Morning at the Zoo

Dad and Julie took the girls to the zoo on Saturday morning after their sleepover. Early morning seems to be best to beat the oppresive Memphis heat. Aunt Lizzie and cousin Benjamin joined in on the fun as well. The girls had a great time and the heat was evident by the sweaty looks on their faces when they were dropped off back at home. Good thing they had a pool party to attend aftewards! Thanks Grampa and Gramma!

caroline enjoying the birds!

anna and her new friends
sweet cousins

the tooth fairy is a little poorer

Anna has had several loose teeth lately and loves the idea of having her teeth pulled out my the household designated tooth puller (ME) but when it comes down to the actual pulling, it is a whole lot of drama in the Zyriek house. So much that last week Caroline said "when my teeth are loose, i'm not doing all that". Made me smile and proves how different my girls are indeed!! On Monday night Anna's tooth was so loose that it needed to come out. After about 20 minutes of hopping around and dancing around in the kitchen I finally pulled it. It was pretty bloody and not too nice looking but she was excited and placed it in a ziploc bag in her tooth pillow to await the reward!!

Chapter 2, on Friday night the girls spent the night with my dad and stepmother. They were having ice cream at the Dairy Queen and a tooth of Anna's that was NOT previously loose was suddenly very loose! Thanks for the "Dilly Bar" at Dairy Queen. She fooled with it all night according to the grandparents and was brave enough to let Gramma pull it on Saturday morning. She was so excited to report back when they came home that she had now lost 2 teeth in one week!!

The tooth fairy was generous to Anna and she now has one left to wiggle out....hoping it comes out before seeing the dentist later this month!!

this week lost one on the top and one on the bottom!!

put a feather in her hair....

Anna and her friend Kennedy have been talking about getting a feather put in their hair for a few weeks. This has been a recent trend of course they have been anxiously awaiting the day. Kennedy's mom Kristen came and checked Anna out of camp today at lunch time. They went swimming and then washed their hair in preparation for the feather at the salon. She took them to the salon and then treated them to ice cream at Sonic. What a fun afternoon!!

Anna and Kennedy made great choices with the colors in their "bundle" and were excited to show it off when I picked up Anna. Made for a fun and surprising afternoon and thanks to Kristen for all the driving around!!

I told Anna it made me want to sing Yankee Doodle and she said that was "lame". I guess I was just trying to be funny : ).

fun swimming on a hot day!
anna getting her bundle put in

excited to show off their new hair
enjoying some yummy milkshakes aftewards!

A night at the theatre

We joined our friends the DeSouzas for a night out downtown with the kids and enjoyed a yummy dinner and a great show at the Orpheum. We dined at the Magestic Grille before the show. They do a great job getting you in and out in time for the show and even have a decent kids menu. We were seated by the door which did make it a bit warm at times but we enjoyed the great food and great conversation. Beauty and the Beast was at the Orpheum for their touring off-Broadway show. This story is one of my favorites and I have always loved the ballroom dance scene as well as the production of Be our Guest. The girls were excited to dress up and see the show. We were pre-warned that it was a very lengthy show (almost 3 hours) so we had the girls take a nap on Saturday afternoon so they could enjoy the show. That definitely helped because we did not leave the Orpheum until close to 11pm after the 8pm start time. We often prepare by bringing along pajamas for a late night out and glad we did because both girls fell alseep in the car on the way home and were already dressed for bed! Never even woke up! Great show and wonderful performances by Belle and the Beast and the rest of the cast. Definitely enjoyable for the entire family!

all the girls after the musical

had a great time!!

