The Oregon Zoo

We were up in Portland again last week (I've been counting...that's 6 weekends in a row). Andy's cousin and his family were in town for Nick and Sarah's wedding, so Andy took a short break from work and we went to see the family and visit the Zoo. Friday morning we packed up the kids and headed out to see as much as we could see before the impending nap time.

First Stop: The Cascades. We saw Beavers, waterfowl, Elk, Salmon (huge salmon), and the Bald Eagles. We placed the kids in this nest we found, but apparently the Eagles had already eaten that day.

If there is a tractor on the premises, Lily will find it. Check out this beauty of a John Deere!

Next we went to Africa. The Hippos were lounging, the Zebras grazing, the Gazelles were sleeping (boring), and then there were the Giraffes. This one in particular was not doing anything too exciting or out of the ordinary, but I think that she is just beautiful. So tall and seemingly graceful, although I would imagine with those long legs and necks, grace is not always an option. Did you know that a Giraffe's heart can weigh as much as 22 lbs?! In her younger years, Lily used to call these stunning animals "long necks", she has since graduated to using their correct name...I think I will always call them long necks from now on.

I just liked this one...

Now for the Lorikeets. I love these little birds. I bought the syrup for the kids; Andy took one, and Doug took the other. Almost immediately a male lorikeet decided to snatch the sweet nectar out of Doug's hand and take off with it. Have no fear, we retrieved our .50 cents worth of sweet goodness and shared the wealth with some other not so greedy fellas.

Such amazing colors found in nature! Almost always on the males though...

We all had a good time, and naps were had by all (except me...I refuse) when we returned home from our adventure.

Fail!

Last night Andy informed me that there is the website that the "kids" frequent these days, and I should check it out. So I did. These are just a few of my favorites...but you should check out the site, there are more where these came from. www.failblog.org

The Doctor is in!

In 28 minutes all will be right in the world...well not really. But House returns tonight, and for that, I am thankful.

The Incredible Edible Egg

So we all have our quirks...one of mine is that I am filled with glee when I crack open an egg and find a double yolk. Twins! Anyway, this phenomenon generally occurs in one to two eggs per dozen that I buy. If you too want to find some double yolks, I find that they are much more prolific in organic eggs. Anyway...Lily and I were at my parents house on Sunday morning, and my mom was cracking eggs for omelettes. We all rushed into the kitchen when Mom let out a squeal, turned out that all was well and she was just excited about the double yolk she found in the first egg she cracked. Not too unusual, but worth a look. Then she cracked another egg, only to find another double yolk!

Ok, so 2 eggs out of 12 that are housing double yolks is not that unusual...but 4?

What about 6?

8!?

By this point, my mom and I were practically rolling around on the kitchen floor laughing hysterically, with tears streaming down our faces. It was honestly the weirdest, funniest thing that I have seen in a long time. I know the cholesterol content of this omelette was probably through the roof...but it was delicious.

I did a little research on the double yolk, and here is what I found out:

~ Double yolks occur in only about 1 out of every 1000 eggs

~ They are typically laid by young inexperienced chickens

~ They occur when ovulation occurs too rapidly

~ The eggs are larger, heavier, and typically longer in shape.

~ The most yolks ever found in one egg was 9!

Here is what else I discovered:

~ Eggs can have no shell, just a thin membrane

~ You can find an egg within an egg...weird!

And the funniest thing found while doing my extensive research...It is possible for eggs to have no yolk. These eggs are also known as "wind", "dwarf", or "fart" eggs.

Why?

My endlessly inquisitive daughter has discovered the age old question that is "Why?" Here is a sampling of one of many conversations we have these days. This one occurred in the car today:

Lily: "I don't want to buckle up for safety"

Me: "Sorry Lily, but you have to"

Lily: "Why?"

Me: "Because the seat belt keeps you safe while we're in the car"

Lily: "Why?"

Me: "If we were to crash the car, then your seat belt would keep you safely in your seat"

Lily: "Why?"

Me: "Because if you didn't have your seat belt on and we had an accident, then you would fly out of your seat and hurt yourself"

Lily: "Why?"

You get the picture. It actually does get tricky trying to come up with all of these answers. I think I'm learning some things myself. I try to answer all of the "why?" questions with legitimate answers while struggling to restrain myself from blurting out "Because I said so!"

