Today, we woke up to sunshine..well, not really. We woke up before the sunshine, but at 8:30am when Ryder and I took Scout for a short walk (Ryder loves to hold the leash and hates it when I hold his hand on icy patches) the sun was just beginning to really warm up our fresh Alberta air! I knew we had to take advantage of this beautiful, sunshiny day, so I began plotting. I figured if we took Scout for a pretty long walk, not so long that I would end up having to carry Ryder home, but long enough to tucker him out, he'd have a morning nap (something he only has when he is really tired or grumpy) leaving the afternoon (normally nap time) wide open for a trip to the zoo!
For once, my plan worked perfectly..except I did end up having to carry Ryder through the snow part of the way back home. He went down for his nap at 10am and slept until 12:30pm. Perfect! We fed him lunch, loaded him and the stroller (we pushed it all over the zoo without Ryder in it) into the truck and headed for the zoo. I just couldn't bring myself to pack winter coats. The sun made it feel like a spring day, so instead, I layered Ryder up with lined track pants, an undershirt, long sleeves, a hoodie, a wind breaker, tuque and mitts. I wanted so badly for him to run and run at the zoo, so instead of making him wear his winter boots (I knew there would be very little snow on the paths at the zoo) I put shoes on his chubby little feet. Run and run he did! He felt free and light with no heavy winter layers, however, what I hadn't anticipated were the multiple face plants into puddles! Turns out feet that have only been running in boots for the past few months are not used to how fast they can get going with only shoes to weigh them down. After the first face plant, his pants, fleece liner and all were soaked. I can't believe with all the crap I packed (we pushed the bag around in the stroller) I hadn't packed an extra pair of pants. Ryder wasn't the only kid falling into puddles, we witnessed several others. Turns out kids were face planting into puddles all over the zoo!!
The good news though, is that, Ryder didn't even notice how wet he was. He was tooo excited to be running through the zoo, looking for "More animals! More animals!!"
The hippos are my favorite! All the way home, Ryder wanted to sing, "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." I think he liked them too!!
No riding in the stroller, but a ride on Dad's shoulders? Sure!! Mom pushed the empty stroller!
Checking out the zebras!
The real Elephants were fun to watch, but this "buddah belly elephant" was my kindred spirit!
After the zoo, we stopped at the grocery store, so we could pick up some chips to make nachos to eat while watching the Super Bowl with our neighbours. We knew Ryder was exhausted after all the running around at the zoo, which meant that we also knew a meltdown/tantrum was a possibility, but our craving for nachos outweighed our fear of public tantruming.
I can positively say, now, after enjoying those nachos that the face down flop on the floor in the produce section was worth every salty, cheesy bite! (only a few carts had to detour around the screaming child.) :)
The day ended with a friendly visit and appetizers over half a football game (we left just after half time to put Ryder to bed) with a happy Ryder on his best behaviour. He is now peacefully sleeping in his bed, hopefully dreaming about hippos and monkeys!
I am heading to my own bed, with dreams of me not looking like a hippo forever!! Good night!
29 weeks
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