Kelly's Kids craziness

It's that time of year again....the Kelly's Kids warehouse sale. I initiated 3 new friends into the club of those that are crazy enough to travel to Natchez, MS and endure many many women that are in love with the clothes of Kelly's Kids. This was my third trip to the Natchez sale. My friend Rachel has always wanted to go and has been giving me a hard time for over a year about wanting to go next time there is a sale. Last year, the sale was on Memorial Day weekend and Rachel and her family were sailing on a cruise all over Europe so the sale was not in the plans for her. She has been commenting all year on my blog when she sees my kids in their Kelly's Kids clothes that I paid very little for at the sale last year. So she was the absolute first person I contacted about going to the sale. This sale was going to be on Saturday the 18th of June (we found out about it with about 1 week advance notice) starting at 9am. Originally Gary had a triathlon that day and my mom/stepdad were on vacation so this was going to be tricky to work out. Rachel was so thrilled and we ended up making it work all around. Rachel invited 2 other friends that I knew and we loaded up on Friday after work and drove to Natchez.

This sale had all clothes priced at $5.99. That is pretty cheap. In the past the majority have been $9.99 or $14.99 with a few lower priced items. This made for much larger crowds. We arrived at the warehouse about 7:30 and it was very crowded. I reassured the girls there would be plenty and indeed there was. They opened the doors over a half hour early and we started the dash to the sizes we needed. You could definitely tell that people had cleaned out some things early (that would be the people that SPENT THE NIGHT!!) but we still had plenty to choose from and select for purchase. We all made it through once and put our clothes in the car. Very sore arms at this point from carrying everything around. We decided with nothing in our arms we would venture back in and look at the discard racks and see if there was anything else. We all ended up with at least 3-8 items in our second round. Such fun indeed.

I purchased 42 items including a few accessories. The total purchase represented about the price of a 3-5 outfits so we definitely made our trip worth it. Everyone bought at least 35 items and Rachel found matching clothes in the boys and girls items as well as specific things she was looking for to coordinate with outfits she had back home. It was great!! Back on the road so Tiffany and I could make it home for Beauty and the Beast at the Orpheum. Great trip. Missed my friend Laurie this year. She makes a great partner since we have girls the same size! Next time Laurie!!!

I did steal a few of Rachel's pictures...may look familiar if you follow her blog too!

tiffany, leigh anne and me ready for the sale!

craziness inside the sale as people sort through their stacks
my trunk after round one...round two added even more!

Do Just One Thing

I recently subscribed to a newsletter from Real Simple and chose to receive the "Do Just One Thing" version for busy folks. So glad I did. It really has helped with trying to accomplish even small things around the house and provides a better outlook on what you have before you to get done. This newsletter gives you just one thing to try and fit into your week. The suggestions have been 1) clean out your junk drawer 2) organize your pantry 3) book your summer vacation. Some of those examples are tougher than others. One good idea nestled in this newsletter was if you can take just 15 minutes each day to knock something off your list then you will have spent 7 1/2 hours in a month tackling small projects. Of course not all 30 days in a month will have a project but even if you spend that time half of the month think of all the things you can do! I have really taken this to heart and have tackled small projects on top of the just one thing that is suggested. I have found that we are getting more organized, spring cleaning is being accomplished and as a list person, feel I can cross long overdue projects off the list. Last week I organized the laundry room, cleaned out under my bathroom cabinets and got the coat closet under control. Gary did the pantry (even before the suggestion was in the newsletter) and I worked in Caroline's closet. Last night was the refrigerator. We had some expired stuff indeed!!

Each of these small projects have taken 15-45 minutes but have provided a sense of accomplishment. So, in the midst of your busy days or week, if you can just get one thing done, it can help make things seem more manageable even in the midst of chaos!

Art Camp

Anna attended Art Camp at First Evan this year for the second year. It is their VBS but with an art emphasis. Anna absolutely loves this camp. Thanks to my mom for helping pick Anna up each day since it ended at 12:30. Great week with simple lessons about Joseph, fabulous art projects and wonderful friends. On Friday the parents attend the art show which displays some of their artwork from the week and we get the privilege of seeing a slide show of the campers and hear all about their contributions to Camp Good News. This year they raised enough money to send 13 kids to camp. Awesome!!

anna with 2 pieces of art from the gallery

Hope Du!

