Happy Birthday Rico!!!

Today is Rico's 36th birthday!!!

This is also the end of our spring break week, and we decided we would take a trip to the Nashville Zoo. We always keep things from the kids until the very last minute, we've learned our lesson the hard way that plans can change, and then you have heartbroken kids. So, this morning we told them the exciting news, and they were SO happy!!! :-) My parents got us a pass to the Nashville Zoo for Christmas, it's a really nice zoo, and a great way to celebrate the man's birthday ;)

They have MACKIN' play jungle for the kids. It's huge!!! We could let the kids just spend hours playing in this area...

And by kids, I mean Rico.
Hope couldn't navigate these ropes all by herself, so daddy to the rescue!!
Hi kids!!! :-)
Of course, we also had to hit the carousel!! Mr. Big stuff doesn't need a mommy or daddy with him anymore :/
Thankfully, this one still needs me. Even though she kept moving my hands off of her. I was cramping her style.
So, the zoo's land was donated by two old maid sisters, who lived in this ginormous house, and had thousands of acres. The home is still there, and you can go take tours, and read all about them. Quite fascinating!! Well, at least to Paul and I, the kids were ready to see some animals!!
So, we obliged ;)

So, there is always that day of the year that sneaks up on you. The day when you don't know or expect the temperature to be that hot or that cold. On those days, you are ill prepared, and it bites you in the rear. Today, would be the first day that I did not see the heat coming. By the time we left today, it was 88 degrees. We were hot!! Poor Hope was miserable, and I felt like a bad momma.
Daddy to the rescue, we went and bought them hats to keep the sun off their faces.
So fun to watch their faces! They just love the animals!
Especially this little guy!!!
He's also the map reader. He's all about the map! Cracks me up!
Please ignore the pasty whiteness that is me. I do believe I got a sunburn today.
And we hit the jungle play area one more time on the way out. :-)

I debated if I would share this or not, but decided I would. Paul went to go get us drinks, and the kids ran on to play. I sat down to watch the kids, and for a few moments they were out of my sight, but really there was no where for them to go to. Pierce came running to me a couple minutes later, telling me he lost Hope, and he wasn't sure where she was. So, he and I went to find her, and for the next what felt like 30 minutes, but actually was about 3 minutes, I did not see her. I started to frantically say her name, and I felt myself getting seriously panicked. I see all these children, but not her, and of course Paul was not there to help look for her. I was getting sick. Finally I see Paul, and I'm yelling "I can't find Hope, I can't find Hope" and in his calm way says "she's right behind you" I turn around and see her and start to cry, like I looney in front of all these people, I am crying. I officially was ready to go home. Of course I played the what if's in my head, and it just made me think of how fast something can happen. Praise God, it ended okay.
We came back home and had a little family celebration. Happy Birthday Paul!!! We LOVE you ;-)