Water World

Wasn't that a movie, staring Kevin Costner? Didn't it suck? In any case, we went to our own "water world" this past Wednesday. Wirth Park, in Brookfield, has a fabulous aquatic center, with a zero-depth area for small children. The kids got in free (although Ella wont be free in two more months when she turns three) and I only had to pay $3.75. The aquatic center had a nice play structure and a sand area. Nathan enjoyed sitting in the water and splashing. I couldn't keep up with Ella...she's a little fish! She went down the water slide several times! I have been scouring the Internet for other wading pools and splash parks in the area and have found quite a few. We will be visiting them in the next few weeks hopefully. On the way home from Wirth Park, I had to stop and get gas. Parked next to our car was a Miller beer truck. And here is the conversation that followed:

Ella: "What is that beer truck doing Mom?"

Me thinking to myself: "How does she know that's a beer truck?" So I ask, "Ella, how do you know that's a beer truck?"

Ella: "It has to be a beer truck."

Me thinking to myself again: "Okay, I guess it has to be a beer truck. Silly me."

Ella: "See, it says BECDEFG."

Me: cracking up

Her tone of voice was so serious during this whole exchange. What a riot!

Joe's parents have purchased a Zoo Pass for us again this year, which is such a wonderful gift. We can go to the Milwaukee County Zoo whenever we please, and we can leave after staying only an hour if necessary, and not feel guilty about buying a ticket and then not getting our money's worth. It's great! There was a special event called, "Kids Night," for Zoo Pass holders only. We went with Joe's sister Liz and her boys. Currently, the zoo is home to a traveling Australian bird exhibit. It's incredible! As you walk in the building, a zoo staff member hands you a popsicle stick with some bird seed stuck on the end. Then you enter what looks to be one enormous cage, with hundreds of birds flying around your head! When you hold out the stick, birds come and land right on your hands, or in my case, on my head. Even Ella was able to get some birds to land on her popsicle stick. It was a very neat experience. A not-so-neat experience happened shortly after our bird feeding frenzy.

We had all decided to walk to see the lions and tigers, so we began our trek to the other side of the zoo. At one point, there is a fairly large hill with the zoo train tracks at the bottom. Well, for those of you who know Ella (and even if you don't, you can probably imagine, just by reading about her) she doesn't walk, she runs. Everywhere. All the time. So there she went, running down the hill with her cousins, getting a bit farther ahead of her cousins, crossing the train tracks, and then

Ding ding ding ding ding ding

Ella is on one side of the train tracks as the gates come down, lights flashing, while we are on the other side. Oh crap. Luckily, a nice woman from the other side of the tracks stood by Ella until the train passed and we could get to her. Ella thought it was funny. I was torn...was what just happened hilarious or terrifying?

I had Nathan's 9 month pictures taken. Here is a sneak-peek!

We have lots of fun things planned in the next few weeks, so I will try to keep up-to-date on my posting.