Zoo Field Trip

Ethan had a field trip to Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago on Apr.15. I was signing off on the permission slip and realized I had that day off. Usually I am too busy with work to be able to chaperone anything. I was hoping I was picked as one of them. She was picking 12, so I thought my chances were good. Another plus was chaperones were free, too! E said that they drew the names out of a hat in class. He said I was the 12th one chosen! If I know my kid, he was sitting there super worried and probably started tearing up. I almost wonder if his teacher saw him and just said my name! He said it was totally fair and they held up the slip of paper with my name.

 

super windy day in Chicago- I tried to get a decent pic of the big waves on Lake Michigan

sitting with my boy on the bus

I was in charge of 2 other boys and they were ‘boy boys’

each kid was assigned an animal to write a report on, so I asked each one what their animal was so we would be sure to see it at the zoo we met up with my sister and her son and another boy from matt’s class

 

since one of the boys was “so hungry” we decided to eat lunch at like 11am and it was so cold

swinging monkeys and they were Matt’s animal –white cheeked gibbon

here is the momma with her new baby, but can’t really see the baby

one of my boys started roaring and the tiger actually woke up!

this pic pretty much sums up how the other 2 boys were slightly different than my kid. I have no idea what they were screaming about 

most of the day was spent making sure we had all 5 boys, there was always one running ahead in the buildings. 

Ethan had the king penguin

this rhino came outside right when we stopped – then the kids laughed hysterically when he peed, which was the only reason why he came outside in the cold!

 

sweet boys

kids loved this little crocodile they weren’t sure if it was real because it never moved

k had the lion finally he awoke and was prancing in front of the window

seals underwater were neat

the president was in town the day were at the zoo. We drove past three helicopters by Soldier Field and then later they flew by when we were going into the reptile house! Obama was in one of these!

me with Ethan, so happy I got to chaperone  

the 5 boys in front of Chicago skyline   

The trip home took twice as long – ugh the traffic. E’s teacher counting all the kids on the bus.

Fun day, wish it was warmer though. I felt I kept saying “get down from there” “quit climbing on that” and “stop chasing the birds” 2 of the boys had quite a fascination with any seagull or bird in their path. We had one little mishap in the bathroom when E shut the door on another kid’s fingers and locked the door! Yikes! I wasn’t down there as I was with K watching the lion for a minute. We learned that boys are not used to stalls, we made them go in the woman’s bathroom to keep an eye on them.

Dad’s 70th

We celebrated my dad’s birthday early this year, due to my parents going on a trip to Charleston during his actual birthday. My mom planned for me and my sister’s families to come over to their house for pizza and cake. She had invited some of their friends to show up at the house at 7pm as a surprise!

We had cake…and mom was able to get the cool handwriting lady

   

He opened up presents from us

I love the expressions of my son in these pics, just utter joy

I was worried that he may get upset over the surprise, I really thought he would say something like “what did you do Bonnie??”  Their friends the Conards came over first, which wasn’t unexpected. Then, at 7pm the door bell rang and we told him to answer it. He reacted to the 3 people at the door by saying, “Bonnie, what is going on?” I was close! He was fine and I think he was happy to see everyone came by.

My mom ordered a special half sheet cake and I picked it up, but then left it in my car.  She had found napkins with this saying, she liked that it didn’t scream how old he was!

should have taken a pic of their friends before half of them left..

The 3 grandkids basically spent time in their playroom, but came out at times. After an hour or two, Ethan asked me “what is going on with all the people here?” I had to tell him it was a surprise party! I had told him about the surprise, but his cousins were not told to avoid any slips.

St Patrick’s Day

Walked down to CP’s night parade – the 3rd annual started at 7pm

Comfortable weather, too.

there was some candy thrown or passed out and E seemed to be passed over ALOT, unlike any other time. I think it may have been his hat he was wearing was blocking his cute face? T walked down a little to get that shamrock lei necklace for him. 

everything had to have lights on it, love it!