Fort Wayne Zoo

Every six months, I have to get my wedding/engagement ring cleaned/inspected to upkeep the warranty on it.  We got it from Zales because we figured they are all over so wherever we end up living, there will be one close by.  However, the past 2 cities we've lived in haven't had a Zales! So I end up having to travel an hour+ away to find one.  Or we get fancy and time trips to pass by a Zales.  So far I've had my ring cleaned in Memphis, TN; Denver, CO; Lafayette, IN; Zanesville, OH; New Jersey; and now Ft. Wayne, IN!

I waited until the last possible day (has to be done in Nov/Dec & May/June - based on when the rings were purchased) in June to go get it taken care of.  It just so happened to work out that Fort Wayne is exactly half way between my house and my sister's house, has an awesome zoo, and the mall that the Zales is located at is 5 min from the zoo! So we set up a Zoo date!  Originally, I was going to go to Zales after the zoo, but knew if Bean didn't nap at all in the stroller, she'd zonk in the car and I didn't want to risk a meltdown to stop at the mall (the whole point of the trip to Ft. Wayne!).  So I went there first.

We got up, packed our lunch and hit the road by 8:45am.  That got us to the mall just after 10, right after it opened.  We zoomed in, I got my ring cleaned, and we were out of there in 10 min, getting us to the zoo at 10:20.  Amber and her girls were planning to get to the zoo earlier and we'd just join them when we got there.  However, they had just gotten there and hit up the bathrooms when we pulled into the parking lot.  So they waited for us.  It was a rainy morning and a little on the cool side, but the radar appeared clear once the system passed - and that's exactly what happened!  The rain stopped, the sun came out, and warmed us up! It was what I like to think of as perfect zoo weather.  The rainy morning detracts lots of people from going, so the crowds were down.

(Rain had just stopped when we got there! Bean didn't know what was going on and confused by all the attention at first, then she went with it.)

(Allie pushing while Gabbie & Emily held Bean's hands.  We finally had to set up a scheduled rotation of who was on Bean duty, who pushed the stroller, etc.)

The zoo is set up in 3 different loops Africa, Rain forest, then Australia/petting zoo.  We did the Africa first because we could hear the lions roaring.  A lot of the African animals (Zebras, ostriches, etc) were not out because they ground was too wet.  Our zoo trip just so happened to fall the week after all the monsoon rain and flooding had been going on.  After we did the first loop, we decided to go back to the cars and eat our lunch.  There is a picnic area outside the entrance (you get back in just by showing receipt), but the tables were all wet.  So Amber folded down the seats in her van and we ate a picnic lunch in the back! Haha

(You would think that all the older kids would be the ones looking at the camera.  It was like pulling teeth to get all of them to look at once.)

(As close as it is gonna get!)

(Picnic lunch in the back of the van!)

(Usually Bean wears a smock to keep food from off her clothes, but since she was eating on the floor of the van, I had to improvise.  Naked lunch and eating on the smock!)

The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing all the other animals.  As a special treat, I paid for a round of rides on the carousel.  It was Bean's first experience and I wasn't sure how it would go.  There's a little horse ride at our grocery store that she always asks to ride, but then freaks out once I put her on it.  She did the same thing with the carousel.  She freaked out if I tried to put her on an animal.  So my 3 nieces rode on animals, and then I held Bean and stood by an animal behind them.

(Playing in the shark outside the aquarium building.  Bean loved the shark, just not trying to coordinate a picture, haha.)

(Standing on the carousel. Wheeeee!)

After the carousel, we hit up the little petting zoo area.  Bean got really cranky and should have napped sooner, but was really fighting it.  She wanted me to hold her, and only me. Then it turned into her crying and kicking while I held her so I just put her back in the stroller.  She wasn't happy about it but then she zonked, so I was happy about it :).  We stopped and got a snack while she napped.  She only slept about 35 min and woke up in a panic.  It took her a little bit to really snap out of the panic, but that has happened before when she's really tired and naps hard for a short period like that.

(Cousins helping Bean play with the goats.)

(There is a little stand where you can get brushes to brush the goats.  Bean loved holding the brush and even brushed a couple goats. While I was watching her with the goats, I saw a goat poking its head out of the fence and getting something out of someone's stroller.  Then I realized, it was MY stroller!  The goat had my roll of crackers in its mouth trying to pull it out of my bag.  I got the crackers (which were all slobbery) and pushed the stroller further away from the fence, haha!)

