Frozen Margaritas and Stitches

Some things can only happen at my zoo and to me. It must be a space-time continuum kind of thing. And once again, space and time lined up perfectly at my zoo this evening.

I spent all day getting the house ready to have a party this evening. Mowed the yard, cleaned, etc. Everything ready. I even made the food last night so that I didn't have to worry about it for today. Heathen #3 helped with the food prep.

Ten minutes into my party starting, Heathen #2 starts screaming in the yard and I could hear him heading for the front door. With him, he could be missing a limb or the wind could simply be blowing the wrong way. Definitely my drama queen. I didn't get very excited since I could hear him getting closer. Movement means it isn't a broken leg.

When he greeted me at the front door, it was with blood running down his leg and PUDDLING on my porch floor. He had fallen off the swing set and onto his bicycle. Puncture wound.

I wrapped him up in a tea towel and sat him on the swing. Upon inspection, it needed to be stitched. Not a problem, except for that I'm hosting a party and my house is full of people!

My mother-in-law agrees to stay at the house and play hostess for me while I take him down to get stitches. As I'm gathering up shoes to head for the ER, it dawns on me that I've had a few drinks out of my frozen margarita. Hurray! I get to take my child to the ER for stitches while I have alcohol on my breath! Could this get any better?

I informed Heathen #3 that he would be staying at the house and I asked him if he could be in charge of the party for me. He had been wanting to feed everyone strawberry shortcake all day since he had helped me get it ready. He was all over that!

I got Heathen #2 stitched and out of the ER without any comments on my alcohol breath and we headed for home. Heathen #3 was passed out on the couch and everyone had already left (of course!).

My mother-in-law and I were chatting before she left for home and she commented about she had never had strawberry shortcake with beer bread before. Heathen #3 had insisted that they were to put the strawberries on the beer bread - he never showed them the pound cake in the fridge!!!! And he told them he wasn't allowed to have any of it because it had beer in it.

I'm not sure if the best part or the worst part is that all the women ate strawberries and whip cream on beer bread at the direction of a 4-year-old.

Seriously. Only at my zoo!

No Gutter Balls Allowed

On Tuesday, the Heathens and I went bowling. We had a few "free game" passes laying around on my desk that we just never seemed to get around to using. So we went over to the alley for a few games. The boys had a good time - both bowling and fighting with each other. It's harder to photograph bowling than you would think. These were the best shots I got of each of the boys.

I still love the fashion statement that bowling shoes make!

Nana & Pap's Pizza Party

Yesterday, (Sunday, 8/16) Nana and Pap threw a pizza party for their great-grandchildren! We rounded up all eight of them at my younger BIL's house and turned them loose in the yard.

This is a photo of Nana and Pap, with my older BIL's wife Jen sitting in the middle.

After stuffing themselves full of pizza, they rode Pappy's tractor around the yard, and took turns driving Grandma's scooter through the grass.

Being the youngest, Baby Whatt headed inside for a nap.

Everyone else headed for Grandma and Pappy's pool to beat the August heat. Here's the rest of the crew that were swimming with my boys yesterday:

Aunt Kimmie and Ili Grace:

Noah Logan:

Skinny Minnie (or Rorrie):

Gertrude (or Gretchen):

Grandma w/ Ili Grace and Gertrude:

The kids all had an absolutely great day playing and swimming together. It was fantastic weather. And Nana and Pap were fun to watch while they were watching their great-grandchildren play. Definitely a day to remember.

RoboWorld!

This past Saturday, our Zoo, along with family friends, visited the new exhibit RoboWorld at the Carnegie Science Center. The Heathens LOVE to go to this place because you can touch everything (without getting in trouble!).

The exhibit was AWESOME. I wish I could have gone without the Heathens so that I could have looked at more and watched more than I was able to while following around the youngest Heathen.

This clip is of Heathen #3 and the Asst. Zookeeper attempting to build an earthquake proof building.

This clip is of Heathen #2 and the "colored spinners" that he was fascinated by.

And this clip is of Heathen #1 playing air hockey against a robot! He actually did manage to score twice.

Don't Shave Me BLONDE!

