"Schools...out...for summer....!"

  So Matthew's last day of school was last Thursday and we are still crazy busy! For the first official first day of Summer break, we decided to go to the zoo! I took all 4 kids, all by myself! I thought I could handle it...boy was I wrong! I knew I should've turned around and went back home when my baby decided to scream her highest, loudest scream as soon as we arrived. :-( But, instead of giving up, I went straight for the "nursing lounge" (we barely fit inside the room with all five of us squished in). I fed her, burped her, and changed her...and on with the show it went. After showing the zoo worker my zoo pass I then asked where I could get a waxed elephant. I should probably elaborate a little on that. THE ENTIRE REASON I WENT WAS TO GET A WAX ELEPHANT! I made a promise to an uncle to put said elephant on the grave of my uncle Chester (who died of Leukemia when he was very, very young), on Memorial Day. Well, considering the day I was already having, of course the zoo does not have the machines that make the wax elephants anymore because the machine kept breaking.....GREAT (oh "but they do have penny smashers"....not what I asked for but whatever)!
  Well, since we were already there, we decided to carry on. Every thing went pretty smoothly for the next two hours (except for the fact that AnnMarie screamed almost the entire time...there is more to the story but I don't feel like writing about all that). After making our way to the elephants, I noticed Kylie was crying and walking rather funny....CRAP...literally...she crapped her pants! I was actually really surprised at myself for not getting angry or frustrated. I calmly asked her why she didn't tell me she had to go and her response, "I didn't know they had bathrooms here." Bless her heart, who knows how long she was trying to hold it. So I threw away her panties (thank goodness she was wearing a skort...for those that don't know, it's a skirt with built in shorts). I asked if she had to go anymore and she said, "no." I then asked if she wanted to go ahead and see the elephants, or just go home. And this question brought on more tears because she really wanted to see the elephants, but at the same time she really just wanted to go home. Since we had already been there for 3 very LONG hours, I told her we can come back anytime since we have a zoo pass. So glad she chose to go home because as soon as we got to the zoo exit, I hear crying and look to see Kylie walking funny once again....CCCRRAAAPPP! Again???!!! Well at this point I felt like super mom because I still didn't get angry...in fact the entire trip was quite comical to me. Since I didn't have any extra clothes and we were leaving anyways, I put one of Payton's diapers on Kylie and wrapped AnnMarie's baby blanket around Kylie like a dress, and away we went. Kylie was extremely embarrassed and it took a while to coax her out of the restroom. So we hightailed it out of that zoo as fast as we could! So here are some pictures of the times we were having fun....(how I was able to take pictures at all is still a mystery to me, LOL).

I actually forgot to mention that two days before the zoo trip was Matthew's Kindergarten graduation! So proud of my little man, he is growing up way too fast! He is standing with his teacher, Mrs. Chlouber. We loved her and will miss her, such an AMAZING teacher!

The day after the zoo was Saturday, and it rained...pretty much all day long. Soooo we PLAYED IN THE RAIN!!! We had so much fun! I got lots of pictures and I edited them. I was doing some cleaning and found the disc that goes to my camera...didn't know it came with a disc. But, apparently it comes with a basic editing software. I had lots of fun playing around with it. I hope you enjoy. :-)

(Miss Payton after her dress got soaked)

(AnnMarie and I...she has my feet)

(My beautiful Kylie)

(Matthew...I had a hard time getting his picture because he wouldn't stand still!)

(Payton enjoying a big puddle)

(This brought back memories of my brother's tricycle floating away in a flood when I was 4(?), had to get a picture).