Ending the week strong

I'm sad and excited about Spring Break being over. I have really enjoyed playing cruise director - we ended the week with the beach on Wednesday, the zoo on Thursday and the park on Friday.

The zoo was CRAZY busy. They have the supposed new exhibit for the Polar Bears, which pretty much consisted of a bunch of mumbo jumbo about enbironmental change and the evils of humanity.. blah, blah along with a new little play area in which you could (and I did) completely lose track of one child (Ashley) which could (and did) lead to said child being very traumatized and having the "scariest time of their whole life". The tigers were eating when we arrived at the exhibit, which was a highlight. I felt a little like this tiger at the end of the day - "watch out or I might bite your head off.. " ha ha

As usual, Brooke was excited about the giraffes. She and Ashley had saved the money they made from Easter eggs and were dying to buy a little stuffed animal, so they were not about to leave without visiting the gift shop. Brooke got a giraffe and Ashley got a hippo (her new favorite animal, mostly because of the cute stuffed animal, but still..) In my own sweet way, I told them I was taking this picture because I was pretty sure they would lose their stuffed animals in a couple of days, so I wanted to help them remember them - I told you I was getting cranky! (Ashley informed me tonight that I may have been correct on that one). Lauren is holding her souvenir penny that her sisters purchased for her - partly I think they just like turning the little wheel thing, but also I think they felt bad walking out of the store with something when she had nothing.. awww...

I enjoyed all of our little field trips, so I had a good week, too, but honestly most of all I really enjoyed sleeping in. On the old lady physical malady front, my knee is feeling a lot better although it is still sore on occasion, but I'm pretty much walking normally and it is only popping out of joint when I start going down the stairs and when I am getting in the car, and my range of motion is almost 100% so I'm very hopeful that this week I'll be back to normal.