Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

Now that the move to Rochester has become official, and Casey begins his job tomorrow, we decided to head to the Minnesota Zoo yesterday. We have several busy weekends in a row coming up and we weren't sure if we would get another chance to bring Gavin there this summer before we move. It was an absolutely beatiful day. Mid-eighties, no humidity (a definite plus for our little CFer) and a breeze to keep us just cool enough.

We packed the diaper bag...thank goodness I brought extra since Gavin decided the zoo was just a wonderful place to have one of those explosive CF diapers (you CF mommas know what I am talking about!)...the stroller and the baby bjorn. Here's the problem with the baby bjorn, when Gavin realizes we have it, he refuses to be in the stroller. If I had been thinking, I would have started him out in the stroller, but I was so excited for him to see the animals that I plopped him in the carrier. Do you think he lasted for more than five minutes in his stroller after that? Nope, of course not! So I carried him most of the day, at least I got a work out!

Gavin was an absolute doll (except when we tried to stick him in the stroller, haha) the entire day! He loved being out in the sunshine surrounded by all sorts of exciting sights and sounds. We got to explore the new exhibit Russia's Grizzly Coast and it was really neat! You can get right up close to the bears, and when I mean right up, I mean mere inches away from the animals. At one point we got to sit by a window and watch a Russian Bear take his (or her?) afternoon swim.

And then we checked out his (or her?) friends taking an afternoon nap.

Often Gavin was often more excited to stare at the crowds than the animals...or let's be honest, he was most excited to stare at the long grass blowing in the wind...but he did enjoy the massive aquariums that were filled with fish!

At one point, my back got a break while Daddy carried our little man around. I've discovered that it's quite difficult to drink anything out of a brightly colored bottle (the Gatorade I greatly needed) now that Gavin has mastered his hands and grabs on to anything and everything, so this break was much needed and appreciated!

Now you would think that after several hours in the sun, and missing his afternoon nap, that Gavin would fall asleep for several hours once we got to the car. Wrong-o buck-o! He was wide awake when we put him in the car

...and woke up immediately once we got home. He also decided to wake up twice in the middle of the night, which is very unlike him, and we weren't sure if he was just hungry or wasn't feeling well. Today he threw up several times, ran a slight fever and just wasn't himself. We gave him pedialyte, some tylenol and he took a extremely long nap. Now he is acting like his usual chipper and talkative self so let's pray that he's not coming down with something! And wish me luck now that it's just Gavin, Louie (the dog) and me Monday through Fridays until we can sell our house and make the move south to join Casey!