Zoo days

Of all the things kids learn to do, learning to hug has got to be the best. Jacob has been wrapping his little arms tight around my neck quite a bit the last few days, and the result is that he ends up getting to stay up far later than he should be up because I can't bear to pry him off me and lay him down in his bed. Hugs are awesome.

So is spring at the zoo, in the days before the sun and heat become oppressive. Jacob and I met Autumn, Greg, and Asa there back at the beginning of May. I put him in the backpack because I need to carry his lunch (which ruled out the Ergo carrier) and because the stroller is so low to the ground that I end up pulling him out of it to see the animals and inevitably, after the initial out, he stiffens up into the baby back bend, fully rejecting being put back in the stroller. This means I carry him and push the stroller. The backpack seemed like a good alternative, but sadly, I was wrong. It's set to Eric's height, and I don't know how to change that so when I stood up straight with it ou, it pulled me over backwards. I had to lean slightly forward the whole time to stay upright, and my shoulders and back were killing me within minutes. Next time we'll take the stroller, and he can just walk beside it if he doesn't want to ride. Sure it takes longer to get around, but it's not like we need an agenda at the zoo. That's the beauty of having a membership to these places; you can go and spend an hour hanging out with the goats and then come home and not stress out about getting your money's worth. Of course, these days, I've learned to not worry about getting my money's worth anywhere. Kids have limits. You do what you can, and when they've had enough, you leave, and if it really rocked and there was more you wanted to do, you just go back another day.

We paused for a photo op in front of the elephants.

Baby Asa's first visit to the Maryland Zoo! I'm sure he'll remember it for years to come.

We went back as a family a couple weeks later to celebrate Julia's 5th birthday. After the party we spent a fair amount of time with the goats.

The gift bag had these glasses with a fake nose which Hannah wore for 3 days straight. Best accessory ever.

Daddy love!

Spring at the tulip garden

Since I've been slacking even more than usual, and since I have photos from roughly 62 different visits to Sherwood Gardens this spring, I'm rolling it all up into one flower-ful post that will be heavy on pictures and light on words, because if I don't have to log on to my computer to work in the evening, I don't want to log on at all. I'd much rather do anything else than sit here with my computer on my lap. If I only there were a way to think blog posts into existence....

This next trio is the first of two offenses in which I obnoxiously post 87 pictures that are virtually the same because I can't choose a favorite. I hate it when people do that, especially since it's always obvious to me (when looking at other people's photos) which one is the best and which others really didn't need to be shared. Feel free to tell me which of these is the best because I can't make up my mind. I love the smile in the second one but Hannah's dress in the background throws it off...so maybe it's the first or third?

These were taken a different day, a day in which I cut feet off of the kids in the first 20 or so frames for some regrettable reason. I'll only bore you with one of those, and I'm only doing it because I think it's quite funny that Hannah is trying to physically force Jacob to look at me and take a good picture.

We met Kylie there on this particular day so I snapped a few friend shots to add to the album. These two have known each other since birth, and it's fun to look back on some of those early photos of them.

This is the second of the two offenses in which I share 87 pictures that are virtually the same. I think the third one is my favorite in this sequence. Eric likes the last one best. I shared the second because that scrunched up face is one he makes a lot and one I've been meaning to capture for posterity.

This turned out to be a pretty Jacob-heavy post...I think I've been trying overcompensate for my lack of blogging since his birth. Hannah's first few years have far more coverage, so I try to take more pictures of him, but I don't seem to post any more often so I'm not sure that method is making up for anything.

We made it over to see the tulips a lot this spring, which is rare for us, and we enjoyed every visit but least of all the first one (not pictured) because it was colder than we were dressed for and because Jacob kept crawling over top of our sushi picnic. I think the time we went with Autumn and Greg (the first few pictures in the tree) was my favorite because it rained on our way over so everyone cleared out before we got there. Since my blanket has a waterproof bottom, the wet grass was a non-issue. The kids slipped off their shoes and ran around barefoot in between bites of the Indian carry-out we'd brought with us. Now that the tulips are dead and the bulbs dug up, the rest of our visits this year will probably be similarly quiet and peaceful.