Habitot

Today we went to Habitot in Berkley. Daniel & Caytlyn had a great time.

Both the kids played on the giant Fire Truck & Daniel dressed completely in a Firefighter uniform while climbing on the truck. Caytlyn found ride on fire trucks & climbed on board & scooted around.

There was a place where the kids could use face painting crayons, so I drew a lion face on Daniel. He loved it!!! All day long he talked about being a lion and wanted to know where his lion face was.

Then we moved into the water room. There were naked dolls there that the kids could practice bathing (which Daniel decide to point out their anatomy). They could also splash & pour water in the troughs. My Daniel decided to pour water on another kid. After apologies he moved rooms to play with trains for a while.

Meanwhile, Caytlyn is crawling around & taking a few steps here and there & changing from the baby's padded room to the cars and other toys she can play with.

Daniel decides to paint on the amazing wall they have that kids can just paint on. He's doing a great job, but at one point, he turns to look at me & walks square into the kid he poured water on. This time, he accidentally paints the little boy's hair with the paint brush he's holding. Again we apologize to the mom. Did it really have to be the same boy :) The poor mom, about 2 minutes later, takes the boy & says it's time to leave.

Daniel had a great time painting & Alex joined him while Caytlyn & I watched & played near by. By the end of it, Daniel's pants looked tie-dyed - a sign of an amazing time. We played throughout the museum and had a great time overall.

When it was time to go, we walked across the street & ate at a Louisiana cafe with great food & headed back. Ran a couple of errands, played at the gym nursery & ended the eventful day with "Dollar Scoop Tuesdays" at Baskin Robbins. Caytlyn loves ice cream & thinks it's just for her. She did very well at gym nursery until she saw another child leave & realized that her parents weren't there. Good thing we were done & came right at that time.

When he got in bed tonight, he asked for his baby bed back, so I put his crib back together (which I've become a pro at) and he didn't get out of bed once. I have two beautiful sleeping children.

Discovery Kingdom

Today we worked on building memories. Alex has taken a mini vacation, just 5 days off where we are going to spend special time together as a family without worrying about his stores. We kicked off our vacation last night by going to the Ward Council dinner and then to a movie.

Today, after we had an amazing breakfast, we went to Discovery Kingdom, and did all the fun things we could think of. Daniel & Alex played the steel drums they had on a traveling tour. They had the best time & Caytlyn & I watched and danced.

We fed the giraffes vegetables, but Daniel thought they might want to have a snack of him. Daniel wasn't too keen on feeding them, he didn't like the fact that their 18 inch tongues were almost as big as him. He selected the vegetables to feed the giraffes & fed them a few times, but overall, he wanted me to feed them. Caytlyn was interested in watching these huge mammals.

We went to the elephant ride because we've been waiting until the end of the year to pay for him to ride the elephants. They told us that Caytlyn couldn't go on the ride because she couldn't walk (dumb rule because we are RIDING, not walking on the elephants). We explained that she could stand & take a few steps, but the cashier wouldn't budge. We walked up to the platform with the kids, because Alex was going to ride with Daniel & Caytlyn and I wait, but I wanted to get a family picture. Since they were slow, I explained our situation, and asked if we could all just sit there for a picture. The guide explained it to the guy walking the elephant and he said for our entire family to just get on. I tried to pay for us, but they said not to worry about it. So, I spent the money we would have used for Caytlyn & I to ride on the pictures they took! The kids loved it - what an experience, to feel the 10,000 lb mammal move underneath you as it walks around.

Daniel loves the lions, tigers, cougars, cheetahs and all of the other animals. We stopped and watched them all and Caytlyn talked to them too. We went to the tiger show, and after it was over, we asked Daniel what he wanted to do. He turned down all the suggestions, until we realized he wasn't ready to go yet. He could still see the tigers swimming and wanted to stay there until the last minute possible.

We ended up not going on any motorized rides (just the live elephant ride) as he was enjoying the animals so much. I am so grateful that we have this mini zoo so close to our house and that we have passes where we can take our children to enjoy the beautiful animals that Heavenly Father created for us.

Daniel & Caytlyn ended their evenings with a play date while Alex & I went to a birthday party - were home early & looking forward to 4 more amazing days together as a family. I love my family! Pictures to follow