Memorial Weekend 2009

We took our second annual Memorial Day Weekend trip to Hogal Zoo on Saturday and stayed there way past naptime, which we regretted on the way home. It is just hard to leave without seeing every animal friend. The only one that we probably could have done without were the elephants--my favorite actually, but in Anna's words "Elephants make me freak out" and it's just not worth it. I also could have done without the warthogs, but not Max, he liked them.

I'm so glad that Taylor pushed the stroller up all the big hills--I am such a big wimp when he's around.

The monkey house is always a favorite.

And this year the zebras were a hit.

Max saw the carousel before I did and started frantically yelling and signing "PLEASE!" 'PLEASE!" Ironically we rode on the elephants because fake ones don't make us freak out.

We waited for the train for a long time, but it was worth it.

Choo choo!

And yes, mom needs to hand the camera over to dad sometimes so these aren't the only kind of photos she appears in.

On Sunday we headed out to the Cedar Fort cemetary (also an annual event).

Anna and Max rode in style. I have to make sure that I have both of their sunglasses in the diaper bag before either I or Taylor put ours on, just so no one gets jealous.

Anna twirled a lot at the cemetery, and we put flowers on all of the graves we could before it started pouring rain. (Grandma Leita, Paige, and Annie under the umbrella)
And last, on Monday, after washing all the windows, and working in the yard, Taylor got a very early and well deserved Father's Day present and he grilled up some dinner for us. How very manly he is!

VROOM!

Max is turning into a little boy and we have more sound effects at our house than ever before. More cars and makeshift roads. More throwing of bean bags, food, shoes, and tantrums. More destruction. More water on the floor during bath time. More sneakiness. More screams and giggles and FUN than ever before. I love my little boy!

Pizza Party

We ate dinner on our lawn. It was wonderful, I didn't cook (but I did wash the picnic blanket afterwards) Anna and Max ate in their swimming suits since we were pretending that we were at the beach. Today when Anna woke up from her nap, I asked her what she wanted to do and she told me that she wanted to paint her fingernails pink and her toenails blue and go to the beach, so we pretty much did. We brought our beach towels and nailpolish outside called Daddy to bring pizza home. Nothing like a pizza party at the beach when you just need a little break!

Warning

I saw a blog book and I think I have decided to let my blog replace scrapbooking. I am NOT a faithful scrapbooker so I hope this alleviates some of the guilt that I feel about the avalanche of photos, birthday cards, and even first haircut clippings that fill several deep, wide drawers. And just by way of warning, there is a possibility that EVERYTHING I want to remember will show up in a post, on this blog, I'm sorry if you learn more or see more of the Davis family than you ever wanted to!

The Park

So we took a trip to the park today and had it all to ourselves except for this one other mom who brought her book and a Sonic Limeade and sat on the bench while her seven-year-old daughter played.

And then there was me, trying not to be envious . . .

pushing Anna as high as the sky

dropping Max off at the top of the slide (so he slides down instead of dives down)

then catching really happy kids at the bottom,

and telling everyone what is safe and what is NOT safe

and telling them again.

and yelling "NO PUSHING!" (okay, I did sit down for one second)

and wiping every spec of dirt off of Max's hands so that he can continue on with normal life,

and keeping track of four little shoes,

that are climbing in different directions.

and documenting it all at the same time with a ridiculous amount of pictures. And then when we were leaving, I thought 'One day, I will probably be a bench-sitter, and I'll watch the chasing. climbing. squishing-down-the-tube-slide moms and I'll envy them while I read my book and sip my Sonic Limeade. I will.' In the meantime I will save the books and limeades for after bedtime.