Did everybody have a good 4th? We had a great one, although it was slightly disorienting that it was in the middle of the week. It felt like a really good Saturday all day, and then I would remember that Brad had to go back to work today. But still, I’ll take a great day with my family no matter what day of the week it falls on.
Brad and I decided to take Zoe to the zoo in the morning, there’s a splash park there that Zoe loves. And, so do I. It’s easy, especially at this age… Zoe can play with everything and needs very little help from us, so we can sit in the shade and watch OR we can “help” her play and get doused with water and cool off that way. Brad and I both left soaking wet, probably because it was like 110 degrees {not really, but at 7 1/2 months pregnant… anything higher than 90 might as well be 110 degrees. Let’s talk about how I need to figure out how to get knocked up in July, rather than have my 3rd trimester through the summer months…. I digress}. Anyways, I definitely made use of some of the water activities, and right before we left I just stuck my head under the strongest fountain and dreamed that I was in a pool. Why does cold water feel so good? Zoe and I enjoyed a snowcone {definitely a favorite of ours} and then we headed back to the car… by way of the “ion, doggie {elephant}, affs {giraffes} and ouwl”. Not exactly what Brad and I planned, but Zoe has the zoo mapped out {even though we haven’t been there in 2 months} and wasn’t going anywhere until she saw her animals.
Back at home we enjoyed a family wide 2 hour nap {Zoe actually enjoyed a 3 hour nap} and we all woke up slow and happy. The plan was to get out to my parents house around 4, but that’s about the time that Zoe woke up… so it was more like 5:30 by the time we got out there. But we were all happy and well rested, so it was completely worth it. Zoe, by the way, has started really linking things together. Before it would be like “Mimi-Bubba”, or any other couple in our family. Now, when she knows she’s going somewhere or when she’s doing her daily roll call, it’s “Mimi, Bubba, Chappy, Missy, Skippy” “Gaga, Papa, birds” “Kristin, cats”… in other words… it’s the person AND their animals that she talks about non-stop until we see them. Almost to the point where I don’t want to even tell her what we’re about to do that day, or who she’s going to see… because it honestly drives me nuts. Anyways, yesterday was one of those rare times when my whole family {except for Jon because he’s in Atlanta} got together. Which means we got to see our nephew Devyn! My dad grilled, and the kids were the center of attention… which is exactly where they wanted to be.
I don’t know if I’ve said this on here before, but my parents practically have a kids dreamland at their house. They have horses, rabbits, chickens, 2 parrots that talk to you, a pool, 2 big gardens, a piano, and tons of room to just run and play. Plus, for Zoe, Jasmine and Mr. Darcy are there now… so she gets to see them.
At about 8:15 Brad and I decided to pack up and get on the road by 8:30 so that we would be home by 9:30. This is where the fun starts… we’re all packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed to the car when I noticed that Zoe was barefoot. Not a big deal, we’re barefoot all the time… but she only has 1 pair of shoes that fit her due to a recent foot growth spurt and so we needed those shoes. The thing is though, is that they could be anywhere. That was a fiasco in and of itself. They were already in the car, by the way. So, finally by 9 we were on the road, then we had to stop at a gas station. Another 15 minutes go by. Now we’re finally heading home, we get about 10 minutes down the road when we get a call from my mom that Zoe’s potty seat was found in the middle of the road. Awesome. Zoe, by the way, is talking a mile a minute in the backseat, no worry in the world that it’s 1 1/2 hours PAST bedtime. So, we turn around and meet my dad 1/2way back to the house. Get the potty seat and head back to our house…. 1 hour and 15 minutes AFTER we initially set out to get in the car. Now, there’s 2 ways to get to my parents house from ours… the back way and through town. Typically, on the way TO their house I go the back way and on the way HOME I go through town. Big. Huge. Massive freaking mistake. Not only did I catch practically every red light on the way home, we also caught the Orange Park fireworks and massive crowds. So, that took an ADDITIONAL 20 minutes on top of the 1 hour that it would’ve naturally taken to get home. And, you guessed it, Zoe was awake for 75% of it, talking a mile a minute about everything in the backseat and trying to convince us to sing “Old McDonald” 50,000 times. If you’re keeping track, that’s a 2 hour time lapse from the time that we initially tried to get in the car to the time that we walked in our door. Then, from 10:30 to about 12:30 we were blessed with neighborhood pyrotechnics which sounded like they were being set off in our backyard.
Overall, it was a great day. Full of family fun, rest and memories.
Happy Thursday Ya’ll!
