Wordless Wednesday (just under the wire)

This one won't be so wordless. I'll try harder next week. The goal here (we're pretty sure) is to post an adorable picture with as few words as possible. For more on this, head to 5 Minutes for Mom . (Thanks, Nicol!)


Is that birthday cake on your face little man, or are you just happy to be up on Mom's shoulders for a while? (at Ashlyn's first birthday party, 10Mar07)

Our Radio Flyer

I have mentioned several times how much Mason loves his wagon. It was an Easter present from Grandma, and it has already been well-used. I thought he loved his stroller, but I knew nothing until we got this. It goes with us on walks, to the zoo, to the park. Sometimes he just plays with it in the yard or the house.



It's sturdy, it's durable, and it's roomy. We can easily fit in a friend, plus all the gear we need on an outing with at least two little kids. The only downside to that is it gets a little heavy when it's fully loaded, especially at the zoo with all those steep hills.



I think every little kid needs a wagon, and I love having it so far just because Mason enjoys it so. I'm guessing it will be our outing companion for years to come.

Because otherwise you wouldn't believe me

Created by OnePlusYou

So Happy Together

I know if you're older than maybe ten, you're totally humming that song after you saw my title. Just for you. I don't want to imbed it because there are so many pictures on here already. And it's only funny for a little bit. Anyway, on to the regularly scheduled post...

It is so rare anymore that Alan and I both have a full day off together that we decided to really take advantage of it. We didn't do yardwork (although I did spend some time outside watering my new flowers so they don't die), we didn't do housework, and we didn't volunteer to do stuff for other people (not that we mind that either, but we hardly ever say no). We took off. We spent some quality threesome time with Mason at the zoo. He's a pretty stinkin' cute kid, in case we needed to be reminded. He also LOVES his wagon so much I can't put it into words (thanks again, Grandma LPS! Are you proud I refrained from turning your initials into the word "Lips"?).

We have already seen the "Ghost of the Bayou" several times, but this time he was right next to the window for a prime photo op.

We spent a long time watching the elephants. I think they had just been served lunch when we got to the zoo because they were slowly making their way through the food. Their trunks are so dextrous it's amazing! Plus, Mason was so happy to have some uninterrupted quality time with dad.
A lot of the animals were active while we were there. Snakes we haven't seen move were slithering, the tortoises were eating, and the monkeys were climbing all over the place.

Except for this one, that is. Mason told me the monkey was in time-out.

Mason was super excited to see the baby giraffe, but the giraffe went inside for lunch. All we saw from outside was his tail as we approached, so we braved the, uh, shall we call it "odiferous" inside of the giraffe house so Mason could have a peek. From upstairs, from downstairs, and from upstairs again, he was all about watching the little one.

Mason did a fair amount of riding in the wagon, but mostly he wanted to pull it. Since that was a steering disaster, we encouraged him to compromise. He helped me pull it up the really big hills instead of hitting random passerby in the shins. I asked Alan for evidence of this cooperation to use for our future convenience and/or recall when necessary.

Our last stop of the day was to the playground. While Mason spent most of his time there in the snake slide (see the photo update in the right-hand margin), he also discovered that he likes going down this pole. I'm sure Alan is amping up his campaign to install one in the loft so we can slide downstairs instead of walking. I'm pretty excited to rebuff that one. Again. Are there any more logical arguments than not wanting the two year old or his mother to fall through our floor when they miss or lose their handhold on the pole? I mean, some things are genetic after all.

Mason's first flip-flops

Mason hasn't changed shoe sizes much lately. This has been a good thing, but the bad news is that I haven't been paying as much attention to his shoe library. One by one, shoes have been tossed for various offenses (being so muddy I couldn't get it off, holes, etc.). He is now down to one pair. This led us to shoe shopping, and let me tell you what an experience that was. Mason wasn't even interested in the Cars shoes. He just kept saying he wanted his white shoes.

Eventually, I talked him into trying shoes like mine. I so happened to be wearing my flip-flops, so at least he's not wearing wedges or something not-boy-appropriate. So we bought him flip flops. I know there are arguments against letting your kid wear flip-flops. I'm ignoring them! After a couple days of skepticism, he wanted to put them on today while we were out working in the yard. Who am I to argue in this instance?

The 72-hour kit challenge, week one

For the last few months, work has been doing an emergency prep challenge of sorts. I have been asked to post it here as well. I haven't been very faithful about doing it through work, so I'm going to give it the 'old college try' while I post here. Hopefully taking pictures will encourage me to step up and do this.

I take no credit for dividing this up. Again, these are weekly emails sent through work starting last September. The goal was to have 72 hour kits ready to use for your entire family at the end of one year's time. By breaking it up into weekly segments, they were hoping to make it a little less daunting.

I am going to try and encorporate preparedness for our two dogs as well. Alan and I have discussed that it is important to us both to provide for Rio and Samson in case of emergency because they are an integral part of our family. If you disagree, that is your right. Just disregard the more K9 friendly suggestions and we can still be friends, okay?

What I will do here is post the suggested item for the week, and post the photograph of what I'm doing on the following week, so the photo loop will be one week behind.

For the first week, the goal is to obtain containers for our individual kits. Obviously, the more easily portable the better. Just remember that each one has to hold an entire 72-hour kit, so it should portable for the person who would be using it. Each one should also be waterproof. Ideal items are as follows: a backpack, a suitcase/backpack on wheels, or duffel bag. Avoid using things like a cardboard box or a footlocker.

Happy preparing! If I come across any good deals on these items, I will post them. Thanks for playing--let me know if you're joing me and how you're progressing.