(Things were going great in the petting zoo until the goats started pooping. Bean has been traumatized by a couple of pooping in the bath/shower incidents and doesn't like talking about poop or witnessing it - like in dogs, thanks Tyson! and goats.  So the goat would poop and Bean would start sobbing and saying, "no no no!" That's when I deemed naptime VERY important.)

(After fighting nap and being put in the stroller, she zonked out!)

(We stopped and enjoyed a nap while Bean slept.  Allie and Gabbie shared a freeze and wanted to drink it "Lady & the Tramp" style.  Not sure who was who!)

We finished up the zoo by walking by the sea lions again and then the gift shop, of course! Only downside of the day is that there wasn't a water play area anymore.  There used to be a fountain that kids could play in, but they took it out.  But the kids handled the change of their plans great!  (I think the carousel made up for it, or at least I'll pretend that).  At the shop, Bean got a pencil and her first ever sucker (which she loved).

(After Bean woke up we went and saw the sea lions again as we headed towards the gift shop.  She really liked watching them swim past her.)

(Time to say goodbye to the animals and make our way through the gift shop!)

(First sucker ever! She loved it.  I let her suck on it while the other girls finished shopping.  I used it as an incentive over the next couple days, but then the top came off the stick and I had to throw it away.  You would've thought the world ended! Sheesh!)

(These girls are hilarious.  They wanted a picture with the Zoo sign, but each wanted to sit on the same letter.  So we had to take the photo 3 times so they could all sit on the middle "o".  I joked about putting the stroller in different positions, but Bean didn't care.  She just enjoyed her sucker.)

 We had a great day!

Cousin Fun

Last week, we were finally able to have cousins come visit!  My sister and her three little girls came to spend a few days at chez Ackerman.  We had plans of going and visiting a local water park (which we've tried to do for the past 2 years); but yet again it didn't happen.  Even though it is the end of July, the weather was in the low 70s -- not water weather!

We did have a day of outside play, and even discussed pulling out the trusty slip'n'slide, but I didn't believe the girls would actually play with it.  I figured I'd set it up and they'd get cold in 10 min.  Instead, I set up Uncle Steve's sprinkler (it's his because he uses it to water the yard) and let the girls run around it.  They played for longer than I thought they would.  After getting good and wet, they finally believed us that our decision to not pay for a water park visit was a good idea!

While they were here we had an afternoon of lunch and shopping, played American girls, watched movies, took a trip to our favorite ice cream stop, painted crafts, and fought over shared playing with Bean!  Of course, I got zero pictures while they were here.  I'm not very good at remembering to take photos, then put that on top of being responsible for another human being and trying to have fun with 3 nieces made it impossible.

Every time the girls come, they dream of having a huge American Girl playing party.  (I can finally say their collection is bigger than mine!)  Usually, we drag all the stuff out, set everything up to play, and then move on to some other activity.  This time, since we could only play when Bean was sleeping (she wanted to play with us and the pieces were too small and dolls too delicate) we were intentional with our doll playing time.  It was one of the best doll play times we've had, complete with dance class and a formal dance party. With many lessons on how to properly share doll clothes. . .

We always try to do some sort of "special" event when the nieces come to visit.  This trip's special event didn't disappoint -- we took the girls to "Christmas in July" at our favorite ice cream place.  Uncle Steve was the one who really wanted to go!  Pete's Ice Cream had a fundraising event that involved Christmas decorations, Santa in a summer outfit, and a ridiculously good deal on ice cream on July 25.  All six of us got our own ice cream for $5!  Can't beat that deal!

It was nice to have all the help (and entertainment) for Bean, even if there were even more lessons on sharing!  We had to set up a "help feeding" schedule so that each niece knew when it was their turn to help with Bean.  I especially loved having my sister here!  She is an obvious baby pro, and even got up and relieved me of Bean at 3am (Steve and I had already been tag teaming for almost an hour!).  One evening, she even made dinner while watching all 4 girls, so that Steve and I could go to the dentist.

(Emily-11; Bean - 9 months; Allie - 8; Gabbie - 5)

Bean loves her aunt & cousins and can't wait to see them all again soon!

We've Been Busy!

The past few weeks have flown by, and I'm not sure exactly where all the time has gone.  What I do know, is that it feels like we've been going non-stop with no immediate end in sight.  A big chunk of our past few weeks have been consumed with tons of yard work, but you'll have to wait for more info on that in another post ;-).

A couple of weeks ago, Steve had to go to Wisconsin for business for a few days.  Since he went with some other guys, it didn't make sense for us to tag along (shucks, haha).  So instead, Bean and I headed over to Indiana for a few days with my family!  While we were there, we packed in lots of time with  my friend April, family, and even got to have a play date with one of my childhood friend's kids!

