Week 51

Feb 24-Mar 2

Last Thursday Ed had the day off so we decided to have a nice family day. We took Jack to the zoo in the morning to see the new cheetah's that had recently arrived. We learned about them in our newsletter we get for having a membership. We kept telling Jack all about them before we went so he was pretty excited. Well...the day we went the cheetah's were not out. :(

It was a chilly day for FL so I'm not sure if they were just sleeping, or staying inside to keep warm, or just weren't comfortable enough to be on exhibit quite yet. It was okay though, because the zoo is always fun. We were just in time to feed the giraffes. They come up pretty close so Jack got a great view.

The zoo also has an incredible kids area called "Paws On" and it is awesome even for a kid as young as Jack. They have a whole splash/water play area as well as a separate huge fort/climbing area that kids can run around in. It accommodates all of your needs as a parent with stroller parking areas, sitting areas, etc. There is also a petting zoo that you can go to for free!

Jack LOVES the petting zoo! I think it his favorite part of the zoo. I thought he might be a little intimidated by some of the animals, but he has no fear. They have quite a variety of different animals that are just walking around/eating/hanging out. You can get brushes and brush them or just walk up and pet them. They are all very friendly. At one point Jack tripped and went face first into the dirt. Yum. Good for the immune system...right? :)

So after our little zoo adventure we went to Longhorn Steakhouse for a nice lunch. We had a gift card from Christmas that we hadn't used yet (thank you Rachel!). We got Jack a high chair and we normally order him something easy to eat...mashed potatoes, sweet potato, etc. Since he now has top teeth halfway in, he has started to be able to chew things. Ed suggested we get him his own kids meal. I was half excited/half sad. :( My baby. A kids meal sounded so grown up.

We got him the macaroni and cheese and it came with a side item so we got him cinnamon apples. Our appetizers came and he kept grabbing for some so I gave him some of our firecracker egg roll things, they were spicy but he seemed to enjoy them. He had some of the bread and butter that came out. When our food came out he ate pretty much all of his mac 'n cheese AND the apples. I seriously thought he was going to puke on the way home. I've never seen him fit that much food into his little belly all at once. He LOVED every minute of it. He also got his very own cup with a straw. I think he kind of knew that he had his own meal and he felt special.

Jack and his BFF Riley playing.

We have since started buying him macaroni and cheese because he absolutely loves it. I can't believe he will be 1 year old in a couple of weeks!!! I am sad! Stay tuned for the big birthday post coming soon. Also, I think next week I might do a post about where we were a year ago. Scary. :)