The Howe Girls: long but fun day

sam and the zebra

in the meerkat tunnel

oh the elephant is so big mommy~

on the merry go round with Jaina and her mom, Tracy

My day began with Sydney waking at 6:30 am. I brought her back to bed with me and we snuggled until around 7 when she finally was insisting on a bottle. We got up after that and I thought I better get a shower in now or I will never get one today (& I didnt shower yesterday so I had to!) Sam and Cj didnt wake until after 8 so Syd and I had some good quality time together. After I got every one fed and lunch made we were out the door in plenty of time to make to the zoo for playgroup. I was so early there was no one taking money to park...wahoo free parking! Once I parked I got everything all organized key, cellphone, diaper bag, lunch cooler all nice and stacked on the passenger seat. I clicked the doors unlocked got out and shut my door went around the car to let Sam out first...oops I locked the door WITH MY KIDS INSIDE THE CAR!! Dont panic, I asked the lady in the car next to me if I could borrow her phone. I am trying to get sam to also to push the lock open and she's looking at me like "what" I tried to call Jon since I dont have my wallet I dont know allstate roadside assistance number by heart. I dialed and got some guy named JJ answering machine...why cant I remember my husbands number!! Then Christine from play group sees me so I give this nice lady her cell back and use Christines. I call my mom so I can have her call Jon but while I am trying to tell her what's happening Sam opens the door! All is well!! So now the first thing I am doing when my parents get here on Weds is getting a spare key hidden on the car! Now we get everyone out and in the stroller and have a nice long walk around the zoo. We were there for 4 hours!! It was a lot of fun and Sam really enjoyed herself. I was thinking Sydney would sleep the whole time since she got up so early and only slept for about 15 minutes inthe car on the way there but she didnt. She slept a little towards the end but not enough to call a nap. Cj took a great nap during the walk before her lunch. So by the time we got home I thought they would all sleep really good...Nope! Sydney was the first one to stop crying and she slept for about an hour but Cj never fell asleep at all, she was quiet for a while but she was playing with her "cow" Now Sam was a whole other story. She was soo tired but wanted to play but we had plans with the Hodges tonight so I really wanted her to sleep after about 5 times of me going into her room I finally just laid down with her, which at nap time she really hates "dont snuggle me mama" over and over for 10 minutes. I put the timer on and said I would snuggle her for 10 minutes and then she could sleep by herself. It does the trick but it's the longest 10 minutes! I get up and she is so exhausted from crying and trying to get out of my snuggle she goes straight to sleep...what a mean mama i am! So then I tried to lay down with Cj and we both would be just on the verge of falling asleep and the phone would ring and who ever is calling never leaves a message it happened 3 times...I hate that...so we finally just get up and the phone never rang again!! we were going to go to the park and meet Julie, Taylor and Dommy but with Sam not falling asleep until 4 I just had them come over here. She brought McD's and the girls played great together, they didnt eat much but they had fun. Dommy and the twins rolled around on the floor for a bit while Julie and I chatted. I miss hanging out with them now that Julie is back to work full time we dont get to see them as much. Sam misses Taylor too. Hopefully will be able to hang out with them this weekend.
Here are some photos of Sam sitting on the girls when we were leaving the zoo, she loves her sisters so much and they just love her. They give her the best smiles and laughs.