(I love this picture for how freakishly long it makes cousin Emily's legs look!  She is pretty tall and lanky, but this picture makes it look crazy.  It also makes Bean look like she only has one leg.  Ha!)

(Getting some love- and learning to pose - with cousin Allie!)

(Cousin Gabbie can't get enough of Bean.  She's constantly wanting to hold her, even though Bean just wants to be playing with toys.  Pretty sure someday, Gabbie is going to wish Bean would leave her alone, but for now they are inseparable.)

(Mmmmm, Ahm learned the hard way to keep the container of food away from Bean's reach.  Doesn't bother me any since I didn't have to clean it up!  Did I mention how much I enjoyed having all the help and not being responsible for Bean?!)

(April and Bean playing with a crazy playset.  Bean loved the playset so much, that we stole it from Ahm's house!  April kept raising a platform up and Bean would immediately pull it back down.  So funny!)

(Playdate with my childhood friend's kids! I hadn't seen my friend in a couple of years.  But I did get to see his daughter last year at my baby shower.  What a little cutie she is!)

(And playing with my friend's son.  His son is just a couple months younger that Bean, but they were nearly the same size!)

(Throwback photo -- here are me and my friend in my crib a ridiculously long time ago.  I am a couple months older than him - which is the same age gap of Bean and his son!)

(We recreated that moment from our babyhood for our kids.  We had a couple of other good photos, specifically Bean crawling all over him, but this is one of my favorites.  It's like he knew she was about to crawl all over him and was hoping to keep her away. Haha.)

Bean and I returned home on the same day that Steve got back; however, we didn't return alone.  We had a hitchhiker join us.  Okay, not a real hitchhiker, but my mom came back with us!  My parents are scheduled to teach a few Sundays in our class at church.  So mom was able to come spend a few extra days with us, and then my dad joined on the weekend.  While she was here, I was able to get a lot done and even enjoy a nice lunch out with a friend sans baby!

Time always goes by way too fast when you're with family, but we tried to soak up and enjoy every minute of it.  I especially took advantage and was able to "take a break" from a lot of my mom responsibilities for almost an entire week! With all the extra help, I didn't have to worry about diaper changes or food feeding.  Bean especially liked all the attention- especially during play time!  I was afraid she was going to be too spoiled from all the extra attention and that it would take days to get her back into a routine.  However, it ended up working in my favor because she ended up sleeping through the night a couple nights after things "returned to normal".  But that was short lived.  If only we could get this sleep thing figured out!

Ft Wayne Zoo

A few days before leaving for our cruise vacation, I met up with my sister and her three daughters for a day at the Ft. Wayne Zoo.  Surprisingly, Ft. Wayne is almost the same distance for her and I to travel.  So it makes for a perfect day spot!

I arrived at the zoo like five minutes ahead of them.  Even though the parking lot (which there are like 5 at the zoo) was filling up, she was able to snag the spot right next to my car - very convenient!  We then made our way to the entrance and started our zoo adventure.

The Ft. Wayne Zoo is set up in 3 loops.  We choose to do a smaller one first since we knew lunch would be right around the corner.  We first caught the seal show and then headed for the Australia area.  We got to see the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium, Bat building, and lots of Kangaroos.  We even got to see a momma kangaroo with a "baby" still in her pouch!  The baby was so big the mom could barely walk, so she just laid around with baby in her pouch.

(Gabbie posing as a baby Joey.  We tried to convince all 3 girls to crawl in the pouch.  Emily and Allie attempted, but then there was a freakout that they'd get stuck and decided to do individual pictures instead.)

We left the zoo and found a picnic table outside to eat our lunch.  The car was nearby, so I stayed with the girls while Amber went and got the food from the car.  After lunch, we cleaned up our picnic and headed back into the zoo (free re-admission with receipt) to see more animals.  Next we headed through the Indonesian Rain Forest loop.  We went through the rainforest research station, jungle dome aviary, and walked along an elevated wood walkway where we saw toucans and gibbons (there was a baby which is a very rare occurrence!).

(The girls enjoyed taking pictures at each animal statue we found around the zoo.  It is a rare occurrence that all three girls cooperated for 1 picture, and they did it several times!)

(Taking a break under the waterfall in the jungle dome aviary. I can't get over how big Emily is!)

After the Indonesian loop, we hit the last loop -- the African Journey.  The girls were pretty psyched about feeding the giraffes, it's what we heard about all day.  The African loop was in the sun and it was very hot by the afternoon.  We were beginning to think we'd never find the giraffes, but we finally found them along with the zebras and ostriches.

