Wordful Wednesday - A Happy Hollow Day!

It's been a crazy week! (Deja vu... didn't I already say that last week?)  Work has been busy and both of the girls are fighting colds.  It's such a mommy thing, but I always want to take their sickness for them instead of watching them suffer.

Thankfully, both have remained cheery despite noses that have been dripping more goo than I thought was possible to contain in such small bodies.

Too much information?

Moving on, then.

This past weekend, we took advantage of the gorgeous day and went to a local kid's spot, Happy Hollow Park and Zoo.

I of course brought the camera only to realize when I went to take the first picture that the batteries were dead.

Brilliant.

And so me.

My trusty iPhone had to suffice, but I was rather disgruntled.

There's a fork in the road as soon as you enter where you are forced to make a Sophie's choice between park or zoo.  Paityn being Paityn, she picked the park.  While she loves animals, she loves rides even more.  (Hence why we always vacation at Disneyland or Disneyworld.)

But first, she had to stop and spend some time playing in a rain ditch.

Livie has discovered the joy of toes and spends a great deal of time eying her own and contemplating how to get them close enough to her mouth to nibble.

I don't blame her.  Baby toes are nibble-iscious.

Then, it was off to the carousel.  They have an adorable one with tons of unexpected animals.  Paityn chose a black and white ruffled lemur, who was flanked by an okapi on one side and an emu on the other.

The eagle always makes me think of my friend Brandon.  Which then always makes me a wee bit homesick.

Livie soon had me cheered up, though.

One thing I love about my husband is his total lack of self-consciousness when playing with kids, especially his own.  It makes him the "fun Papa."

At one point, he was laying on flat out on this sphere with his butt in the air while Paityn pushed on it.  Completely hilarious, but I'll spare you the picture. 

Paityn was excited to discover she was tall enough for all the rides, and she immediately wanted to ride the roller coaster.  Remembering my own childhood trauma with the kiddie coaster at Marineland, I vetoed that request and suggested the cars.

Then Dan somehow talked me into letting her go on the Froggy Hop ride.   It went up pretty high, then dropped a few feet, bounded back up, dropped some more, and so on.  I was terrified and full of trepidation.

Paityn was not.

She laughed the entire time then proceeded to ride it three more times in a row.

Dan giggled quite a bit, too.

Paityn wanted to get her face painted like a tiger, then changed her mind at the last second and said she didn't.  I asked her if she wanted it on her arm and she agreed to that.

I don't know if you can quite tell, but Livie's onesie has "Little Sister" and Paityn's shirt has "Big Sister."

Olivia loved watching everything.  She is so incredibly observant and aware.   Where Paityn at this age would have completely melted down under so much stimulation, Livie thrives on it.

But it also tuckers her right on out, too.  Thankfully, Papa has very comfy shoulders.

There was time for a few more rides on the Froggy Hop before we left.

Dan purposely had her ride this a few times while the park closed to avoid her asking about the roller coaster again (because I was concerned about her riding it).  But she really, really wanted to ride it, so I'm thinking about letting her when we go back this Saturday.

We'll see.

Isn't that parent code for "No?"

Hmm... stay tuned.

Linking up with these wonderful blogs: 

Angry Julie Monday
Naptime Momtog 
And then, she snapped
Baby Baby Lemon
The Paper Mama