November in Iowa can be a toss up in regards to weather. We could have snow, ice, and freeze cold temps or we could be in tank tops wishing the swimming pools were open. Luckily we were right in between the two with windows open with a breeze coming through kind of days. That meant we got PLENTY of outdoor time. Here's a look at our weekend (mostly in pictures, when I remembered to take them at least):
We began our Friday night with shopping at the mall. I needed new shoes and the oldest mini needed longer pants (can we say growth spurt??). The boys LOVE shopping and eventually I had to stop them at Old Navy. The oldest mini made me take a picture of this vest he "absolutely needs for winter mom!" I love that they're boys with styling opinions.
We had trouble making it out of the house on time, as the minis just wanted to play outside. We skipped the library, where we were supposed to take in a preview of the Des Moines Community Playhouse's fall play, The Boxcar Children. We did make our way to the Blank Park Zoo late morning for the Indie Iowa book fair (being held at the zoo) and to see the baby rhino that made it's public debut!
Lauren and I loved the Indie book fair and got some excellent tips from local authors. I recognized a couple of authors whose books we already have at home. As it turns out, one author used to live down the street from us and her kids went to the same school as the boys. There's always a reminder how small the world is! While Lauren and I were intrigued, the minis lost steam at the book fair (as captured in the picture above).
It was so nice out that Lauren tagged along with us at the Zoo and took some pictures of the minis.
The baby rhino was available for public viewing for the first time. Harrison (middle mini) has been waiting for this day and was thrilled to finally get a peek at her. She was adorable! We got to see her sleeping and then we went back at the end of our visit and saw her running around after mom. While we loved seeing her for the first time, we'll probably wait until it's cold out to visit because the zoo was very crowded. Everyone wanted a view of the baby rhino!
We loved this display at the zoo. The minis asked for me to take a picture of it. They particularly liked the statues.
Saturday evening I went out to dinner with family to celebrate my Aunt's birthday. Needless to say, the minis were extremely happy when I returned home. Max even did a dance for us using the car headlights as his spotlight.
Sunday morning I had hopes of waking up early (accomplished) and heading for a hike around Raccoon River Park. The minis chose to stay home, rake up the leaves, and spend ALL DAY in the bounce house. I was just happy to be outside and enjoy the sunshine! Bonus: the time change did not effect us at all.
My windows got washed too!
Points if you can spot 3 minis in the leaves!
So the leaves didn't actually get picked up. Instead they were used to jump into from the bounce house. The giant pile of leaves will be picked up another day.
The big celebration of the afternoon: the middle mini finally lost his first tooth! It's been loose since July, but he hasn't had the courage to pull it out. Hubs talked him into tying a piece of floss around the tooth and had him give it a slight tug and out that tooth came! He got right to work writing a note to the Tooth Fairy.
When Max lost his first tooth, we had nothing to put the tooth in so we used a shot glass. Despite now having a tooth bag to put his tooth in, Harrison remembered we did this for Max's first tooth so had to do the same. He also wrote the TF a note AND got to keep his first tooth (since I had a feeling he'd remembered Max did as well).
My new read. My aunt and cousin recommended this book and wow! Just wow. I'm amazed, thankful for this woman, and hurting for her family.
I'm not sure if it's the time of year or if the minis just prefer being home because they're in school all day, but we haven't gotten around to many adventures lately on our weekends. Whenever we make a suggestion, we're instantly met with cries about how they want to play at home (and I'm not one to argue with a reluctant child about something that's completely voluntary). I'm hoping we can get an exploring day in this weekend while the weather is still decent!