Saint Louis Zoo

I went to the Zoo earlier this week with Janette and little A. A had a fun time at the children's Zoo, the park within the park.

You can pet and brush the goats in the children's zoo. "A" would sort of touch the goat once, then retreat a little bit.

She wanted to play with the polar bear. Janette told her, "No. They eat babies."
I was also reminded why a don't really like zoos all that much. We saw meerkats that were trying to dig, but they can't because their enclosure is concrete. The grizzly bear was just walking in a small circle, no where to go. And the penguins, as cute as they are, have a very smelly enclosure. There was some dry heaving involved. We went at 8:00 in the morning and were done at 10:00. It just gets too hot to stay out later. During this time of year, it can be hard to convince yourself to leave the house during daylight hours.

Seriously So Spoofed

Deseret News featured a blog in their insert Mormon Times. Seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com is a satirical blog which pokes fun (lovingly) at the young Mormon bride's blog. It's funny because it is so close to reality. I see aspects of myself and other bloggers I know in her entries. Honestly, how can I NOT go on and on about how wonderful Nick is. I too am guilty of thinking that no one has ever been as perfect for each other as Nick and I are or that we're the only ones who have so much fun being married. I'm not guilty of presenting only perfect children and craft projects, but only because I don't have children or craft projects. Many of those who leave comments get the satire and add another layer of humor to the site. The current "memories of me" blog entry includes comments from visitors about their fictional girls' camp and high school experiences. Pretty awesome. I hope you enjoy it.

P.S. Her enthusiasm for Twilight seems less like satire and more like my reality.

Missouri Botanical Garden Photos

We went to the Missouri Botanical Garden today with fellow garden member Janette and her daughter, Miss A. Although is was horribly muggy and rather hot, we had a wonderful time. I saw two different and exciting bugs on our walk. (I saw lots of bugs, but only two that interest me.) The first is pictured below. The second wouldn't hold still, so you'll have to look up the Cicada-killer wasp.

These two pictures are the lotus plant. They're magnificent plants. They had really just finished blooming, so I'm going to remember to go next year a week earlier.

Butterfly House

STL Sarah, her two smallish children and I went to the Botanical Garden's Butterfly house last week. Unfortunately, it isn't by the Botanical Gardens. It's a little drive away which is why this was my first visit there. The butterfly house is the perfect climate for butterflies, about 90 degrees and 90% humidity. As beautiful as it is, you don't want to hang out there for too long.

Mr. J was far more fascinated by the water features than he was by the butterflies. Miss G just wanted the butterflies to land on her. Desperately. She stood still with her finger out like a perch, and they still didn't come. In St. Louis magazine, a butterfly house volunteer said that the butterflies tended to land on really calm, quiet people. That did not describe our group.

The blue morpho was my favorite butterfly.

We played on the wonderful playground next to the butterfly house for a while. Then we went to lunch. A pretty great day.

Morning Schedule

My Morning Today:

7:00 AM Wake up, reluctantly

7:15-7:40 Read your blogs while I eat breakfast

then some more boring stuff happens . . . . .

9:00 Find giant bug attempting to crawl out of my bathtub.

9:02 Take pictures of giant bug.

9:04 Wash bug down drain with hot water.

9:05 Decide a shower can wait for a bit. Let's make sure the bug stays down there.

Hurray for Nick!

Nick just called from clinic. He found out he passed his board examination. He did well enough that he can reasonably apply for any specialty. All that hard work paid off. Congratulations!

It Happens Sometimes

I've had an exciting day. It began with a trip to Costco, one of my very favorite places. As Jeanette and I were unloading my car at my apartment, I got a call from St. Louis Sarah (to differentiate between Puerto Rico/Bountiful Sarah and Tooele Sara). STL Sarah was stranded at a nearby park with two smallish, hungry children and a non-starting Ford. She called AAA, but that wouldn't take care of the smallish children or their hunger. I grabbed some snacks (including some delicious grapes) and headed for the park. We played with the kids until AAA man arrived. He didn't immediately tow the car. Instead, he played with the wires and things for about 15 or 20 minutes and tricked the car into starting one last time.

We'd already moved the car seats into my car, so with the two smallish children in my back seat, I followed Sarah to her usual mechanics shop just a few miles away. During the ride, the kids were virtually silent as they read their Pixar books. At the shop Sarah jumped into the car and we headed for home.

It was now nearly 2:00 PM, and these children were overdue for lunch. There was a McDonald's just a few blocks away and so we decided today was a great day for the convenience of a Happy Meal. As we turned into the Golden Arches, we heard a strange gurgling noise. I turned around to see the second wave of projectile vomiting from little Mr. J. He was still holding his book, but looked so surprised as to why and how this was happening to him. We pondered quickly how best to take care of this situation. Our plan became to simply get home as quickly as possible and clean J and his car seat there.

But what about the Happy Meal? I think there is a law that you can never promise a kid a Happy Meal and then not deliver.

In the five minute ride home, J fell very deeply asleep. We took J out of the car, and fortunately most of the mess was contained within the car seat and book. (I believe the book was immediately thrown away and the car seat hosed down.) Then Miss G and I went to the nearest McD's to get the promised Happy Meal. By the time we returned, Sarah had J cleaned and dried and sleeping soundly in his crib. I'm sure he'll feel better tomorrow.

Side note: J had only eaten apple juice and bread today, so the car never even really smelled.