Poor Sick Boy.

I think day 5 of Colin's sickness was at its worst today. But he does have quite the set-up, doesn't he? He requested water in his baseball cup, apple juice, peanut butter crackers, his penguin pillow pet, his froggy, and a Dora on TV. Anything for you, buddy.
After I took this, he said in a most pitiful sick stuffed up voice, "Cheese Mama".

A day at home.

Colin has been under the weather with a cold and fever, so today we just took it easy and enjoyed a day at home.

Making a picture for Daddy with his stamps

This child could live outdoors, so when he's sick it's no exception. We both got a dose of much needed fresh air. And Lucy finally got some company outside, even if that company threw balls at her every few seconds.

"A Bird!"

"A Plane! Daddy!"

Off he goes...

A nose running like a faucet, but he's still loving life.

A slide before heading in for dinner. Carrie, do his shoes look familiar?

When Colin puts them on, he says "Jack's shoes!"

Conquering the big slide.

Fun with Play-Doh.

We'll miss you, Daddy.

Already counting down the days until you return! XOXO

 Family self-portrait.

On a lighter note...here is our little Valentine! We just love this guy more and more each day. This picture was taken yesterday, and he is on his most favorite thing of the moment...a Power Wheels "tractor" (as he calls it). We borrowed this from a friend, since Colin fell in love after playing with it at their house. He looks like such a big boy driving it around the yard.
Hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day!

Aloha Zoo.

So, there is this small "zoo" probably about 15 minutes from our house. I have to admit, I was a tad skeptical about it, because it is a family owned zoo. In the middle of nowhere. And they have real wild animals like tigers and bears and monkeys. And the family lives on the premises. Sounds shady, right?
Wrong. This place actually has a pretty nice story. All of the animals are rescues. Not only did we get to view them, but we got a pretty good educational experience out of it....many of the animals I have never seen before. The animals were really close! They have a little "safari ride" that takes you right alongside the habitats, so many of them come right up to the fence.
And we all should know this equation by now: Outside + Animals = Colin being extremely happy. More happy than he usually is. So it obviously was a great afternoon!

On the tractor ride!

A hairy cow. Have you even seen a hairy cow?

And among the zebras, a Zorse. Seriously. 

 This is a fainting goat. It faints when scared. We learned that some farmers use them as decoys. They plant some fainting goats among the regular ones. That way, when things like coyotes come to attack their heard of goats, these ones will most likely faint, so it will eat these poor things instead. 

Nope, this isn't a Texas Longhorn. It is a Watusi Cattle. And their horns are very light and sponge-like inside.

"Hi baby goats!"

This was the absolute highlight for Colin. Feeding these ravenous goats. He could not stop laughing! 

The baby White Bengal Tiger.

I couldn't really get a good picture of the wolf because of the fences, but he was so pretty.

The Greatest Show On Earth.

We took Colin to the circus!

When Kevin was getting the tickets, I told him that I wanted seats close so Colin could see. He did not disappoint. We literally were very front row and center. And little did we know (Kevin included) that we had the "Circus Celebrity" seats. We got to go on the floor for part of the show to watch the acts even more up close. It was too funny.

When I mentioned to Colin that we were going to the circus, he said "Dumbo!" I thought this was funny, since we have read that old  book of mine only a couple of times, and he made that connection. So you could imagine how ecstatic he was when we walked in and he saw this:

It was hard to take pictures in there with our camera, because of the lighting and effects, but here are a few...

Since we were so close, the tigers were seriously making me nervous, because they really weren't cooperating with the poor trainer. I kept having these thoughts of something going awry, since he was surrounded. Nice huh!

(I think I've been watching too many "when animals attack" shows!)

Our awesome little trooper taking it all in.

The contortionists were really amazing. Ouch!

Especially these three limber girls in this box...

 I think Kevin and this clown had a bro-mance brewing. First he stole some of Kevin's popcorn. Then he swapped hats with him and posed for this picture. Hmmmm.

The man on the flying trapeze.

This was really unbelievable. At one point they had 7 motorcycles riding around in this ball. 

Colin's favorite part!

Another awesome fun family outing!

(although I'm looking a little rough in this picture. Yikes.)