GO. LEFT.

We thought we'd do one last fun family thing this summer before Travis AND SAVANNAH start school in the fall, so we packed up some food and one of our favorite families (thanks for coming salds) and went to the zoo in Omaha.  

We had been there a couple other times, but our friends the Dewhursts go there all the time and they had one piece of advice - GO LEFT.  Let me tell you, it was a game changer!  I'll explain later - here's some cute pics....that's what you want anyway. 

Here's Savannah and Eisley.  She's two and she's one of Savannah's best friends.  

Savannah's favorite thing was the Jelly Fish.  She looked at them long and hard and asked tons of questions.  

She's just the best. 

Okay, so we rented a stroller from the zoo.  It was 8 bucks for the day and well worth it!  We could have brought our own, but we figured theirs was probably just the right width and sturdiness for all the zoo exhibits so we went for it.  And yeah, she's a little big for a stroller, but we're also a little too wise to carry around a 4o pound child for half the day when her legs give out! 

DETAIL MOMENT:

About going left - When you get in to the zoo you'll want to go to the right.  I don't know why.  Everyone does.  We always did.  You see the giraffe first and some other weird african stuff - but if you go left first then you spend most of the day going down hill and you get to see all the really close together stuff (the cats, monkeys, bears) before you get too tired and hot.  So we did this order and it was PERFECT:

Bears, Gorilla house, lunch break (brought our own food in), Cat house, Rhinos, then biiiiig hike up a biiiig hill (the only hard part), Giraffe, 

Then we ended the day inside at the Aquarium, Jungle, and Swamp.  We skipped the Atrium, butterfly deal, and the dessert dome all together and were fine.  

Also, they have all these water mister things everywhere that get you just a little wet.  That was a nice deal. 

Total time: 4.5 hours.  Total cost: $27 admission plus $8 stroller.  

The polar bear was my favorite.  I love watching it swim.  And by afternoon it wasn't swimming anymore so good thing we went left! 

Here's another highlight for me - watching Travis and Savannah enjoy everything so much!  One example, Travis took her across this rope bridge in the jungle and he was so pumped about it and she was really nervous so when they got done they both had huge smiles and high fives coming at me!  Doing things with the two of them really is more fun. 

Savanisms

A day in the life of.....

Here is Savannah trying to camouflage in with her car seat so we won't be able to see her.

Have i told you about her obsession with caging animals??  

These examples are just from earlier today.  She also cages our dog and her turtle up when ever she sees the opportunity.  

Look who is buckling her own seatbelt!!!

This was one of my goals this summer.  How nice it will be to not have to buckle in two of them!

Feeling the worst

like the worst momma ever that is......

Sav and i spent 2.5 hours at the pool today between 11 and 2 and guess who didn't have her girl drink anything during that time?  this mom!

So now Savannah is napping on my lap fighting down a mild heat stroke on top of her already crummy cold symptoms.  poor girl.....

i remember having the same symptoms as a water loving kid after a full day of swimming.  crampy stomach, head ache, and feeling like my skin was on fire but my insides were freezing.  sorry baby!

Cowgirls up

I had so many good pictures form horseback riding in Oklahoma, I just had to post most of them.  

an OK 4th of July

We always have fun when we go to Oklahoma on the 4th of July.  

It's like a whole different thing down there!  Legal at home fireworks kinda make it. 

We started our day with swimming though.   

f

Then we purchased more fireworks than you could need.  They lasted us 3 or 4 nights.  It's pretty weird and awesome to be able to shoot off huge fireworks without worrying about getting busted.  

Greg jumped over this...not so much a jump as a step...idk.  It was a bad move.  

 We had lunch with Travis' cousins - there's a bunch of them!  Travis and Greg love their cousin Clifford.  He always beats them up.  It's pretty funny how tense they get when ever he's around.  Love it. 

17 is the new feeling good

So a lot of people around here ask me about how I've been feeling later, and there's also the talk of "are you showing yet? " So I thought maybe it was time for a baby#2 how's it going check in.  I haven't made much mention of it on my blog yet.  

Here's a picture of what's going on.  You be the judge.  

