Busy Weekend Day 2

After a late night last night we had to get going this morning to meet my brother, SIL, and two of our nieces at the zoo. One niece is my brother's daughter, the brother meeting us at the zoo. The other niece is my youngest brother's daughter (Alex - turning 11 in a couple of weeks) who is coming to stay with us for the week. We were supposed to be there when it opened (@ 9:30), yeah that didn't quite happen. But we did make it!

After perusing the zoo for about 2 1/2 hours we departed for lunch and the boy needed his nap. We ended up parting ways (with my brother, SIL, and niece) for lunch so we grabbed a quick bite to eat before Carie & Spencer went home while the girls' (Abby, Ellie & Alex) and I ran another errand. Fortunately we drove both vehicles in the morning making that transition, after the lunch hour, possible & seamless.

The errand... to obtain earmuffs!

A pair of junior earmuffs - $20
Potentially another pair of junior earmuffs - $20
(The jury is still out - Abby now thinks she "needs" them)

A girl who is not freaking out about loud fireworks – absolutely priceless!

We seriously have had fireworks going off for a couple of days and we are only ramping up to Wednesday. We were outside tonight and Ellie was standing next to me as a huge boom went off very nearby. I jumped a bit then I looked over at Ellie and she was as calm as could be. This looks promising! As a side note - I cannot personally comprehend the loud sonic booms that have no visual gratification.

On our way home from obtaining the earmuffs we were discussing the options for the remainder of the day. Suddenly we had no potential plans as brother, SIL, and niece were headed home. Alex was lobbying extremely hard for a trip to the mall, and I was seriously entertaining her request. We were also discussing our dinner menu and a potential trip to the store. Then we did a 180 and decided that a trip to The Amazing Pizza Machine was the perfect option. Alex inquired about it as we were secretly driving by to scope out how busy it was/was not. I had her momentarily convinced that the Pizza Machine wasn’t a fun place to go.

After Spencer woke from his nap we headed out and spent the next 3 1/2 hours having fun. As a bonus, we had a coupon for free rides - free big rides - that ended today. Bonus! We didn't think it would be possible to get that trip in today, but I'm so glad we did and we are feeling good that we were able to while the coupon was still valid. Everyone seemed to have a great time and, compare to what it could have been, it was a really inexpensive visit. As another bonus, we didn't end up using all of our hour ride passes, so we've got a couple for a future visit.