Spitting at the Zoo

I've been kind of a bad mom lately.  Not that I've been beating my kids and making them live in a closet or something.  I've just been working on a bunch of projects lately that have been taking up some time.  (Sorting old baby clothes, selling old baby clothes, feeling sentimental about old baby clothes...)

I've noticed in the last day or two that Cole has really been acting out.  I couldn't figure out why until it struck me this morning: Duh, Maren.  The child is BORED.  And he really wants some attention. 

So off to the local zoo we went. 

We spent the afternoon playing in the sprinklers, looking at the animals, and just enjoying the very nice weather.

I love that Cole can barely see out the hole.  Heaven only knows why Josh is scowling.  (Because he's Josh, that's why.)

They had a bunch of fiberglass frogs and pigs on the lawn.  Josh quickly learned that this frog was a bit too hot to sit on!

*Side note: the frog above reminds me of the frog below.  Bonus points to anyone who knows where the frog below comes from!  Hint: "All glory to the hypnotoad!"

Josh finally found a pig that wasn't too hot.  He called it the Bunny Pig because of its pink ears.

Cole LOVED seeing the animals.  Especially those at the petting zoo.  He chased chickens all over the place -  through fences, under bushes, across lawns.

He would walk really slowly up to the chickens and act all nonchalant, as if he didn't have a chicken-petting agenda or anything.  The chickens, of course, weren't fooled at all.  They would start walking away and Cole would follow them, going fast and faster until chickens and child were running.  It was awesome.  (He would never do it for me while I was recording video, though.)  He eventually did get to touch the tail feathers of a rather large rooster, which he was very proud about.

A shot like this usually shows a child who is hesitant about petting the goats.  Cole is actually trying to figure out which one to pet first; he ended up petting them all.

Tess was pretty good at the zoo.  She slept some and got carried around some and even came up close to pygmy goats some.  What she did a lot was blow raspberries.  She discovered this lovely trick a day or two ago and has been practicing ever since.  When she's awake our house is filled with the sound of TTTHHHHHBBBBTTTTT!!!!  It's great.

Of course she would never perform for the camera.  But I did get a pretty great open-mouth smile of cutie.  Good enough for me!