More stuff in July (and a little from June too)

I have so many random things to post about before I do a huge post on the newest member of our family (no I did not go into premature labor) but lack a cohesive theme.  So here's a mishmash of fun stuff we did over the last few weeks.

 We finally finished all the new decorations in Jack and Lucy's room by letting them paint these wooden letters for their closet doors.  This is really not a very exciting thing but I just love Jack's face in this picture so it's going on here.

 We also did our first zoo trip of the summer!  How has it taken us this long to go to the zoo??  Lucy was pumped about the meerkats and we all got a giggle at this guy acting very casual in his "manor."  FYI:  he is sitting on his tail...

 They also dug the giraffes.  The zoo is one of those places where the older they get, the more fun it is.  Seriously.  Their awareness of everything and increased knowledge of the animal world (which I'm sure they get from TV and not me...) makes it magical for them and a hoot for me to watch.  And I don't think it wears off as you grow up because I still love seeing the animals.  except the snakes...

 Of course we are going to drag our best Rachel with us - poor Widdi was home sick with a head cold.

 We checked in on the new baby gorillas.  They were super cute and very chill.

 Made me wonder if Mother Gorillas have the same frustrations and stresses about summer as well.  Think she gets sick of being climbed on all the time and eventually just tosses a few bananas into the play yard and yells, "There!  Go play!"

 Fun in the groundhog enclosure - always :)

 The otters were hilarious and very energetic.  They kept doing backflips against the glass and if we didn't have to leave early for a new family member, we could have sat there all day and watched them.

This was the best part though.  We went to the gibbons cage and one of them was yelling constantly.  And when Jack started howling back at him, it made him even crazier.  I could not stop laughing.

 When Widdi felt better, we took them to the new Minions movie!  This was her very first time in a movie theater and she did.......ok.  I would say she sat there and ate popcorn for about 1/3 of the movie and did a pretty good job with the rest of it.  We had to wander the aisles for a while and I had a death grip on her at one point b/c it was the ending and I wasn't about to chase her anymore than I had to.

 Jack insisted on posing in front of the poster with the naked minion butts.  Speaking of insisting, they both insisted on dressing themselves that day.  Jack has gotten so good about waking up in the morning and dressing himself before he comes into our room.  He's very proud of this (as are we) but each night I forget to lay clothes out for him and he surprises us with some really interesting combos.

 We've made a few ice cream runs to Bruisters to satisfy cravings and boredom.

 Sadly, we did not win Yard of the Month.  This was the last eligible month to be considered for it and they gave the award to our next door neighbors.  So now I have to look at this sign for the next three weeks every time I leave my house.  I really love our neighbors (they are super nice) but am a little bitter.  They don't even mow their own yard!  I'm convinced now that the HOA lady that runs everything hates us b/c 3 years ago during the spring cookout Andy asked people to not park in our grass and she got pissed.  I think my hormones are really getting the best of me b/c I was already having a bad day when Andy came in and asked me if I saw the sign in their yard.  I burst into tears.  No sane person cries over something like this so I'm totally blaming hormones.

 Or maybe I'm just pissed because this yard was garbage when we bought it 4 years ago and now looks like a freaking park.  People are ridiculous.

This is another cute picture that doesn't really fit with this post but I'm posting it because how cute is my Goose?

 Probably the 2nd biggest thing this month to happen was that...WE FINALLY GOT NEW FLOORS!!!  I was in Europe for the demo/carpet part and only had to live through the tiling portion.  This is a picture Andy sent me of when they were trapped upstairs during the demo.  He's a saint for putting up with this - especially with me out of the country.

 Our nasty ass carpet in the downstairs is no more.  No more old pet odors, no more 15 years of dirt and grime, no more threadbare areas with zero padding, no more babies crawling on God knows what.  NO MORE!  For a while there Andy and I debated doing laminate throughout the house but as we were mid-conversation on the topic, Jack body slammed his sister into the floor and as her head hit the carpet we realized that maybe something cushy would be better for our kids.  So all the rooms that had carpet initially were replaced with nice new carpets and a thick pad.

 The foul, scratched vinyl was ripped up and replaced with tile in the laundry room...

 And in the guest bath...

 A glimpse of the new carpet.  Beautiful.  Just beautiful.

 But the most exciting part for me was our bathroom.  All of this that you see in this picture

 and in this picture was carpet.  Gross 15 year old carpet.  and now it is beautiful, clean, sanitary tile.  Now when the kids splash water out of the tub, I don't have to worry about mold and mildew growing in the carpet in front of the bathtub.  Lucy peed on the tile right before I put her in the tub and I just...wiped it up with a Clorox wipe.  It's insane.  I'm in love with our floors.  Truly in love.

 What else happened in June and July?  We went on top of the Sunsphere with the Glovers!  It was really cool and the blur and chaos of this picture is pretty accurate to our real lives.  It's chaos, but a wonderful kind of chaos :)

 Lucy found the picture of Reagan at the Sunsphere and couldn't stop pointing at his picture.  Can't blame her.  He's pretty mesmerizing.

 And the last amazing, fun thing to happen this month?  Jack, on his 4th swim lesson, swam the entire length of the pool without stopping 4 times!  I'm so proud of him :)  He was wearing a puddle jumper at the beginning of June and now can freestyle his way across the pool on his own.  He's also working on his backstroke and his dive.  This gives me such peace of mind that I cannot thank Izzy enough.  We are going to do a few more lessons because she thinks he can do some more fun strokes but for now I am thrilled at what he's managed to do.