Zoo Atlanta.

The kids and I had the best time exploring the zoo yesterday.  In many ways, this has been one of my favorite summers ever...no diaper bags to tote around, no kiddos to carry, no feedings every two hours...and while I'm excited knowing that next summer is going to bring all of that with Emmy, I'm also soaking up every second I can of "big kid" fun with Harry and Babe.

And it's been fun.  I really, really like hanging out with my kids.

Probably because they say stuff like this on the drive to the zoo:

Harris:  "Mom, who is Elvis again?"
Me:  "Remember, Elvis is the king of pop." (Except I realize he's the king of rock and roll.  MJ is the king of pop.)
Hadley:  "Oh, yeah.  Elvis is the king of your daddy."  (We call my dad Pop.)

Or this, when we get to the zoo: 

Me:  "Alright, I have to use the bathroom before we start checking out the animals.  So everyone's coming in the stall with me because there are lots of people in the zoo bathroom."  I herd everyone into the large stall and begin to pee.
Harris:  "That is so disgusting.  Mom!  That is so disgusting.  Just tell me when you're finished."  And he turns around to face the corner.

I love them.

And they loved the zoo.  We sweated our little booties off, and Harry informed he was "out of energy" by the time we were finsished, but we spent an incredible three hours getting our money's worth.

Favorites included the bird exhibit,

the petting zoo,

and the Horties! (elephants), pandas, gorillas, and mole rats.

We also had fun on the carousel,

the zoo train (here's my attempt at a pic of all three of us),

and the playgrounds.

We snacked our way through the park and finished up our day out with a trip to The Varsity.  Both kids played "Varisty" all the way home by asking me over and over and over again, "Mommy, whaddya have?"  It took Babe a quick minute to get the hang of it, she began by asking:  "Mommy, what you want?" She figured it out, though, with some help from her brother.

Our Summer of Fun 2011 is wrapping up, which means I'll probably be headed into a depression sometime in the next ten days.  Not really.  What it does mean is that I'll start to put my thinking cap on and attempt to figure out a way where we'll be able to maximize time and continue our fun adventures during the school year, all while working, tackling kindergarten homework, and trying really, really hard to cook some semi-healthy dinners at home.

Quality time is totally my love language. :)