The first annual Hope Presbyterian Kids Duathlon was Saturday morning and Anna was excited about the event! Gary was one of the primary organizers of the event which did take a lot of time planning and setting up but was worth it when the event was all said and done. Anna was competing in the juniors category which was for 6-10 year olds. This involved a 1k run, 2k bike and a 1k run. The senior category did double the juniors. Anna had practiced with Gary on the course a few times and felt comfortable with both the run and the bike. It was very hot day but Anna did great. She came in 2nd in the 8-year old girls category, with a time of 17:44. She had the largest cheering section for sure with 4 grandparents, 2 parents, 1 aunt, 3 cousins and 1 sister all in tow to cheer her on! What fun to see her be excited about health and fitness and too see her accepting her trophy! Looking forward to next year!!

ready for the duathlon!

anna with emily before the race

all 50 juniors lined up and ready to go! headed toward transition to pick up her bike

tired at the end but GREAT job!!


excited to have her 2nd place trophy!

so proud with her finisher's medal and 2nd place trophy!

proud mom!

anna and colton brainard both won trophies!

Final day and heading home

Our long weekend in St. Louis was coming to a close on Memorial Day. We saved the outdoor activity for the hottest day but we had planned to not stay all day at the zoo. We kept hearing that the Zoo was great but we kept thinking, how can it be better than the Memphis Zoo. If you go and compare, you will still put Memphis on top. However, they did have some great things to do and had a few things we don't, like Stingrays you can pet and feed! The zoo offers free admission but if you want to ride the train, see the sea lion show, see the stingrays you have to pay extra plus parking is $12. I think they should just charge a small admission fee and save all the nickel and diming. Because we are members of the Memphis Zoo our wristbands to do everything were only $5, so can't beat that, especially unlimited rides on the train around the zoo!! We asked the girls to tell us the 1 animal they wanted to make sure we saw. Anna said flamingos (luckily they had the right where we ate lunch) and Caroline said monkeys. I of course wanted to see the giraffes. We took in the sea lion show which was shaded and great and saw plenty of animals. The stingrays were cool but creeped out Caroline just a bit. At the end we let the girls go to Build-A-Bear that is near the Zoo exit and create a zoo animal to take home. Build-A-Bear corporate headquarters is based on St. Louis so you find it at unusual places around town like the zoo. They had animals there that are not in the normal stores and the girls enjoyed their souvenirs. We ran into our friends the Terry's from Memphis and Anna and Ellie enjoyed seeing each other as well.

On the way home we stopped in for an early dinner at Lambert's Cafe. The girls kept hearing us talk about how they throw the dinner rolls there but they had no idea how to visualize that. Didn't take long after taking our seats than they have the opportunity to catch a roll. Caroline was successful the first time around and Anna took two tries. The portions are HUGE and the staff is friendly. Definitely a southern experience!!

Back home by 9:30...great trip. Tired family. Glad we went!!

anna and i are petting stingrays as they swim by!

caroline on the carousel

riding the train to beat the heat

anna enjoying her ride too

ready for the sea lion show....brought shade!!

sweet sisters

sea lion rang the bell to end the show

love the giraffes!

anna found her friend ellie at the zoo!

lambert's for dinner

enjoying the rolls they caught!!

St. Louis Day #3

After a long day on Saturday, the girls slept in and it was nice to see that the Magic House did not open until 11am on Sunday. No need to rush around. Thanks to Facebook, I printed a coupon good for admission for the entire family! The Magic House is the children's museum in St. Louis. Looked great and HUGE. Once we entered we figured we were going to easily spend the entire day there. So many things to do and great that there are separate activites for younger and older kids to keep both occupied. We did end up spending around 5+ hours there. Highly recommend this place, especially on a hot day as there was plenty of A/C!!

Found a great pizzeria for dinner and then tried Ted Drewe's frozen custard for dessert. For my Auburn friends it reminded me of "The Flush". A place where everyone comes to hang out and eat frozen favorites and just emjoy a nice summer night. We easily spotted where it was once we got near as there were literally 100 people in line!! There were many lines so it did not take long at all. Yummy!!

