Mother's Day Weekend/A Trip to the Zoo

My dad recently moved to Oklahoma City and renovated his condo or "The Lodge" as he calls it, so we decided to take a little trip up to see him over the weekend.  OKC is only about two hours from Wichita Falls, so it is the perfect little weekend trip. 

This was also the first road trip that we had taken since Caroline has been potty-trained.  We did the potty-training lock-in about a month ago, and honestly, she has done really well.  Those first few days were rough (ok, really rough for me because I don't have the most patience in the world), but she has the hang of it now.  She made it the entire two hour drive to OKC without needing to go tinkle.  I was kind of shocked because my pregnant bladder was screaming by the time we got there. 

I wish I had taken pics of my dad's place, but I kind of forgot to.  It looks great.  My aunt and uncle helped him with the design of his renovation and it looks great.  It is a very masculine bachelor pad and just perfect for my old man (even though my dad is in his 60's, he is still the most happenin' bachelor I know).  One humorous aspect about his new place is his obsession with his floors.  They are dark hardwood and he is obsessed with keeping them completely dust and streak-free.  I think they will eventually drive him absolutely crazy, but I can totally relate.  Steven said he now understands why I am so OCD and neurotic about things since I have it coming from both sides.  I just happened to marry a man who may or may not have pig-pen tendencies (but has come a LONG way since I married him..... I have to say that because he will question me about this later, since he is one of my biggest fans.... Hi Steven!).

When we told Caroline that we were going to see Papa Ed and to the zoo, she asked about it about 14,894 times.  We're starting to realize that we have to be careful what we say because she picks up on things and remembers them and does NOT let up until said event happens.  Between the military and my two year old, my vocabulary now exists entirely of acronyms and spelling things O-U-T.  Yeah, I'm one of those parents now.

Any way, enough of my rambling.  I'm sure you're wondering why I titled this post "A Trip to the Zoo" if I am not even going to talk about the zoo... Well, here we go:

Clearly Caroline was really excited to see the giraffes.  I love her Spartan Cheerleader hands.  Sadly, most of the pictures I have of Caroline these days are of the back of her head.  This child will NOT pose for pictures.  She is way too busy living the dream.  And yes, that is a pic of my my darling husband's tush. 

She finally turned around and this is the best she would give me.  And yes, that is still Steven's tush.

Trying to escape from Steven

I thought Caroline was going to lose her business when she saw the train.  One of her favorite shows is "Dinosaur Train" and she kept yelling "Allllllllllllll Abor!" (All Aboard).  Sadly, we never made it on the train.  And Caroline didn't let us forget it either.  We heard about that train all.  Through.  The.  Zoo.

"Mom, do you see this?!  They have a train.  A TRAIN! Can you believe it?!"

And this picture is about the only proof that I was there.  Sad reality of a mom.  Always behind the camera, never in front.

Then we tried getting a pic with Papa Ed, and for once Caroline was looking at the camera, but he wasn't...

And then Caroline wasn't looking.  Eh, I'll take what I can get.

Papa Ed doing what Papas do best:  spoiling little girls.  Caroline really has my dad wrapped around her little finger.  It is pretty adorable.

Caroline loved all the statues of the animals.  I almost think she was more entertained by them than the actual animals themselves.

Yes, I finally have a picture of my child looking at the camera.  It only took 345,958 tries, but hey, who is counting?

I sure do love these dorks.

Papa Ed doing his best to get Caroline to look at me...

Humorous observation:  When I was about Caroline's age, my dad would put me on a horse about 4 times the size of this bronze rhino and not think twice about it...  And yet with Caroline, he is afraid this rhino might get away from her.  Ah, to see your parents as grandparents.  Priceless.

Taking the rhino by the, um.... ears?

This was the point when I kind of started slacking in my picture taking.  We were there in the middle of the afternoon and I most of the animals were sleeping and not too excited.  And I had a 2 year old to keep up with, and quite frankly, I just got lazy. 

But, I did make sure to get the camera out again when we finally made it to the children's zoo.  Caroline was getting really tired and wasn't too excited about the little stream at first, but as soon as she started splashing around, she had a blast.  I wasn't sure we would ever get her out of the water.

 I packed her water shoes, but of course she didn't want to wear them.  What can I say, she is a little hillbilly girl at heart.

Aaaaannnnnddd that's about it for the zoo.  At this point, a bench was calling my name and I let Steven take over. 

We went to church Sunday morning, had breakfast with my dad, aunt and uncle, and then headed back to Wichita Falls to spend the day by the pool with friends.  The weather was glorious and it was just so nice to finally be outside enjoying the pool, even if I do feel like a beached whale at this point.  I had a great little Mother's Day relaxing with my little family and visiting with friends. 

For Mother's Day, I bought myself Steven and Caroline got me this:

I mean, what else do you get a big fat pregnant woman???  An ice cream maker, duh!  Clothes are a sore subject with me at this point, and I have had my eye on this baby for awhile.  I have one of the big traditional ice cream makers that is horribly noisy and has to have ice and rock salt, but I have been wanting one of these to make smaller batches of frozen treats.  I keep telling myself that I am going to make frozen yogurt and sherbets, but who am I kidding.  Ever since I brought it home from the store, my mind has been filled with all kinds of fat kid ice cream combinations I can make.  This was actually probably the most dangerous gift I could have received.  Without the hassle of going to get ice and salt, there is nothing stopping me from cranking this baby up.  It's kind of like giving an alcoholic their own distillery....  I tried it out for the first time last night and made buttered pecan ice cream...  I die....  And I am not looking forward to being weighed tomorrow at my doctor's appointment.  Oh well, you only live once right?