I have to compromise the big fancy camera a lot more theses days and just make do with the camera phone, but this one was so sweet I will take a poor photo over no photo. We had a playdate at the free summer movie today with Elena, Maeve, and their cousin Lincoln. Before the movie started, Ashley took the big girls to the bathroom and the little girls came to hang out with me and the popcorn. We didn’t have the booster seats yet, so I thought that maybe Julia and Maeve would weight enough to hold the seat down together. They loved sitting together on the seat chowing down on their popcorn. It was really sweet.

Who doesn’t love the zoo? We were kindly invited by our good friends to play at the zoo and we took them up on the invite. The girls just enjoy each other so much and the mama’s enjoy each other company too. It is a win-win.

We converted our double stroller to a sit-and-stand stroller and this was our first outing with it. Emily loved the new sitting arrangement. She could get out easily and she loved being able to face me. We had a lot more conversations because of the sitting arrangement.

We wandered the zoo checking out a bear, feeding camels, watching zebras eat, trying to climb a fence to see the elephant better, watching the chimps get their room cleaned, eating lunch, playing in the sand, riding a carousel, and generally having a lot of fun. Emily tripped and got her first bloody nose which was a non-event. It stopped quickly and she was distracted from it after a short crying spell. Both of my girls were unimpressed with dip-n-dots which I thought odd, but happily ate theirs. The only girl who was interested in looking at the camera to have her photo taken was Maeve, so I don’t have any great posed shots. That is just going to be the case for a while longer I guess.

We discuss monkeys a lot at our house. There is a book the girls like with monkeys and Emily picks out which is Mommy, Daddy, Emily and Julia. The girls like to immitate monkeys with sound and motions. And Emily has dubbed our family as a “monkey family” with a “monkey mommy”, “monkey daddy”, “monkey girl”, and “monkey baby”. So when we got to the monkey area at the zoo, I was excited for the girls to see some monkeys. To my disappointment, while we were able to see them, we did so only through a gated wall where they were waiting for the monkey house to be cleaned. Then I noticed the special sign the zoo keeper had put out and Julia’s interest in hanging out by the sign. If you take the word “in” out of the statement you can truly appreciate the “monkey baby” outside the exhibit.

While their big sisters are at Thursday School, the little ones get some playtime with their Mamas. This might have been the calmest ride in the grocery store for Julia. She is pretty use to sitting with the very active Emily. Both girls enjoyed their cookies and honking the horns. It sure is nice to have friends to hang out with, Maeve is a pretty sweet one.

We shared a fun morning of play among the tulips at Crescent Bend with our play-friends. The gardens are so much fun to enjoy with fountains and pretty flowers. Julia was pretty shy about leaving her mother’s arms, so we enjoyed a lot of watching Emily and the others play. The longer we were there the more Julia was willing to go on her own, but never far from her Mommy.

Emily enjoyed all of her freedom. There were scrapped legs that required a little attention and a photograph to heal. Also there were fountains to stick hands into. At one point Elena and Emily were carrying small amounts of water in their hands to water the tulips. Everyone chased bubbles, walked on flower bed edges pretending they are balance beams, smelled tulips, played under an umbrella, and had a lot of fun. Aiden did get his foot into the fountain at one point soaking his shoe and sock.

We ate a picnic lunch before we left the grounds and as usual the other kid’s food looked more interesting than what their own mama brought. This is such a funny, but consistent practice between the kids. After lunch the bigger kids ran, played with small rocks, rolled down a hill in the grass, and jumped off of one big rock. They were sad to go home and the weather and temperature had just been perfect. I hope we can have more days like that!

Sunny days are great for playdates. We had a picnic lunch and play time at a park with our friends. The kids are doing such sweet things with each other. Emily is making friends at the park with kids and doing things together on the equipment, they have cute moments of holding hands, Julia is wanting to follow Emily around, they all want to give each other a push on the swing, and they are happy together. This makes for some happy mommies.

I had to include a photo of the little one to join us soon. In just about a month, baby Loveday will join the fun playdates. It will be no time until a new one is toddling around the play equipment!

We had some fun swimming today. The photos aren’t the best, but they were taken with a camera phone at an indoor pool. There is only so much that can be done to help that. The water was so warm it was like bath water. Everyone had a blast and enjoyed the water at their own pace. I dunked Julia once and gave her the opportunity to bob her face into the water which she only did twice. She enjoyed the pool/Mommy time a lot! Emily was a fish in the water. She is confident in her floaties and would kick and swim herself around the pool. We need to work on jumping into the pool and getting her face into the water more, but I couldn’t be more pleased with how well she did today. If we could go back tomorrow, I would – maybe soon!