The Zoo With My Fancy New Camera

So I got this fancy new camera for my 41st birthday in June.  A gift from my husband who bought it because he knows I love to take pictures and be creative and learn new things. And I have been loving taking my camera everywhere this summer. I still need to learn to use some of the fancier features and I'm hoping to devote more time to that part when the kids go back to school in a couple weeks.  

Here are some shots from a trip to the zoo a little while ago. 

 

Maybe one day I'll publish a photo book of tween/teen shots. This is just the beginning, I have about 15 more years of these oh-so-thrilled-with-mom looks to go. lol.

I might change the name of my blog to this. 

I have a real phobia of frogs. I hate them, I am scared of them and can't even look at them....so this exhibit is truly my nightmare.

I waited outside during the frog experience and the kids told me all kinds of details about the size and shape and color and sounds of all the frogs. Ahhhhh. 

Wade loves maps and figuring out where are going next. And I love that he let his sister paint his nails and actually asked her to paint them University of Michigan colors. He's such a cool kid. 

The animals at the zoo were active and amazing. 

I love watching the kids watch and see what the older ones want to take pictures of on their phones. 

It was one of those days where all the animals were out and playful and so fun to watch.

It was a beautiful day. We had fun, made memories and learned about gorillas...it doesn't get much better than that.

Check out some other pictures I've taken 

with my Fancy New Camera:
Belle Isle With My Fancy New Camera

Baseball and My Fancy Camera 
Pure Michigan With My Fancy New Camera 
Everyday Kind of Small Town Family Fun w/My Fancy New Camera

Chuck E. Cheese, The Zoo & What I Know For Sure

Last weekend we had a birthday party for JT at Chuck E. Cheese.  It was loud and crazy and all kinds of sensory overload, and it was almost three months late.  Yes, his birthday was in early May and we had a party in August.

There's nothing like watching my kids at Chuck E. Cheese to remind me that they will probably inherit all of my impulse control issues.

You are welcome.  I say that because if you are feeling behind, like you can't catch up or like you can't do anything right for your kids...I am here to make you feel better.  I am that friend that is more unorganized, more behind, more emotional.  I will make you feel like you have your shit together.

But here's the thing, even though I laugh it off and don't get too hung up on much, sometimes I let it bother me.  I let worry about what others think creep into my mind and heart.  I worry that everyone, EVERYONE, knows the answers and I am totally fucking up my whole family foreverrrrrr.

                          ***************

Half-way on our way to the zoo yesterday, I realized I forgot my debit card. Or maybe lost my debit card.  I had no gas and no cash.   After searching my purse and the floor of the minivan in the gas station parking lot, I drove back home.  I looked and looked and looked for the debit card.   I called Tim and said "well, we should check the accounts because I lost my debit card and someone is probably spending our money all over town right now."  Yeah, I was convinced someone was out there having a good time on the 200 bucks left in our account.  I might have cried.  And then I found my debit card tucked into a never-used side pocket of my purse.  

"Well why would I put it there?," I laughed.  Peyton rolled his eyes.  

"No worries, I found it," I texted Tim.

"Well, I guess we are going to the zoo, zoo, zoo after all," I sang  all Raffi-like.

Again, my older kids rolled their eyes.

The zoo was full of cute families with their cute wagons and picnics and kids in matching outfits.  We strolled in with our non-matching, messy swagger.  

They look like they should be walking in slow motion with some hard rock song playing in the background.

We had fun, but I'm not sure if anyone thought we were cute.  I don't think anyone looked at us and said "awww, someday I want my family to be like them."  In between the good moments, there was bickering and slapping each other with the zoo map and more eye rolling.

At one point I swear even the chimpanzee was looking at us like "who the hell are you?"  

You know you are a little oversensitive when you feel judged by the animals in a zoo. 

Sure, reacting to the chimp is a little nuts, but you better believe people are judging.  That's what people do.  But people also lift us up, laugh with us and totally get us.  Not everyone, but there are some people.  My hope is that everyone has more of those some people in their lives.  Because screw the chimp, screw moms that judge instead of support, screw old people that forgot what it was like to have toddlers or tweens.  I fully support and admire families that have color-coded activity calendars and brush their kids' hair and have birthday parties within a week of their child's actual birthdays.  It doesn't mean I'm going to do that, just means I'm cool with it. 

I know for sure that just like Taylor Swift sings "haters gonna hate, hate, hate" and that we can't let it get to us.  There will be days when it bothers us more than others and we feel like total failures, but you just can't let it consume you.

Right? I mean screw that chimp.

Here's what else I know for sure this week: 

• Hello, my name is Angela and I am a binge watcher. Tim and I are so addicted to Friday Night Lights that when Netflix wasn't working we went into total withdrawal and panic.  We looked at each other like "what are we going to do?!!!???"  Um, we bought two episodes on iTunes, because we are binge watching addicts.  This video is funny talking about the dangers of binge watching TV shows.

• Brothers rule.  They wrestle and compete and punch, but they also support, encourage and play.  Watching the boys be brothers is pretty awesome.

• This football movie looks good.  In fact I cry every time I see the trailer.  

• Vlogging is a whole lot of fun.  I got the whole family involved in my latest vlog.

Check out my #sheethappens moment blog.

(Click here to watch the video.)

• I'm close to my goal!  I have one week to reach 100 subscribers to my YouTube channel and I'm at 84.  Help me reach my goal, click here to subscribe.

• I will  never stop loving Skeeball, never.

I am proud to report that I won quite a few tickets playing Skeeball at Chuck E. Cheese.  

What do you know for sure this week, right now?  Tell me what you know!  Share it here in the comments or over on my Facebook page.

Come play with me on Instagram, click here.

I've Got Connections

This summer has been filled with connections to the past. One of those connections is visiting.  My aunt Minerva, my dad's big sister is in town from Wyoming for quick visit.

She treated my kids to a day at the zoo.

Everyone wanted to be the navigator.  

She treated me to long talks and great company.

"You look like grandpa," she told me. Grandpa, as in my great grandfather. I touched my face. "Really?" I asked in awe, not sure if I've ever seen a picture of him.

We talked for hours about her, I mean our, family. Some stories I'd heard before, like how my grandmother packed some heat in fear of a possible burglar after accidentally picking up a hitchhiker (which is a whole other story).  

Some stories I needed to confirm, like the car story.  
Years ago when my baby Lucy kept climbing out of her car seat like a mini Houdini, I went on and on about the awesomeness of child safety locks.  I asked my father what in the world they did before they existed.  "Well we just turned the car around when your uncle was a baby and fell out," he replied calmly.  "We always wondered if that fall explained a lot of his behavior later on," he added.  Aunt Minerva laughed and confirmed the story.

Some stories were new, like how my great-grandmother taught herself to read.  She would read the Lexington newspaper front to back and was THE source of news for many people in the hills of Kentucky near her home who couldn't read.  

I wanted her to keep talking forever. Her laugh filled the room and reminded me of being a kid and listening to her talk and laugh with the other grown ups.   Her expressions and descriptions of people and events were touching and funny--"Well, he was an odd duck" or "It tickled me."

She told stories about a family that had dealt with betrayal, loss, poverty and survival. She told stories about a family who through it all could laugh at almost anything. She told stories about her, I mean our, family.

This is such a great song about being connected. It's a little hippy, dippy, but I love hippy, dippy.