March Madness

As before mentioned, Brian is leaving us for India. Yes, for THREE WEEKS I will be on my own. But if you think that I am just going to sit at home for three weeks while Brian plays bachelor in India. You are wrong. I have planned a pretty eventful three weeks. And since Brian is not around to witness all of these crazy events, I will have to ensure that they are well documented and posted, in a timely manner, for his viewing pleasure. What does this mean? You can expect a LOT of posts from me this month. And...they might be kind of long. Enjoy!

I am now ending day 3 of Brian-less-ness. What was day number 1 like?

We got up and drove 'Daddy' to the airport. We just dropped him at the curb. I took one picture of "saying goodbye" before my camera informed me that I was out of batteries and it then refused to take anymore.

Although we had talked to them about this several times, the girls didn't fully understand what was happening, and we continued to discuss what was going on for...really the rest of the day...and the next day.

Well, there we were in Salt Lake at 8:00 in the morning, so we drove over to the zoo! But with no camera. I took one picture on my phone before it, too, informed me that it was out of batteries and also refused to take any more pictures. Awesome.

We were there well before the gates opened. It was nice being there right when they opened (at 9), because there weren't a lot of other people. The weather was perfect. Just as everyone says, the animals really were more active in the chillier weather, but it wasn't so cold that WE were miserable. Perfect! We walked around looking at the monkeys, "look, girls," I said "this one is called a 'Spider Monkey,' it has a cool curly tail!" Then, a zoo worker who happened to be mopping the floors, chimed in and said "yeah, their tails are really cool! The tip of their tail has a unique print, just like a finger print!"...crazy!

We saw the elephants. As Rachel later reported they were "hust eating." ('hust'=just)

We FINALLY made it to the giraffes, which was what Maliya was most excited about, and she is now slightly obsessed with giraffes. The fact that the giraffes are located on the exact opposite side of the park from the entrance made for an AGONIZING first half of the zoo experience for my little not-quite-four-year-old.

We then made our way to the CAROUSEL!!! YAY! What did Maliya choose to sit on? Why, the giraffe, of course! The problem? The giraffe did not go up and down like the other animals. I asked her several times if she was sure that she wanted to sit there. She insisted that she did. I explained that all the other animals would be going up and down and that hers would not, I warned that once we started, she would not be able to change seats. Maliya remained firm. She remained firm right up until we started moving and all the other kids were bobbing up and down on their animals and she was going in a mere circle on her own. "NOW I want to ride on something else!" Sorry, kiddo...I warned you.

After the carousel, we made our way through the Asian Highlands and saw several tigers and other large cats. This is where that colder temperature made a difference. The cats were on the move instead of sleeping lazily. We watched one tiger pace back and forth right behind a large window. Rachel later recalled that "Duh wion tied to det me and tied to det mommy!" (translation: the lion tried to get me and tried to get mommy!...it may have really been a tiger, not a lion, but it really did try to get us! Yikes! Did I jump back, despite the large protective window? Yes. I absolutely did.

Then we saw the gorillas. What was the gorilla doing? Maliya couldn't remember, when I asked her to report on this. I reminded her that it was taking a nap, with his feet crossed and propped lazily up on the wall, and his arm resting over his eyes. After I said this, Maliya noted "and he picked his nose!" Yes. We did watch the gorilla as he picked his nose. Definitely the highlight of the zoo experience.

We finished off zoo day playing on an awesome playground that they have there. By this point, Katie had passed out in the stroller. I laid her seat back to be comfortable for her, but she chose to lean on her side in a super uncomfortable looking position, instead. Everyone we passed chuckled and commented. I wished so badly that I had camera! Sadly, I had to wake poor Katie up so that we could ride the train. But she was good as gold, as always. That girl is an angel.

After the zoo, we went home, ate lunch, bathed everyone, prepared for our own trip, prepared for Sunday, and headed off for a Myler dinner at IHOP! Yum! It was...a crazy experience. Eating out with kids (even at IHOP, where they actually serve food that my kids will eat) is always hectic and frazzling...but without Brian...it was crazy.

By the end of the night, not even "exhaustion" would describe how I felt. But it was a fun day, despite the craziness.