No Way

Just before school started last week we took a quick trip to Kentucky Lake for a vacation. A full blown write up about that experience is coming. In the mean time I wanted to write about something funny that happened while we were there.

At the beach there was a big pirate ship with a slide that the kids were playing on. Besides the slide the most notable feature was this cool ramp leading up to the ship. It had rope hand railings and really added to the pirate ship look.

At some point Luke was blocking the ramp and Alyce was wanting to get up on top of the ship. We told her to use one of the 3 other ways of getting up on the ship that were available to her. She would have none of that she was focused on one way. Mom and I then told her to ask Luke to step aside so she could go up. She repeated what we said and Luke replied "no way!" as he stuck out his hand in a stop sign motion. We erupted with laughter. Luke was smiling because we found something he did to be funny. Alyce didn't see the humor as much as we did.

Eventually she did make her way up to the pirate ship.

Day at the Zoo

Saturday we spent the day at the zoo. Surprisingly it wasn't too crowded. With the nice run of weather and school being back in session we figured there would be some pent up demand.

We were happy to see that the hippo exhibit was open. Last time we were here it was closed due to cracks in the aquarium. I could see why the zoo management would want to avoid a few thousand gallons of water and a hippo greeting their guests first hand.

A quick ride on the train and some lunch and before we knew it we were looking at some penguins. It was a pretty warm day outside and walking into a fake penguin habitat at 40 degrees was quite the shock. Mom and I enjoyed the weather however Alyce did not. I held Alyce close to save some body heat and we managed to see all of the penguins and puffins hang out on shore and swim in their tanks. Penguins are pretty cool. They look so clumsy on land yet fly like fighter jets when in the water.

After the penguins I took the kids for a ride on the carousel and after that we needed to leave. We had to leave  early because nap time was fast approaching and we still needed to see GiGi; she's at the hospital. Alyce was not too happy about this because she wanted to see the giraffes and we hadn't gone past the giraffe enclosure. It didn't help that the giraffe area was on the opposite side of the zoo, up a hill, and the point farthest from our car. She whined for a bit but gave up before we got to the car. She was dragging pretty bad on the walk back and I had to carry her about half the time.

It was a good day even if the kids were a bit whiny at times. The zoo is always a blast and with free admission you can't go wrong. Being a zoo friends member is also a boon. Free parking and train rides make the trip even easier.

Big Boy Potty

Today Luke used the toilet for the very first time! We’re so proud of him! However, there is a story to how he got there. We are trying out some new diapers that have Diego from Go Diego Go on them. While I was changing Luke’s diaper, Luke saw Diego on the new diaper and he wouldn’t let me put it on him because he wanted to look at it. So, I let him keep that one and I went to get a new one. Well, when I turned around from getting another one, Luke was peeing on my dining room carpet. I yelled, “NO!”, at him and he stopped. So, I scooped him up and walked him into the bathroom where I put him on the toilet with a training seat. There he continued to go potty in the toilet. I praised him greatly, but I think he was still upset that I yelled at him before. Anyway, I continued to praise him and even had Alyce come and praise him hoping he would realize that he had done a very good thing when he used the potty. He seemed pretty excited that he got to flush the toilet. I know it’s the just the beginning of potty training and I don’t think he’s too interested in using the potty yet, but it’s a start and I’ll take it! I also plan to buy a book, My Big Boy Potty, that's like one we got for Alyce while she was potty training that seemed to help her get interested in the potty. Hopefully, it will help Luke out too.

Sibling Cuteness

I managed to grab a few cute pictures of the kids while they were out playing on the swing set. The swing set so far is working out great. The kids are always asking to play on it and make use of swings, clubhouse, and slide. If we can get a few years of use out of it I'd say that we got our money's worth.