing this...

We have a new fence in. It looks beautiful, and has given us more incentive to work in the yard... Well, the fence and this sunny weather! My little garden is looking really good so far. I've got apples budding on the tree, tomatoes, peppers, and flowers blooming... The pool is blue and Kyle has already been swimming a couple times, though it's too cold for me or the other kids to try it out this year yet.

I know this is a lot to write for one little blog, but I figured I'd catch everyone up with what's going on here! Next up: Pictures!!! =O)