It's a Zoo Out There

This afternoon Blanden and I met up with Gavin and his mom at the zoo. As usual, the zebras, giraffes, and elephants were big hits. The boys had a good time riding together in the wagon (for a time). They thought it was great fun to swap snacks, pull off each other's hats, and pull out each other's nooks (pacifiers), all of which was amusing to us as well -- until they decided to swap nooks (ew!). But today the wagon turned out to be a better idea in theory than it was in reality -- Gavin has recently learned to walk, and Blanden really wants to walk, so Erika and I spent most of the afternoon alternating between trying to convince the boys to sit back down and carrying them while pulling the empty wagon and pushing the empty stroller. Nevertheless, we had a blast (despite the 90-plus-degree heat -- as evidenced by Blanden's red cheeks! It was HOT!).

In other news, on Sunday Blanden learned to climb the stairs! He has been contemplating the attempt for weeks -- he crawls to the base, looks up, and then crawls away. We have been neither encouraging nor discouraging him, just waiting until he felt the time was right. Blanden and Ed has a Boys' Club day on Sunday, as I was out, and Ed says he climbed them no less than ten times. (He won't do it for Mommy yet, though, only with Daddy.)