Toddlerhood

98% of the time I love being a stay at home mom. Love it. Then there are those days when I would rather be at work...

So this is day 2 of the reign of "Lily the terrible", and I'm not sure that I will live to see it through. It all started yesterday with an epic meltdown at the grocery store (which will remain unnamed to protect our identities). The trip started off without a hitch. Until the shampoo aisle. At the end of the shampoo aisle lies an assortment of toys...great. Lily locks on to this target immediately and runs (ditching the shoes) down towards the balls, dolls, stuffed toys, etc. I leave the cart to retrieve the child, telling her that we can look at those when I have my shampoo, knowing that all she hears is something similar to the voice of the school teacher from Charlie Brown. So she does it again. So now I carry her back to the cart where she executes something reminiscent of what she saw during the 2008 Beijing Olympics as she digs her feet into my stomach, arches her back, and, using my stomach as a spring board, pushes off. It's OK, she landed in the cart. Now she starts to scream. Perfect. As this is happening, an elderly woman walks by and glares at me. I used all that is left of my sanity to resist the string of profanities I would like to say to her, as well as "do you think I'm enjoying this?". The next thing I know, an angel appears.

This angel looks just like you or me, she is an older woman with a baby riding in her shopping cart. She stops right next to Lily, looks at her and says "What is the matter? Why are you crying Nina?" Lily stops immediately and just stares. She must have known she was special too. Lily is introduced to the baby, Gabriella, and she tells the angel why she was crying. The woman talks to Lily for a few minutes as my red face returns to a more normal color, and Lily the Terrible's tears dry. And then we were on our way. I thanked the woman profusely, and Lily was fine for the rest of the trip. It's a miracle.


Today was more of the same: Poor Lily. I call this photo montage "Jekyll and Hyde"




I think she might have a future as an actress :-)

Enchanted Forest?

At 10:00am Monday morning (Labor Day - no work for the Mister), Andy decided that we needed to get ready to go to Enchanted Forest...and pronto.

Even if you have not been there, you have certainly not missed the quaint facades of the buildings while driving down the I-5. Anway, you begin at Storybook Village, lane, something like that. Here you will find the various characters from nursery rhymes and children's stories, all looking fairly sinister and weathered, but the kids don't seem to notice that. Lily and Andy had a blast crawling through the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland.

The biggest hit of the day by far (for all of us) was the big slide coming out of the boot. I'm pretty sure it is supposed to be representative of the old woman that lived in a shoe. You sit on these felt mats, and slide two at a time. Needless to say, I lost track of how many times we were up and down.

We also took a spin on the kiddy train, and watched folks getting drenched on the log ride. Maybe we'll go on that one next time. Now, we are almost ready to head home, and we have extra ride tickets left...what to do? Andy was obviously just itching to go to the haunted house, which I am thinking might not be a good idea for a 2 year old (or me for that matter). But as he refuses to go by himself, we all went. Lily actually didn't seem to mind at all. She just buryed her head in Dad's shoulder, not unlike at ostrich in the sand, until we exited.

All in all, good family fun...I'm sure we will be back next summer!

Family Fun

It's Labor Day weekend here in Oregon, and the Democratic National Convention has concluded...so what better to do than head to Tualatin and Oregon City for a bevvy of Birthdays. Saturday was Mum's Birthday BBQ extravaganza, where we had some great meat grilled by the Dad, and some entertainment from the Mum. All the usual suspects were present as well as a few new faces.

Lily made great efforts to be sure that she was the center of attention as much as she could be - dancing the night away to George Michael.

We had a great evening, and I am fairly certain that the Birthday Girl enjoyed herself.

On Sunday we headed over to the Wheelers to prepare for Andy's Grandad's 90Th Birthday party. 90 years...that is quite a milestone. We learned some interesting history about how the Wheelers settled in the beautiful State of Oregon. There were many miles walked, and the story definitely gives new meaning to the history of the Oregon Trail (most of what I know about the Oregon Trail comes from the computer game). We all had a grand time celebrating, and the scrumptious Birthday cake definitely didn't hurt!

(No photos from the Wheeler party...hoping to snag some from Nick soon)

Side note: Not to diminish the seriousness of Hurricane Gustav (truly, my thoughts are with all those affected, including Brianna...we hope Shane is home soon!) but if there is one good thing that may possibly have come from the disaster, it is that the Republican National Convention will not be aired tonight...