Vodka Anyone?

To sterilize my bathroom maybe! We did Russia this week, on Friday instead of Thursday, since I was out of town all day. Another friend came and helped me cook all afternoon, which is good, because if I had done it all by myself we wouldn't have eaten until midnight! As it was, it took us from 5pm to 10pm before all the food was done. *Note to self: next time I make filled pasta/dumplings by hand, either start seriously early in the morning or the day before and freeze until I need to cook them!

It went over really well, and the kids were so tired that they ate quietly for once. Recipes are photos are already posted!

Thursday was somewhat of a busy day. I had an appointment in Boise in the morning, and had been promising the kids all summer that we'd make it to the zoo before school starts. Well, school starts on Monday, so there wasn't much time left. I even packed a lunch to eat there! That's a rarity...

The Boise Zoo is tucked away in a little corner if a big park. I saw only one sign telling you which direction to turn, and that was on a one way street! It's not even on the city map! I had to call a friend to tell me how to get there. But, once we found it, we found out that Thursday is family day, so it was $8.50 for all of us! Nice big discount. And under three is free! I only got a couple good pictures.

This little guy was the only critter that I could get a clear shot of, and that sat still for me! He's a lemur, and the boys and I talked about how Timon (Lion King) was a lemur too.

When we stopped by the tiger, he was pacing the perimeter of his cage. They had a glass watching area so you could see better, safely. He walked right on front of us, about 3 feet away. That guy was huge! So of course the boys were all over the life-sized model.

We went through the zoo in about 2 hours, it was that small. And that included the 20 minutes when we ate lunch! There was still plenty of afternoon left to kill, so we headed over to the Discovery Center, right by the zoo but much easier to find. That was more expensive, so we did an annual family pass. That way we can stop by in between errands and let the boys run off some energy. They had several different rooms: electricity, your body, Optics, Motors, a pet hospital for young ones, and a grocery store for little ones too. A couple others but I don't remember all of them.

We got there in time to do a craft and headed back to the craft room. I took my eyes off William for a split second and he was gone. Really gone! Wasn't in the room, checked up and down the hallway peeking my head into people's offices. No where! Started asking employees if they had seen a very short toddler running around, wearing an orange coverall. I was so glad I had put him in orange, it was easier to see in the lighting. Every room I looked in I found more people to help me look. I think I had 6 at one point? People kept saying they had seen a flash of orange... Finally someone found him and then found me. I had been almost to the point of crying, panicking, worried sick. Three boys, and although they have all wandered off before, he's the only one who has gotten lost to this extent. That boy is fast! I was glad for the wonderful employees there.

I didn't get any pictures there, between frantically searching for William, and then trying to keep all three boys in my line of sight through all the rooms. They loved it though, so we'll make several more trips. (We have to, to justify the family pass!) Plenty of time for pictures. Next time, I'll buy one of those animal backpack leash thingies. I never thought I'd have to, but I do not want to repeat that experience. Ever.

A busy day, but pretty fun over all.

*oops - Steph pointed out that Timon was a meerkat. I knew he was and I know the photo was a meerkat. I have no idea why I put Lemur. Maybe I was thinking about the lemur that was swinging so fast in his enclosure that I couldn't get a good picture for the life of me. Sorry about the typo!