Friday, September 29, 2006

A Play Date!

As Christine described me last night, since I am still a "lady of leisure" (i.e., still unemployed,) I have so much free time during the day right now, I don't know what to do with myself! Besides cooking/testing recipes for the cookbook, checking off items on my "to do" list, and spending an hour plus each day searching for and applying for new jobs, my friends have been very helpful in taking me on "adventures!" (For examples, going for walks, going to Target, going to IKEA, having dinner at my house or their house, etc.) I had the BEST adventure with Chelsea and her two daughters, Olivia (23 months) and Norah (just about 5 months.) Chelsea and I laughed that our adventure was a "play date for momma," although Liv and Norah had a blast as well!

Yesterday, Chelsea decided to pack up the girls, pick me up, and we all headed down to the Minnesota Zoo. They have a family plus membership, so I got in for free!! (I will refrain from sharing my full opinions about zoos right now, but suffice to say, the Minnesota Zoo falls into the "nice zoo" category -- the animals have lots of space, well-enriched habitats, look very well-cared for, and the zoo plays a major role in both education of people and reintroduction of endangered species to their natural habitats. So, the short version: I like the Minnesota Zoo, just like I like all "nice zoos.") Chelsea is one brave momma, because she did not bring a stroller! Olivia is a little scrapper, however, so she was just fine with walking the ENTIRE time! :) We all got plenty of exercise, saw lots of cool animals, and Chelsea and I laughed at our "dueling cameras." (You can go to Chelsea's blog to see her shots from the day.) Here is a small selection of the photos I took yesterday!

Here's Olivia, Chelsea, and Norah (the little pink head in the Mei Tei baby carrier.) Olivia has this thing for circles lately, so she found lots of opportunities to find circles and run around in circles during our day. Here, she is running in circles around "mama and sissy:"
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Olivia:
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Here are two little skate rats trying to take a picture . . .
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. . . of a moose!
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Miss Norah:
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(And yes, it was cold enough out to merit the gear -- I was a bit too chilly in my long-sleeved tshirt, wool sweater, and hat! I should have brought a jacket and gloves, too! I love fall!)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! I love pictures of my girls!! I looked at the whole entry at least three times, and I was even there when you took the pictures, LOL. Isn't it funny how we all look so great in our fall gear? Well, maybe I look a little funny, but that's just because I have a coat fastened around a baby tied to me, LOL! I just love the fall. It's my favorite season. I love the briskness and colors. Yay fall! :-)

Anonymous said...

all looks great, im happy that you have a good time there!

Anonymous said...

Cute photos!

I am making your black bean dip again today Catherine--it is so good!

Courtney

Catherine Weber said...

Chels, I'm so glad you loved the pictures! I'll make a point of burning all of the photos I took to a disc and popping it in the mail sometime this week. Thanks again for the great adventure! You are a great friend, and are a great momma to two great girls!!! I love hanging out with you all.

Johanna, thanks! We did have a lot of fun.

Courtney, awesome! I'll have to make that one on my end again -- it's been so long I'm not entirely sure I remember what it tastes like!

funwithyourfood said...

wow it looks so cold there!
yet fun. glad to see you're enjoying your time off ;)

Teddy

Catherine Weber said...

Teddy, it WAS cold here . . . high of 80 today! Bah. Bring back fall!