This Actually Happened First

These posts are all out of order, which makes someone like me a tiny bit nuts. But I don't have the time to reorder them (and I'm not even sure Blogger will allow me to rewrite history like that), so you'll have to make do.

Friday evening was the annual members' zoo picnic at Lincoln Park Zoo. This was our second year of attendance. We tested the Mazda's limits by trying to fit Ella, Sadie, Dean, me, my mom, and both of Dean's parents into one car. Plus the single stroller and two coolers. I'm happy to report that we all actually fit (though I rode illegally on the storage console between the second-row seats).

The weather was pretty ominous when we left home, but as I'd already purchased the tickets, we headed off anyway. Luckily, by the time we arrived, the sky had cleared and we had fantastic weather for the evening. We began with a picnic dinner, though Dean feels this should be ditched for next year's picnic because it took up too much time. I'm not so sure. This was actually the most enjoyable part of the evening for me. Next stop was free popsicles for all before heading onto the carousel for a free ride (free rides all night!). The girls were in heaven. Sadie has ridden a carousel before, but I'm not sure she remembers doing so. Her little face absolutely lit up.

Ella's little boyfriend M was also attending the picnic (with his mom), so we planned to meet up with them after our carousel ride. Once Ella heard M was at the zoo, she literally freaked out. She was so excited that she was jumping up and down. I turned to my mom and said that we're in serious trouble if she is this into boys at FOUR. I'm not even kidding. M was at our house earlier in the day, and the two BROKE UP and got back together in the space of an hour. It's much drama with these two, mostly precipitated by Ella, I have to admit. That's going to be one high-maintenance girl for some lucky boy out there. Of course, she's a one-boy kind of girl right now, so she's not currently available. Sorry fellas.

From the carousel, the girls headed over to the craft area to make very cute lion pillows. After that, Ella headed over to the train for a free ride while Sadie waited patiently in line to meet Curious George. My sweet baby desperately wanted to meet George. I wish I'd gotten better photos of their encounter.

We met M over at the train ride. Ella and M were kind enough to take a second ride with Sadie (I wasn't sure I trusted her enough to let her ride alone), then all the kids headed to the obstacle course to give that a try. We ended the evening with a long wait for one last ride on the carousel, where the overtired kids were in a weird state between zoned (Sadie) and totally manic (Ella and M).

It was a good evening (except that my poor mom ended up sick for most of it), and the girls went right to sleep once we got them home at 9:30. It's rather nice to finally be at a place where both girls are old enough to stay up past their bedtime and not fall apart. And it's also nice to be at a stage where we don't really need a stroller. Although we brought one, no one actually sat in it (thought it was useful for hauling all our stuff!).

There were too many good photos to post them all here. You'll have to click on this link if you want to see them: Zoo pictures

In Other News
Sadie got her staples out on Friday afternoon. She was super chill about the entire experience and didn't so much as flinch.