John Ball Zoo

We went to the zoo today with my mom, Lois, Diego, Anita and the girls and Anita's sister and her daughter. What a fun day! The weather was cool (note the coats in mid-June!) but really a perfect day for the zoo. We saw the new lion exhibit which is great! The kids also rode the camel, touched the sting-rays and just had a blast seeing everything! Colin, Diego and I got to go on the new zipline (totally fun and worth it!) and Colin and Diego did the new ropes course as well. It was a great day full of fun! Here's a ton of pics to see our day! :)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the BEST Dad in the whole world! Colin is the most patient, caring, loving dad in the world. Really, no one can compare. We love you!

The Paci Puppy...the last day of Henry's Pacifier

Enjoy this slideshow of Henry's last day of his pacifier. Yes, he's almost 3. Yes, he's had a pacifier for something like 1000+ days. Yes, I'd probably do it again the same way. :) We took him to "Build-a-Bear" and let him put it in an animal that he chose. My kids never go there so this was big stuff. He did awesome and was so proud. It's now 10:38 and he's quiet...for the first time in almost an hour. It's going to be a long night tonight. And probably tomorrow. And the next night...ugh.

Lake Macatawa Triathlon

This past Saturday Colin participated in the Lake Macatawa Triathlon for the second year. He did great! The .5 mile swim is the "hard" part for him, so it's nice to have that first and get it over with. He did great on the 22.8 mile bike ride. We watched him on Lakeshore by the Mulder cottage on the way out, and then again about 20 minutes later on the way back. He rocked in the running of the 4.8 miles...something that most people lose time on because they are tired.

Exhausting...

This morning I was planning to blog, but didn't really have anything to blog about. That was this morning...now it's 8:05 and there have been some "activities" to blog about today. :)

Henry was up all night last night. ALL night. Henry is the best sleeper in the world. Never misses a nap, goes right to sleep every night and sleeps 10-12 hours. Well...last night was different and it's all my fault. I brought the kids to the library yesterday and Abigail wanted to get some Berenstain Bears books. She chose (among others) "The Berenstain Bears and the Green-Eyed Monster." It's a book about envy and jealousy. My kids are really, really into Scooby-Doo where there are often monsters, so the fact that there was a "monster" in this book didn't worry me. Especially since it's just Sister Bear, green with envy. Well, I was wrong. Henry is FREAKED about the Green-Eyed Monster. If you go here, you can see inside the book and see a pic of the "monster." He was up all night crying and screaming about it. Today, after not sleeping at all last night, he only took a one hour nap and again woke up screaming again. Oh man. I put him down right at 8:00 tonight. He just screamed for 18 minutes...SCREAMED. He wants me to snuggle with him, but I think that will be a terrible habit to get started on. Don't get me wrong, I love snuggling with my kids in bed, just not under these circumstances. I just went in there and turned a desk light on and then talked to him. Marci suggested I throw the book away (for a visual only since it's a library book!) I just told him that I threw it away...made a big deal about it to him. He's quiet now...passed out I'm sure. Phew...that's exhausting. Thanks, Marci for the idea...you are awesome!

Then there's Abigail...we went to get Henry a haircut at 4:00 and then stopped at the Grille to see Colin afterwards. I let the kids each get Rootbeer and we shared a small basket of tator tots. We then went home to get some coupons for Craig's Cruisers where we were going to go and meet Marci and the kids. I was talking to Marci, trying to decide on a time to meet when Abigail started throwing up in the back seat. Like five times. SO sick. Luckily we weren't far from home, so I just kept driving...as she sat with tons of puke in her lap. Poor thing. We got home, I hosed down the carseat (the plastic part), washed the cloth part of the seat, washed her clothes and gave her a bath. Luckily most of it was on her lap or on her carseat and hardly any was in the van, except for on the seatbelt. Really gross I tell you.

As she was puking I immediately thought of Sarah and her son Brooks. She just blogged (like 2 days ago) about Brooks puking in the van. Her story is funnier than mine (sorry Sarah if it isn't funny to you yet!). You can read her story here.

I let the kids watch movies for awhile after the bath. Abigail feels much better, so I really think it's because she drank a lot of rootbeer in a short amount of time. I hope that's all it is!

Tomorrow is Colin's last day of school...can you hear the Hallelujah Chorus playing?? I'm very ready.