A wonderful day

What a great day! After taking Karl to golf at 8am, Mike and I went for a walk with Aine in her new stroller. It has a CD player attached to it so we were able to walk and listen to some good, encouraging music. Abby opted to stay home in our bed and watch cartoons. We are trying to give her the feeling of independence and so a thirty minute walk was a great baby step in that direction - she thought she was pretty cool.

When we got back we had a filling breakfast of bacon and eggs - still can't make them like Grandma Judy's- and then decided to go to the nearby free park/zoo. Abigail has wanted to use the picnic basket we got as a wedding present (and still haven't used) for some time so we figured today was the day. We loaded up the car with the stroller, food, cooler, picnic basket and - after getting Karl- headed on our way. The kids were great at the park. They were excited to see the animals and were considerate and helpful and just filled with positive energy. Abigail had recently been to the park on a field trip so she was telling us all sorts of interesting information. Aine loved the bear and everyone loved the prairie dogs(me especially). Mike was quite impressed with the bald eagle and big turkey and the kids all clucked around the turkey fence trying to do their necks just like the bird. The kids were also quite excited about feeding the goats and the deer. Mike gave the kids a fun ride on the bench swing - he really got that going - and then we headed back for the reptiles. Aine, much like her grandma, does not get too excited about snakes, but once we got in there she did OK. After the animals we drove to one of the picnic areas, ate our lunches and then everyone tried their hand at golfing. I stink, which is no shocker, Mike has a terrible slice, Karl is getting better, Abigail had a few great hits (for never playing we were impressed), and Aine was quite scary with a club. Karl did a nice job of trying to instruct Abigail in her swing. It was just awesome to watch everyone interact and get along so well.

After golf we went to the playground near us and then headed home. At home we found a new (pet?) frog that the kids were quite interested in watching - especially after Karl caught a fly and they watched "Rupert" eat the fly.
It was an awesome day - perfect weather, great memories, and no problems. The night concluded with all of us doing our own "favorite" thing - Mike went to play cards with some friends, I scrapbooked(I am determined to get Aine to one year before the baby arrives...), Abigail joined me, Karl read and then played XBox, and Aine went to bed - OK - so that isn't HER favorite thing but it made the rest of us really happy to have some quiet time, and I did let her have ice cream before bed so she was happy.

So much in one day but what a wonderful day it was.