Saturday, August 24, 2002

 

Joe and Valerie arrived from Baltimore last night around dinner time. The girls were SO excited to see them. Rene woke up Friday morning saying when they got here she was going to hide and jump out and surprise them. All day she kept asking "Can I go hide now?" Joe and Valerie read them some books, and then gave out presents: a super cool Spirograph and stencil kit for Rene, a doctor kit for Corrina, and a Fisher-Price garbage truck with sound effects for Hank (a great present since watching the garbage man every Friday morning is a highlight of our week).

Today we had a busy day. Joe and Valerie went with us to the zoo. Rene and Corrina spent more time on the zoo playgrounds than looking at animals, but they had a lot of fun with Uncle Joe, who is a kid at heart. Rene has been really hankering to ride the tram that goes through the zoo, so we decided to take the tram from the far end of the zoo back up to the entrance...as we were waiting there was a sudden downpour. We were right by an overhang so we were pretty dry, but when we were on the front seat of a tram car and the rain came right in on us - that was Rene's very favorite adventure ever! She especially liked seeing the tram car splash through rain puddles.
We came home and got hoagies for lunch, then out to the Blue Slide Playground. Rene was chasing Uncle Joe down a very long hill and fell at the very bottom - but she recovered quickly. Now that Hank is walking and a bit more independent he had a great time on the equipment especially for small toddlers - going up and down slides, ramps, tunnels and stairs. We came home and had pizza, and then everyone went out to the ice cream parlor (I stayed home with Hank who had already fallen asleep for the night). Uncle Joe and Aunt Valerie bought the girls Purple Dinosaur ice cream, and even let them ride on the car ride.

posted by Betsy 11:09 PM