Swimming back at the hotel after dessert wrapped up our fun day. We had a great day!

ready to explore the magic house!!
traveling exhibit was alice in wonderland....were greeted by these ladies at the entrance

caroline was asked to a tea party with the mad hatter

feats of strength and endurance!

learning about pulleys

learning about static electricity

pondering her thoughts as miss president

caroline discussing domestic policy
playing the drums thanks to gary's company Boeing to being a corporate sponsor
anna being encased in a bubble
enjoying ted drewe's frozen custard
great way to wrap up the day!

St. Louis Day #2

The girls were up EARLY for a vacation day and so all of us were ready to go on our first full day in St. Louis. Caroline was really excited about the arch but had no idea what to expect. Anna kept telling us facts about St. Louis and the "gateway" to the west and we were laughing at the difference in their personalities. We walked over the arch and waited in line to go through security. My favorite "friends" in line were an older couple who felt compelled to convince everyone in line to let them to the front because they had tickets at will-call. What did that have to do with breaking in line to go through security? I guess no one questionned them. We bought tickets for the Lewis & Clark movie and the tram ride to the top of the arch. The movie was very interesting and the girls actually sat quietly for 45 minutes and absorbed a lot of it. The tram was next and it seemed like you had to hurry up and wait and hurry up and wait. Eventually we made it to the loading area for the "pod" that you ride to the top in. It really reminded me of what Mork from Ork landed in on Mork & Mindy (I have just dated myself) OR to be more modern, what Lady Gaga arrived to the Grammy's in....an egg!!! We all 4 rode together and while Anna was a little nervous, Caroline held her arms in the air like we were on a ride at DisneyWorld. It was amazing to think how high up we were. The observation area has many windows to take in a view of the city. Some people got out and were sick feeling and others said they had been up there all morning. The girls really liked it. We snapped a few pictures and looked on both sides and then headed back down.

We had lunch at Panera Bread downtown and then headed to the City Museum for the rest of the day. We had heard such great things about this place and how you really cannot imagine what it is like until you actually experience it. That is correct. It is crazy with things to climb, huge slides (one is 10 stories high!) a ferris wheel on the roof, a school bus that hangs over the side of the roof, a huge ball pit, etc. It was a lot of fun. Gary and I could do most things that the girls could do. Kids would climb on just about anything. While Anna and I were waiting for the ferris wheel on the roof, we hear "Hey, Daddy....look at me!!" and there is Caroline in this structure on top of the roof and she has climbed to the top. Hilarious. It is very easy to "lose" your child at this place. We did set up with the girls where to go if we got separated. Even quizzed Caroline on what she would tell them at the help desk. We spent about 5 hours at the museum. It was exhausting. It was slightly drizzling when we got ready to head out but we managed to make it back to the hotel rather quickly and without getting too wet. We relaxed for just a bit before heading out for dinner.

We heard that "The Hill" was a great place to carbo-load as it was a lot of Italian run businesses and many restaurants to choose from. We selected one named Zia's that was recommended by our friends the Terry's. It was getting late and the kids were rather patient. The portions at this place made Memphis sized portions look like kids meals. My "side" of pasta fed both girls!! Made for a cheap dinner since we ordered it that way. The food was authentic and quite tasty and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

The girls were tired and so were we so we retreated back to the hotel and all got to sleep very easily!! Great first full day in St. Louis....tomorrow, the Magic House!

the arch!!

at the base of the arch

the girls waiting to enter the archview from the top
great view of the baseball stadium and Deloitte!

ready for our adventure at the city museum!

Caroline enjoying one of MANY slides

even the adults can climb and explore

climbing everywhere you look

looking for caroline....she climbed to the top of this structure on the roof while anna and i were waiting for the ferris wheel! she LOVED it!!

enjoying the rooftop views

notice who is missing from the ferris wheel ride on the roof.....?

loving to slide classic look on caroline's face down one of the taller slides
gary in the ball pit
on the "hill" for dinner...even the fire hydrants are painted like the italian flag
fun , classic part of town