Holiday Weekend

After a wonderful Christmas break, I was really looking forward to a long weekend for Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday. It was in jeopardy as a snow make-up day, but luckily we didn't need it. On Friday evening, we took Andrew to Tae Kwon Do and then we all went out to eat. Since Tony had received part of his bonus check, we decided we were well overdue for some stocking up at Sam's. Aidan thought it was great that he fit in the cart with Sophie. Sophie wasn't quite so impressed.

The best part of the trip was Tony's suggestion that we buy a notebook computer for me. We had talked about it for a long time, but money was always tight and there were other things we needed. However, I'm at the point with my PhD program that I really need my own computer to take everywhere. So my early birthday/Valentine's day gift was an itty-bitty purple laptop. I love it! It makes me (almost) want to go to statistics class tomorrow.

Saturday morning, I got to have a girls' day out with mom. We went shopping at the consignment shops, vintage stores and art galleries on Frankfort Avenue and had lunch at a great Greek resturant called the Grape Leaf. Yum!

On Saturday evening, Tony and I went to our friend Diana's wedding. We've known Diana for close to ten years through the Young Republicans, which seems unbelievable. She married a teacher from Providence, so we had a lot of fun visiting and catching up, as well as enjoying yummy fried chicken and Huber's wine. Diana was a beautiful bride! I didn't have my camera, so we had to make due with the camera phone.

On Sunday, Tony had to head back to work. After naps, I took the kids to the YMCA. They swam for awhile and got out some of their rainy day energy.

The weather has warmed up recently, with a heat wave in the 40s. I invited mom to go to the zoo with us since we had the day off. She suggested that we call Aunt Linda, who was watching Joseph and Emma. So we all headed off to the zoo. It was a little chilly, but we were the only people in the entire place. The kids loved it! Here are the "big" kids posing on the komodo dragon. The minute I took the picture, the three boys fell off in a huge heap on the ground.

Sophie loved watching the tiger training. She was smacking her lips and saying "mmm" each time the tiger got a treat!

She was not as fond of the gorillas!

Here are Emma and Aidan "riding" an elephant. Funny, I remember when the Louisville Zoo used to really let you ride the elephants.

Here's the whole gang on the rhino. From left to right - Emma, Andrew, Sophie, Aidan, and Joseph.

I think all the kids had a great time, and they were well behaved. We ate lunch at Wendy's afterwards and all of us took nice long naps when we got home. There's something to be said for fresh air! I guess it's back to the routine tomorrow!