"eeeeeeeEEEYAAAAAA!"

We went for a visit to the Orange County Zoo. We liked it, it's a perfect little kid zoo. 

Jillian is obsessed with applying sunscreen. Not a terrible habit to have I guess. We were walking around and she's just casually applying sunscreen.

The ocelot sauntered in front of us, checking us out I guess. 

"I want to eat your stroller...."

A kestral. This was Evelyn's favorite part of the zoo. 

One of the things I love about our area are the AWESOME city parks. This is Evelyn's favorite one, we pass it on the way to Costco and she always wants to stop and play at it.

We all got some fun in on this toy. 

Watch for Jilly's high-pitched, "eeeeeeeEEEYAAAAAA!" in the middle of the video. We think it's hilarious. 

Summer summary

Our summer isn't quite done yet, but I wanted to record a few things for memory's sake:

Girl's favorite movie: The Court Jester

Gordon's favorite: Any movie, so long as he can climb up and stand 3 inches from the TV screen to watch it. He will watch "Elmo's World" from the floor. 

Ben's new hobby, which I completely approve of, is road cycling. He loves it.

We don't have a yard, but I bought a hose and sprinkler for the kids to play in anyway. No one from the apartment complex has shut me down yet. We only get to use the pool across the street on Saturdays. The beaches have been a lot more crowded since school got out in June, and the water has remained cold. So we haven't been out to the ocean as much as I would have liked this summer. 

Looking for missing vital items like wallets cell phones, and keys. Gordon is a master Houdini. I was in the 90 degree laundry room, and on my way out noticed my keys were missing out of my bag. I spent 5 minutes looking for them, and began to assume Gordon had thrown them in the washing machine. On my way out of the room, he opens one of the dryers and there they were. 

Ben didn't work this summer, and that was a welcome break. He needed it after the graduate school marathon he'd been running since fall of 2008. He got to hang out with the kids, play with them, and I got some much-needed time to myself. I feel ready for him to go back to school and work, something I have not been able to say for the past few years. 

Splash Pad

I'm so glad someone invented these. I don't have to worry about my kids drowning. It's a freeing feeling. 

They were kind of hesitant at first, but quickly got into it. 

And they got very wet in the end, which translates to cold. It's been so cool here all summer, which I'm in no hurry to see heat up. This California weather spoils me rotten. 

The kids have all been measured in the last week. Jilly came in at 31 lbs, outweighing Gordon by only 6. She's 39" tall, Gordon's 32". Those two will be nearly the same size in a year. Jilly only has 1.5 shoe sizes on him. Evelyn is nearly square in her sizing, 45" tall and 44 lbs. The doctor said she is going to be quite the tall kindergartener. Only a little less than a month before school!