Are you ready for this? The shower doors are finished! Our renovations are completed! Wheeeeee. Pictures to follow, but for now I’m just excited and relieved and the teensiest bit annoyed that the head contractor wanted to come and pick up the final cheque immediately, without us being able to test things out. Hey buddy, I’ve been waiting anxiously for the past three weeks to get these things installed, maybe you can wait a day or two until we’ve actually used the shower? I don’t know.
The shower doors were supposed to be installed last Thursday, but at the last minute I was informed that there was a fire and kiln explosion at the manufacturer, and the upshoot of that alarming information was that our doors were not ready. I moped for a second and then decided to seize the day and head to the zoo with the kids.
I bought my first zoo pass when Mark was a baby, on the advice of my friend who had a one-year-old daughter and hence was my muse for all things mama. At first, I would meet up with friends and enjoy wandering around the exhibits, all of us pushing our strollers while our babies napped or cried or chewed on their stroller toys. Later we would get together more sporadically with our double strollers, all of us looking like zombie hunchbacks. Eventually going to the zoo became really fun as the kids walked, and chose favourite animals, and played in the picnic areas.
The zoo has a penguin display now, and although we waited in line during spring break for ninety minutes, this time we chose to just peek at the outdoor display and leave the waiting to others.
The boys wanted to walk through the dinosaur park, and I took the same picture I’ve been taking for the past couple of years. There’s nothing like looking at old pictures to realize that the kids have grown – OMG! – and that time is flying and next thing you know they will be calling me once a week on Sundays.
In other news, the kids seem to have been stretched.
Jake’s favourite animal at the zoo has always been Foggy the hippo. Foggy is one of the oldest hippos alive – he will be 47 this year! – and his birthday is only two days after Jake’s. Jake feels a deep kinship with him.
Check this picture out from two years ago:
Jake’s longtime favourite colour is orange, in case you didn’t notice.
Mark prefers the Canadian Wilds part of the zoo.
But he also loves the dinosaur park, as he did two years ago:
I forgave the shower door people their kiln fire and explosion, since we had such a great day after all. I especially forgive them now that we have shower doors that fit properly!
“Hey Mom, we’ve been playing in this tree ever since we were little!” Yes, you have, my sweeties.
