Joining the circus

So I made another trip out to Cleveland last week with the kiddos to spend some time with Carissa. Adam was away, and she needed some company, and if I say so myself, I'm much better company than Adam any day - I come with my own circus! Six kids under five was crazy, crazy, and crazy, but a lot of fun. Although someone was usually crying, someone else was always doing something to make us laugh. We went to the outlet mall near her house, which I love because their Children's Place always has killer deals. For $17, including tax, I got two jackets and three jammies for Aubrey and two sweatshirts for Roman. I know I'm a supercool mom when I can dress my children so dang cute for so little. We also bribed good behavior out of the kids by promising them they could go on a few rides if they would only let us shop at three stores (it was four stores, but Hayden talked us down to three).



Roman in his pink helicopter. Why pink you ask? No idea, but luckily it's Roman's fave color.


A trolley that looks like it came straight from San Fransisco. But that's okay, Hayden, Olivia, and the back of Jack's head loved it (and Roman jumped on only to have it stop seconds later, poor kid).

Roman is sitting on Jack's lap, luckily they love each other, at least enough to share the ride.

We also managed to take the kids to the grocery store, which was just an excuse to get out of the house, and to the Cleveland Zoo's Rainforest. The Rainforest is inside and warm, a bit muggy actually, but a lot of fun. The kids had a lot of fun seeing monkeys, fish, alligators, parrots, etc. They even had a whole collection of spiders and other ugly, nasty, scary insects which I didn't really look at. Roman with "Aunt Fersa". Carissa had to grab him because I was getting frustrated that most of my Roman pictures were of the back of his head. Doesn't this kid understand my camera has a delay?!

Hayden, Olivia, and her friend Emma.

Roman and Jack sharing again! If you'll take note, Lovey is in every picture. That (dirty) thing just doesn't leave his side.

I really believe that Hayden is thinking zoo=climb everywhere. I kept asking, "Did you even see the animals?" and he'd reply nonchalantly, "Yup, it was a monkey" as he manuevers around the walls and on the limbs of trees. Yeah. Monkey. Amazingly, he stopped to stare at all the incests, including the tarantula, which I would not look at.

Roman and (surprise!) Lovey.

And there's my pretty girl! Don't you just love her...and want to squeeze her cheeks?!

This is the Rainforest when you first walk in. Not super stroller friendly, but according to Hayden it's very dance-friendly. Can you tell? And oh look, Lovey!

The zoo...at the, uh, zoo. Sorry Madelynn is cut off. She's boring and sleeping in her carseat. Aubrey is our big girl, sitting up in the stroller. Without socks (bad mom!).

Me not behind the camera with my little circus. Notice Aubrey's red cheeks? She gets that way if she gets warm or mad. Or just because. This nosey lady at the grocery store last week insisted I take Aubrey's blanket off of her because of course she was overheated. I just rolled my eyes and walked away. I'm a seasoned mommy now thank you!

Overall, I loved my Cleveland trip. It's always nice to visit family, even if I didn't sleep well at all and had to blast the A/C on the way home to stay awake. It's bittersweet, I will only be making one more trip out there before Carissa moves, and even that trip will be short lived. What will I do with myself without someone out here to keep me sane?