SPRING BREAK - ZOO AND CAMPING

For Shade's spring break this year, we didn't want to stay indoors the whole time, so we took a day to go to the zoo. We got a family pass this year. It is one of the few things downtown that has free parking, and it makes for a fun day. Plus, now we don't have to feel like we need to see everything because we can come back a different day :)

So this was the first time I had taken all 4 kids out by myself (ant it's only been a little over a month since my surgery). I had Isaac in the snuggli carrier and Olive and Eli in the wagon with our snacks, and Shade walked. It was a bit chilly, but we had jackets and a blanket for those who were not walking. And Shade was such a HUGE help every time one of the kids wanted to get out and walk but needed to stay with us. Everything actually ended up working perfectly until the end. The parking lot is uphill from the zoo for some reason, so it was a challenge pulling the two sleeping kids uphill while carrying the baby. We had parked on the side street because the lot was full when we got there. But after walking back and forth at the top of the lot, I could not find the side street. I opened my phone and checked my GPS and found we were on the opposite side of the zoo! Apparently there are two different parking lots that I was unaware of, and I went to the wrong one after exiting. So we had to go back downhill just to go back uphill on the other side! Quite the workout, especially for my first time exercising after having a c-section. Sheesh. But one positive note. There are also a couple of nice parks and trails next to the zoo, so we got to walk through those in order to get to the other parking lot. But overall, it was a nice day! And I loved watching Eli react to the animals! So cute!
(Also, at the end, while I was dragging the kids around trying to find our car, Eli woke up and started playing with Olive's hair, Ha, ha!)


Another thing we did for Shade's spring break was some camping - at Chattahoochee Bend State Park. It was gorgeous! The campground was a short (and beautiful) hike from the very large Chattahoochee River. The weather was perfect, especially since there were no bug out yet. It was also Isaac's first camping trip - which he did GREAT on. He only cried at night when he was hungry. Even Eli was awesome - at one point he fell down a small hill and scratched up his face, but he shook it off and was happy the rest of the time. And the Curtis cousins even drove down for the day and spent some time with us. Awesome!
(Photo notes: Eli found mud, he always does; Shade is a pyro; Shade was sad to burn up his gross socks I refused to bother washing)