October fun

Where did fall go?  It flew by too fast.  We did our best to enjoy it.  Our nanny Rachel took a new job and had to leave us mid-October, so I fit in as much fun stuff as I could.  We went to the park, had playdates, went to get ice cream, did a lot of playing outside, etc.  But my favorite two outings were going to the Nature Center and the Zoo!

The Nature Center is great.  It is 5 minutes down the road and is free!  It is full of animal and nature artifacts, and probably geared towards older kids, but you are never too young to look at animals and enjoying nature!  The girls loved looking at the owl, running around the trail, especially when they would see bugs on the ground, and looking at the baby turtles and little bitty alligators.  

And then the zoo!  I love the zoo and could not wait to take them.  It was a nice 70 degree October day and was perfect.  We watched "Barney goes to the Zoo" on the way over, and it got them excited about all the animals.  We started out with the farm animals, where they got to ride a train.  Their excitement about riding the train was hilarous.  (They talked about it for days afterwards.)

We went to the aquarium, which was also a big hit.  We saw a panda bear "eating sticks" as the girls said.  We saw a polar bear swimming, which was my personal favorite.  We saw a few monkeys, some penguins, and some of the animals in "cat country."  They loved it all.  But when we walked around the corner and Annabel first caught a glimpse of an elephant, I think her jaw hit the ground.  It was such a priceless reaction.

The whole day was full of "my favorite" moments.  I just love watching their reactions to new experiences or seeing new things for the first time.  Like when we were watching the 2 hippos sleeping side by side RIGHT by the fence, and then when one of the HUGE animals started moving to get up, Madeline got totally freaked out and grabbed on to me so tightly she about strangled me.  Or when Annabel looked saw a mommy and baby giraffe and said "big giraffe AND wittle giraffe" with so much excitement.  But my favorite "favorite" might have been when we were looking at the monkeys, and at every new monkey cage, Madeline would go up close and say "hey monkey, look at me!!!"  That child ... thinks she is the center of attention all the time.  I had to explain that we were there to look at them ... not them look at her!  It was such a fun trip.  We zoo-d till they dropped, ate our picnic lunch, zoo-d some more, ate ice cream, and finally called it a day.  Hard to get two excited toddlers to cooperate with picture taking, but I managed to get a few.

And then it was time for Rachel to move on to her other job.  Sad day.  The girls gave her some big hugs, and we explained that Rachel was going bye bye on a plane (for her training).  I'm pretty sure it was as hard on me as it was on them.  She is truly like a member of the family.  But she'll still be around and hopefully can come from time to time.

Since then, they have said "Rachel bye bye plane" at least three times a day.  And one afternoon while playing in the backyard, a plane flew over.  They both pointed and shouted, "RACHEL, PLANE!!"  It was hilarious. They love her.  We are SO blessed to have such a special person to come watch our kiddos.  It was so wonderful having her this summer for 2 days a week to help out.  It meant James got to stay home for longer and the girls got to stay home 2 days a week for a couple of months to play with Rachel.  I'm very thankful for all of that.