sophie's record

Monday, Sophie set a family record by becoming the oldest baby of the family.  She is the first to reach her second birthday before being unseated by a younger sibling. And as for other small victories, it seemed as if the teenagers, as well as others, seemed remarkably willing to make the day fun for their little sister and easier for me. 

 All day I was grateful for their shoulders.

 I never think of a fun idea that half of the Utah and Salt Lake valleys haven't already thought of first. Gratefully, the kids were up for Labor day crowds, parking or not, so we had our picnic by the side of the road, a mile down the street, and hiked up to the zoo.

I knew, because of the heat, and the long commute on foot, we wouldn't last long, so we went straight for the must-do's the playground, the train, and Hogle Zoo's new Rocky Shores exhibit.

The bald eagles were breath taking even in 

captivity.

 The harbor seals and otter were adorable too, but it would be hard for anyone to compete with this polar bear. When we saw the exhibit in June he was just wandering around his habitat on land. Fascinating, but not as entertaining as Monday when he was swimming back and forth, gliding up to the glass, and emerging from the water to make faces at the crowd, and then plunging back in for another lap.

This is how we knew that it was time to go. That and Grant's occupy Wall Street movement at the zoo. He camped out in the middle of the sidewalk, protesting my not buying him some zebra glasses. I know now how much Grant likes zebras. Still, no glasses.

 We had dinner at Sophie's favorite tree house McDonald's.

Tuesday afternoon Sophie and William were having some cake after lunch, while I went outside to water our small garden.  When I came back in William had shaved all of the frosting off all of the second day's half of the cake and had consumed it. William was unhappy with my response, so he spent all of Tuesday afternoon teaching Sophie to say "I hate you Momma."  Sometimes it is too bad that Sophie is such a good mimic.