Last night, Heathen #3 decided that he was going to trim his hair - by himself, without telling anyone. He got the Asst. Zookeeper's beard trimmer out of the vanity in the bathroom, and took three swipes over his head. One above each ear, and one right in the middle over the top.

The entertaining part of the whole thing is that the trimmer only held enough charge for him to make those three swipes and then died.

He came down the steps to find me and informed me of what he had done, ending with the comment, "Doesn't it look nice, Momma?"

Since the trimmer was already dead, I plugged it in to charge so that I could do something with his new style. I made the comment that I might just have to shave him bald - which the other two Heathens picked up on right away.

So, this morning, I sat him down in the bathroom so that I could fix his hair. There was no saving it. The damage was done. I told him I would have to shave his head very short and he would just have to wear a hat outside for a few weeks. He burst into tears and cried, "Don't shave me BLONDE!!!!"

It's hard to shave a child's head and laugh all at the same time. But we managed. He was a little upset with the new 'do until I put him into the tub and explained how much easier it would be to wash. Shorter hair meant less "rinses" with the cup. Then we were good to go!

2 Adventures = Last Week

With things gearing up for school and fall already, I'm alittle behind on my entries.

Last week, the Heathens and I went on two separate adventures. And we took a grandmother on both (silly women agreed to go!).

Adventure #1 - Penn's Cave & Wildlife Park

Last Wednesday, my mom was off work. So, we took her to Penn's Cave and Wildlife Park with us. It's just on the other side of State College. It was really cool and the Heathens really enjoyed it. You ride in a boat to visit the cave. Our tour guide was really funny and the boys really liked him.

And at that point in the day, my camera died. R.I.P. - you were a faithful camera. Although I do believe it would have been more curteous if it had waited until the end of the trip.

The cave tour was awesome, but the Heathens REALLY liked the Wildlife Park tour. You ride in a bus that has all the windows removed. We saw deer, pybald deer (which were completely white), elk, bears, cougars, bobcats, etc. We were able to get so close because the bus drove right into the enclosures. Heathen #3 really wants to go back - and I think I'd like to go back as well.

Adventure #2 - Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

The night before we headed for the zoo with the Asst. Zookeeper's mother, I headed out to WalMart to purchase a new digital camera. I just picked a cheap one - I'm going to ask Santa for a better one in a few months. :)

Heathen #3 packed his stuffed elephant for the trip. He got it at our zoo trip last year and named it Zuri, after one of the two baby elephants born at the zoo this summer.

The zoo was packed this year, much busier than any other time I have visited. And for most of the trip, I couldn't figure out what was different from the other times I had visited. And then it dawned on me. We were there on a Saturday - we usually visited during the week. Never again! Way too many crowds.

But the Heathens still had a good time. And they insisted that I take a picture of the gold fish in front of the zebra enclosure like they do every year. I drive them all the way to Pittsburgh to go to the zoo and they get excited over the silly goldfish!

ABC Gum

25 years ago, I remember standing at a bus stop with the other kids in my neighborhood. There were only two other kids, both boys a year older than me. I was in first grade, making them the much wiser second graders. Brett Statler and Greg something-or-other.

They were always playing tricks or jokes on me. I was easy to torment being younger and of the opposite sex. The morning that sticks in my mind, Brett asked me if I wanted a piece of ABC gum. I replied, "Yes." At which point he and Greg burst out laughing hysterically that I was really gross if I wanted a piece of Already Been Chewed gum.

Fast forward to today at around 1:30 pm. I had taken my Heathens to the Scout Store in Ebensburg to pick up some merit badges for the troop. While I was working with the lady behind the counter to sort out the badges that I needed, Heathen #3 proudly came over to me and announced that he had gum in his mouth.

Assuming that he had gotten in from one of the people in the office or had located it in a drawer on his own, I asked where he had gotten it. He smiled, pointed vaguely in a direction, and said, "Over there."

"Over there" was simply a corner of the store. No one had given it to him, he FOUND it. ABC Gum - and my Heathen #3 was chewing it with great joy. Ugh - boys. Better yet: Ugh - Heathens!