Daddy Daughterpalooza

Ok folks...this is daddykins signing in for the first time as a blogger. Apparently it is not in the contractual family blogging agreement that my dear wife has to blog all of the fun moments the girls and I have without her, so I guess I will have to document it myself. I can not promise that it will be as witty and humorous as Katie's posts, but I will do my best! 

So in September Katie went on a road trip to CA with her friends, which meant party weekend for me and the girls. 

DAY 1: Friday

Katie left early Friday morning and after taking Julia to school, Vanna and Lex decided to help me wash the car. They had a blast and were a super big help...or were they?

Lex taking a break with a Capri Sun before we even start.

Vanna was my official bucket filler upper.

Such hard workers.

They even detailed the inside of the car...

and all it cost me was soda, popcorn, and a movie. 

Soon after the movie Savanna and Alexa accompanied me to pick up my Uncle Miles from the airport. Savanna was happy to see him again. Lex wasn't so sure at first because she had not remembered him from the last time he visited. She kept giving him the evil eye and checking him out, but she warmed up by the end of the visit. We enjoyed a yummy dinner at Grandma Linda and Grandpa Dennis' house that night with Uncle Miles. When we got home we put Alexa down and Julia, Vanna and I laid on a blanket in the backyard looking up at the stars trying to find the moon and other planets on the Google Sky app I have on my phone. It was a lot of fun. 

Day 2: Saturday
Being that there was no Mommy, a.k.a. "my voice of reason" around to advise me on how to plan a fun day and still have limits for our children, I decided to plan the perfect "Disney Dad" Saturday. For those of you that don't know what a "Disney Dad" is, that's okay, I also just recently learned about this phrase. It is usually used for parents that are separated and the kids visit with the Dad on the weekends who always has something fun planned, i.e. camping, amusement parks, you know all of the fun stuff that the other parent is not able to do because they are responsible for raising the kids during the week.

First on this "Disney Dad's" list was the zoo!

The girls have been wanting to do the photo booth at the zoo forever, so in case you are wondering this is what $5 gets you. I love that you can see Alexa's thought process in each of the photos. 

Starting from top to bottom:

1. Alexa: What are we doing cramming into this little box and why are you guys smiling?

2. Alexa: Okay, I can see myself on the screen and you guys are making weird faces.

3. Alexa: Oh I get it...it takes our pictures. Look at the funny face I'm making.

4. Alexa: What face are we going to make next? What do you mean it's going to take our picture, but I'm not ready I haven't decided on a face yet.

This is a really cute picture of J...can you tell 

this is right before she had to go to the bathroom?

 Check out the life-like peacock statues above Savanna, wait a
minute those aren't statues...what kind of zoo is this anyways?

 The girls loved watching the "mingos" get fed.

We spent a lot of time cooling off at the cave of wonders 

splash pad. There is a list of hidden animals around 

the splash pad that you can find...and yes...

we found them all thanks to Julia...she insisted that 

we find them all before we were able to leave. 

Apparently peacocks are big fans of kettle corn. 

What's not to love about it? 

They were especially happy when Vanna spilled half 

of it on the ground (this was before the bag spilled.) 

The petting area was next and 2 out of the 3 girls liked it.
Lexa didn't want to have anything to do with them
..."them" being the goats.

The goats made Lexa so upset
 that she tried running away
on this tractor, but she couldn't reach
the pedals and steer at the same time.

 She tried a different tractor, but she couldn't
reach the steering wheel, let alone figure out how she
was going to get back down from this one.

Nothing like milking a plastic cow on a
warm summer's day...at the zoo.

MOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

 Like three peas in a pod...or was it a clamshell?

or two peas in a turtle shell...

or three peas on an alligators back? Oh I forget.

 My favorite pic of the day!

This is what the zoo on a warm summer's day will
do to your kids on the way back home for naps...
make them not want to nap when they get home.

Day 2 (still): Evening at the Circus

Julia wanted to sit at the very top so
that she could be sure to see everything. 

Waiting in line to ride the ponies the first time.

Waiting in line to ride the ponies the
second time...we had to wait for the intermission to
ride since the show was starting the first time.

Cost to ride a pony...$30 ($10 per child)  

Cost to ride an elephant...$40 ($20 per child)

Cost of telling Katie that I spent $70 at the circus...priceless.

Day 3: Sunday
Consisted of no early morning Bishopric meetings since I was playing the role of Mr. Mom, being 15 mins late to sacrament meeting (although the girls looked really cute in their dresses and hair all done up), Lexa sitting with me on the stand since she would not sit with anyone else, 3 crabby kids by the time we got home from church that did not want to cooperate by taking a picture to document how cute they were, and a very tired daddy counting down the time when mommy would be back to provide relief from the kiddos.

My hat goes off to all of you stay-at-home moms that handle the kids day in and day out. You may not go to the circus or the zoo all the time, but you make the family feel loved and the home a heaven on earth!