I went to the doctor today for my regular check up.  I took Savannah with since it wasn't a long appointment.  That was fun.  She really liked listening to the heart rate.  We're all good here!  I wonder if I can get my hands on the records from last time.  It'd be interesting to know what Savannah's heart rate was and how much weight i'd gained by this point with her.  I honestly have no idea.  

The first several weeks with this one were much like the first few with Savannah.  Super nauseous and very very very tired, all the time, very tired.   A couple weeks ago I stopped taking naps every day and started just resting and this week I have felt great all day most days.  Last night was the first time in at least 8 weeks that I actually cooked dinner!  Travis has been great about picking up where i've been slacking off with meals and the house and Savannah.  Luckily he doesn't care too much about the order of the inside and outside of our house :) 

Not feeling kicks yet, not wearing maternity clothes yet, and not eating for two yet.  

I am however pretty much only wearing skirts and dresses, and I am spending a little less time baking in the sun these days than I normally do in the summer.  

Am I showing? You be the judge - depends on the day I think.  

Pinterest WINS AND FAILS July 2012

Yep yep yep - Here we go again!  I've been doing a lot more trying out pins lately since we've had some road trips and I've been having a little more energy these days.  The second trimester of this pregnancy may have kicked in!  So here's what you have been waiting for - WINS AND FAILS!

This Braid Thing : 

WIN!!

So my hair is super thing, and Travis even laughed when I showed I'm what it was supposed to look like, because it wasn't like this - but the general idea still worked out for me.  Totally try it if you don't have baby fine hair!  Or if you do :) 

Pina Colada Pops

WIN!!!

I made these for Savannah a few weeks ago and she loved them.  I threw in some strawberries so they'd be pink because she's more likely to try anything that's pink.  Travis liked them too - despite his aversion to coconut.  I'm all for all kinds of homemade popsicles!  

DIY Wasp Trap

FAIL!!!!

I should have known when the picture was sideways.... They say to combine vinegar and sugar and put it in the funnel contraption made from a two liter bottle.  It didn't work at all.  We have tons of wasps back by our pool and not a ONE of them went into the trap.  BOO. 

Perfect Iced Coffee

WIN!

I don't like iced coffee myself, but Travis and my dad both would say that this is, in fact, the perfect iced coffee.  It was easy and lasted several days in our refrigerator.  The only down side was that Travis found himself drinking way more coffee than normal because it was so accessible.  I plan on keeping this around for the rest of the summer. 

Beachy Waves in minutes

EH...

It worked okay.  I think that the flat iron kinda takes away from that "beachy" texture.  But it did add some texture to my otherwise flat hair and i'd probably do it again.  It was quick, I'll give it that!  

Kiddo Scavenger Hunt

WIN!

We had a blast walking around our neighborhood doing this.  We only went about 4 blocks (which can take up to 45 minutes if we aren't trying to get somewhere) and found most of the things.  We even added some things along the way.  Then we made our own scavenger hunt for the next time we went walking.  It was a super fun after dinner / before bed family thing to do!

Wash towels in Vinegar: 

wash towels in 1 Cup of vinegar on hot, then again with 1/2 cup of baking soda on hot. They will smell 10 times better.

WIN!!

Just try it.  I don't know - maybe your towels don't smell weird.  But mine sure did.  I look forward to doing this with our beach towels too.  We have been using them so much lately, I hardly find time to wash them.  You can't smell the vinegar on them at all.  Awesome.  

I also had tried and looked at several sights for traveling in the car with kids for ideas for our trip to Oklahoma, but I wasn't impressed with any of them.  I think I even deleted the pins.  Ya know what - just get creative on that and do what your kid likes.  If they like movies, watch them.  If they like coloring, print some stuff off for them.  If they like games, play them.  Not that hard :) 

How about these apples?

We got another round of family photos taken at Walmart in Oklahoma last week.  You might remember the HILARIOUS one of Travis' sister with the girls and Sav's finger all the way up her nose... yeah.  These ones were way better than that.  I like the writing they put on some of them  -

Here's the new one of Malisa and all the girls.  I thought she deserved some reception from last year on my blog :)

We were laughing when they had Greg lay on the ground for this one....

Until it was our turn :) ....... It's a good one though. 

And you can't forget our little sweety pie!