our zoo at the zoo

Margaret, Suzanne, and Jon like the phone at the zoo. Charlotte Claire looking cute in her stroller....

Charlotte really wanted Camille's baby toy chain...Kathryn and Jon ran away when I tried to take a picture of the group...

So here is Suzanne, Samuel, Evelyn Joy, Margaret, Sonja, Molly holding Camille, Kathryn running away, and Charlotte in the stroller....It was chilly today, but sunny!

Suzanne, Sam, Evelyn with Charlotte Claire.

Okay, the zoo was great. We didn't lose anyone, no major fights, no fussy babies....we ate our peanut butter sandwiches on a bench...Emily drove separately and had to leave after an hour to go to class. So, it was Molly, 14, Sam, 12, Margaret, 11, Kathryn, 10, Evelyn, 8, Suzanne, 7, Sonja, 5, Jon, almost 4, Charlotte Claire, almost 2, baby Camille, and Me, the young and beautiful mom...ha...

The zoo was stop #1. #2 was Mc Donalds, because 4 of the kids had free happy meal coupons from school. So, Dollar Menu, and coupons, and we ate for 14 bucks....apparently the peanut butter sandwiches were not enough....then we went to the grocery store, and after finding right color car-car cart that met with Jon's approval, we went throught the store for milk, bread, apples, burger, cheese, eggs, popsicles, and licorice. $58 later, we were on our way. I stopped for gas, $69 worth for only $15 because of the Price-Chopper discount.....Yes!

So, their bellies full, the van full, and the volume in the van bordering on insanity, we head the final 30 minutes to home. Camille is hungry again, and is fussing. I decide to try to stretch it a bit, and hold her off...the other monkeys can't bear to sit and wait. Then the fun began....I'm not sure the real story, but I heard it started with Sonja sneezing something out...then Suzanne was grossed out, and barfed, so Sonja started throwing up, too. They started screaming about it, and then Kathryn and Margaret joined in, puking all over....I was driving down the road, listening to all this....they were laughing and crying at the same time....Sam was my co-pilot, and he was starting to heave. I told him DON'T YOU DARE!! We opened the windows, and hurried home....Oh joy, kids that have been dragged around all day, groceries to put away, supper to cook (ha, we were having burgers!), and I had to have them take all their clothes off,and throw them in the wash....the van, it's still not fully cleaned up.....and no one is really sick! I swear, everyday is something new. This has never happened before, and hopefully it's not the beginning of a new trend...

Then, Paul gets home from work and tells me something is wrong with the truck....we have to have it towed to a garage, as neither of us is a mechanic...hopefully one of the kids will be someday! So I have to get up and drive him to work tomorrow in the barfy van, so I can use it later for a dentist appointment for Kathryn....I told M. I'd pay her fifty bucks to clean that van.....