Weekend Update

We had a really good weekend full of some quality family time that was very-much needed. We started out with dinner and a pontoon ride with our good friends on Friday night. Dinner was simple but good, the company was great and the ride was our first time on the water this year. It was a nice evening, so a slow drive around the lake was perfect! Thanks again, guys!

Saturday morning we headed to the Twin Cities for a picnic lunch and trip to Como Zoo! Alayna's been learning about zoos and their various aspects (the animals, zookeeper responsibilities, etc) at school, so this was a great place for her at this time! The day was beautiful and while Como is little, it's a great zoo with lots of exotic animals and it's also free-will donation for admission. Can't beat that.

Mom & Baby Orangutan

I think this is a spider monkey
We all love the giraffes and this baby is too cute!

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lions sleep...

The tiger was right by the glass, which the girls thought was awesome!

The zoo is attached to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, so we went in to look at all the plants and flowers, too! The girls were in awe of the exotic plants and flowers that were there. They wanted to touch and smell everything!

Lilly by some lillies

Looking at the fish in the pond

Family pic in one of the many indoor gardens

Later that night, I had the pleasure of meeting my friend Laura! We met on BabyCenter several years ago and have kept in touch via e-mail and FaceBook over the years. She was in town with some girlfriends and we all met up for supper. It was so great to finally "meet" her and she and her friends were all so wonderful. Thanks for letting me join you girls!

After a late night home on Saturday/Sunday morning, we all slept in and then spent the day working in the yard. Just when we went outside, we saw something that seemed to be falling from the sky. We went over to see what it was and this is what we found...

I have no idea what kind of moth that is, but that thing is huge. Look at it's size compared to Andy's hat (which is his nasty work hat, LOL) It was really neat but really kinda creepy, too. The body was the size of my pinkie and he was all hairy. But he was pretty. We put him on a tree branch so we wouldn't run him over with the mower, and he hung out there for the majority of the morning. When we checked after lunch, he was gone.

We ended the weekend with a BBQ. My parents, Andy's parents and sister, and his cousin all came over for dinner. We grilled steak, chicken, burgers and brats, made oven fries, and sauteed green beans with some garlic and EVOO. Yum, what a good, summery meal. Then for dessert we had brownie sundaes. What a great ending to a great weekend!