A jaunt downtown

one evening in October. 

     We were still enjoying the light evenings that, in a good way (mostly), made it feel like bedtime would never come. For that reason, and to ensure Gray and I didn't lose our sanity, a stroll around Falls Park on the Reedy was the perfect family activity.

 We have been experiencing a drought this year. The Fall was not as spectacular as it usually is.

     We thoroughly enjoyed watching the ducks swim and eat. Tobias liked to get as close as was physically possible before falling in, aka. he loved to give me a fright. He would point and observe and point some more while repeating "Mommy! The Ducks!" more times than I could count.

 This poor goose was so ugly, we came to find out he/she is an actual specie that looks like this ... 

I felt slightly bad for mocking him.

 Little toes dangling too close to the water!

We made a loop around the park stopping at our favorite tea bar, Ocha. The cherry, almond, vanilla milk tea is my favorite thing on the menu right now! On our way back we gazed into the high end art shops and stopped again to admire the ducks. It was perfect, so much so that we had a meltdown in the car about leaving ...

Grate gazing. I'm pretty sure he spent some time dropping stones down there before I noticed.

Sexy butt dad wearing that Ergo like a model, hehe.

The Riverbank Zoo.

Family trip to the zoo, a rite of passage I think ...

     We are members of the Greenville Zoo and as such we are afforded certain privileges. One such privilege is half-off entry to several zoos across America! We zoo people (more so my husband than me) think this is a pretty sweet deal. Especially when it includes the Riverbank Zoo.

(These little creatures put on quite the show popping in and out of their burrows.)

(The stroller was massive and therefore a huge pain to maneuver and overall very useless.) 

     The Riverbank Zoo in Columbia is only an hour from our house. So on a day off it makes a great extended morning. We took off around 9:30am with way more bags than we needed. I've resigned myself to the fact that this is my lot in life for the time being. We arrived around 10:30 and proceeded to spend two hours at the park.

     With a toddler two hours was definitely sufficient. We looped the park twice, saw two "shows" and spent extra time viewing our favorite animals. We then drove home while our two babes snoozed in the back seat. Aside from losing out on grownup naps it was a huge success! It is a day we still talk about and a day Tobias desperately hopes we repeat. He asks about it on the regular.

(I took these pictures through the glass, but it looks like the glass wasn't even there! Kudos to the glass cleaners, seriously.)

(My favorite photo from the day.)

     Gray and I loved the Gorillas even though Tobias wasn't as interested. They didn't do much (probably why he wasn't impressed), but their positions and looks were hilarious. Other animals of note were the lions and monkeys, always fascinating for various reasons. We really wanted to see the Tiger, but he was too sleepy to make an appearance, hopefully next time!

(We face-timed Nana because she loves Gorillas too!)

(You could walk through this open exhibit, pretty neat!)

     Tobias loved the Elephants and the Prairie Dogs, but we probably spent the most time at the Brown Bear exhibit. We watched them dig and swim and do bear things like pee massive amounts of liquid (sorry, it was hard to miss). I don't know why he loved them so much, but he did.

(I mean he was glued to those bears, they didn't bat an eyelash without us knowing. He made sure we were informed about every move they made.)

(The smelliest exhibit at the zoo, no joke. Barf worthy.)

     The two shows we saw were great, not too long. We watched a zoo keeper feed penguins and also saw sea lions perform tricks. I really liked the sea lion exhibit, you could go "under" the exhibit and watch them swim. If you stood at the right angle they looked like they were swimming at you, this totally freaked Tobias out and made me laugh (very compassionate of me, I know).

("Tobias, sit down!" This phrase was on repeat for the short amount of time he spent in the stroller.)

     In my opinion, the giraffes were the highlight! You could feed them!! Tobias was brave for about two minutes and let the giraffe grab lettuce from his hand once before delegating the task to daddy, "daddy feed," as he backed away.

(This giraffe was loving the food.)

     Overall it was a great experience! If the worst decision we made was paying too much money for cotton candy, I'd say we did pretty good. We will definitely be going back. Maybe by the time our next trip rolls around Well's will be soaking in the sights and sounds as well ... for the most part, he snuggled me in the ergo, made us both sweat and slept through all the excitement!

Porch Living

     It's our thing, our go to. When the going gets rough and the spaces inside aren't cutting it, we head to the porch. Outside, to a space that has rails and gates! It's the perfect place to enjoy the humid heat that is South Carolina (I say this in jest, heat is not my thing). Not too big so I don't have to chase an energetic toddler too far. And not too small, just enough room for a makeshift sandbox, mower, balls, chalk, picnic lunch and occasionally a pool with a slide.
     In the spring and early summer, we spent a good portion of the morning and evening out on the porch. My favorite memories include Francesca teaching Tobias the Snow White song "Hi-Ho."It was hilarious watching the two of them stomping around carrying their picks (aka. brooms and umbrellas). Other memories include sitting with Gray, rocking in the evening light discussing our days as Tobias played. He would routinely scream out our names to let us know we were supposed to be paying attention to him. He was relentless and we were easily captured by his silly antics!
     By the end of June it was too terribly hot so we spent more time indoors. Oh, and the mosquitos!! We spent a lot of time trying our hardest not to get eaten alive by mosquitoes, is there a bug more pesky and utterly annoying? We have plans to screen it in ... one day. Until then, I eagerly await Fall and cooler temperatures, we've been missing our porch living!

Is there anything cuter than a baby booty? Not much!

Pumpkin Painting

     This was an ambitious activity for a one year old. I admit I was a little too excited about having a possible art student than I was concerned about thinking through what it would look like for Ty to actually paint a pumpkin. He wasn't ready. I wasn't ready. His dad was less than enthused and leery. I should have listened to him, but I didn't. So there's that.
     Our first attempt lasted for about a minute before paint was in his mouth and I was running inside trying to wash it all out. And the second attempt held his interest for about two minutes more, just long enough to snap a few pics and call it a day (aka. lick my wounds and admit defeat). I think I have a couple more years before this becomes a fun family activity. All I can say is sometimes you have to try it to figure out it doesn't work, anybody else with me? ... And maybe we can forget about the part where his makeshift smock resembles a ruffled dress . . . Parent fail most definitely, :/.

     Notice the red on his lips ... not blood, just more paint.