(The giraffe licked Allie's finger as she grabbed for the lettuce!)

(Look who's hatching out of dinosaur eggs!)

Once the girls' dreams of feeding the giraffes was achieved, we went in search of a water fountain play area for the girls to cool off at.  The zoo had a little tiny fountain that was packed with kids.  The girls didn't care about the size of the play area, and enjoyed running around splashing each other (and the other kids, too!).  By this time, it was about time for the zoo to close up and us to head home.  After some water fountain fun, we got a quick snack at a nearby station and then headed to the gift shop.  No zoo trip is complete with a gift shop stop!  After a semi-painless shopping trip, the girls left with suckers, little animals, and peacock feathers (Did I mention the amount of roaming peacocks in the zoo?!  We joked that the peacocks had escaped their cages, but apparently they had none!).  We said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways.

(Thanks to their brilliant aunt's suggestion -- the girls were prepared for the fountain by having their suits under their clothes all day.  Then Amber brought a change of clothes for after the water play.)

What a fun day at the zoo!

Weekend with Em!

When my parents came up to help for the weekend, they brought along a straggler -- my eldest niece Emily (almost 9 years old)! They left her behind, giving her time for her special visit.  It was a sort of last minute plan, but we made the best of the time with lots of aunt-niece bonding.

(While surveying the outdoor work with my mom, Emily came outside without shoes on and couldn't make it back to the door on the hot black asphalt.  I obligingly carried her to the door -- this won't be able to happen too much longer!)

She played a little bit on the slip-n-slide; although the ground was a little hard and the grass was pokey making it hard to actual slide.  She also helped with some outside work like pulling weeds and watering plants while the adults worked on the various yard work.  Once my parents left, we pulled out Lego Harry Potter on the Xbox, which we played tons of!  She has the game on her DS so she knew the basics.  We got to work together as a team and made through almost 10 levels in 3 days!

(When my parents were here to work, Emily got a little bored with all the "grown-up" talk as she deemed it.  So she decided to nap with Reese.)

When we weren't playing video games, we were working on crafts.  We went shopping where I bough her a sock monkey kit and a bird house to paint.  She had some money of her own which she spent on a baby Fijit.  The best way to describe it was as a modern-day Ferbie.  She and I both thought that the sock monkey kit would include the doll already sewn together and you just had to stuff.  OOhhhhhh was I wrong. The kit included 2 socks and some various trimmings.  We (well I) spent 3 hours sewing that *special* monkey together.  I did make her stuff the limbs and body while I did all the sewing both with a machine and by hand.  She made some design changes which made my job a little easier.

(Working on the sock monkey she affectionately named "Socky".  I made her do the stuffing part while I was working on making all the different limbs and attaching them to the body.  She got bored with stuffing the tail -- it was very long and required lots of stuffing.  She was a trooper --which is a good thing -- otherwise, she wouldn't have a new sock monkey.)

Steve and I got the pleasure of introducing Emily to Jumanji.  She had never heard of it and was skeptical of there being both a movie and game of the same name.  We started her out first with the movie, which she immediately fell in love with.  We managed to watch it 2 times.  We also spent an evening playing 3 different rounds of the board game (the game was a Goodwill find for $2 that we found awhile back).  Emily especially liked the fact that the card riddles from the game matched the riddles from the movie.

We also introduced her to the simple life of 6 tv channels -- 2 of which played some educational shows.  She fell in love with Wild Kratts (animal show with live people and animation) and Hey Kids Let's Cook.  On the cooking show, we watched how to make Jajik -- a cucumber yogurt salad.  She thought the recipe looked good (especially the fresh mint) and asked if I had the ingredients.  I had the yogurt, garlic, and salt, but we needed the cucumber and mint.  We got these ingredients while on our shopping trip and made the Jajik to go with dinner.  We both thought the recipe was a success!

(Emily peeled the cucumber, used the garlic press, measured the ingredients, and did all the mixing.  The only part I did was dice the cucumber up.  Good job Emily!  If you're interested, you can get the recipe here.)

(Our spoils from our day, a new sock monkey with its own blanket, and Jajik!  During dinner, Em was so cute.  She would made a place setting for Socky and would put food down for him to eat.  She would sneak the food and pretend that Socky would eat it.  I got a very heartfelt "I have had a really good special visit with you."  Me too Em <3 )

It's so crazy for me to see how much she has grown and changed.  She is becoming quite the little lady.  I still remember her as the little toddler that would run around and play chase, blocks, and dolls with me.  It was hard to interact with her as a little adult.  Growing old is so crazy!