It's a jungle out there!

We recently took a trip to our favorite drive-thru zoo and had tons of fun feeding the buffalo, deer, camels, kudu, ostriches, emu, zebras, llamas, etc. The animals are so personable and harmless while you are feeding them. Of course, I could have done with a little less wild animal snot and slobber on my hands, but it didn't seem to bother the boys.

After we were done with the animals we drove to a state park that Matt and I first visited more than 1o years ago. Back then, it was only Matt, Garth, and I, but now we have our 3 little men to help make these trips so much more fun. Hiking, however, is now very short, safe, and slow-going!

Speaking of fun, we had a great Halloween! Both my brother and Matt's sister came over to go trick-or-treating with us. My brother brought his little brother (from the Big Brother program) and his little brother's sister, so there were 5 kids on our little neighborhood excursion. This was the first year T2 enjoyed Halloween and he was so cute! With few exceptions, he said trick-or-treat at every house and even said thank you when he was given candy. He was running so fast from house to house that we had a hard time keeping up. Of course, the bigger kids were moving much faster than us, but Uncle J (or Afro "J") kept up with that crew. T3, for the most part, hung out in the wagon we were using to cart him around the neighborhood and didn't really get into it this year. I bet next year will be fun for all 3 T's.



After we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, we went to a Halloween party at a friend's house. We didn't get there until 9:00, so the boys were already on an energy decline, but they hung in there and played until 10:30 or so. My friend had rented a huge Spider Man bouncer and while T1 was playing in there with another boy, the other boy bounced the wrong way and his knee hit his face really hard. Instead of running to tell the little boy's parents that their son was injured, T1 immediately found one of his other friends to tell him to come look at how big this other kid's face was swelling. T1 was all excited like this little boy's injury was a science project or something. I couldn't believe how T1 reacted, particularly since this little boy's face had swollen bigger than any injury I have ever seen. The whole left side of his face was huge and filled with blood. It was awful. I felt so horrible for the little boy and his parents. Needless to say, they left immediately and I haven't heard yet whether or not they went to the hospital. Also needless to say, I need to teach T1 a thing or two about empathy.

On a brighter note, we got T1's first report card and he did great! With the exception of one high B, he received all high A's. I am so proud of him! To celebrate, we cooked his favorite dinner last night - crab legs and shrimp. It was yummy! For some reason, Matt thought he needed to purchase 2 pounds of shrimp, so there was enough for 2 meals easily. Unfortunately, T1 (who had lost $2 earlier in the evening as punishment for drinking directly out of the water spicket of our refrigerator) bet Matt $2 that he could eat all the remaining food. At the time he made this bet, there were probably 2 crab legs and 17 shrimp left, so we didn't think he'd be able to do it. T1 must have really wanted that 2$ back because he sat at that table for an extra half hour while he forced every last bite in his mouth. We didn't think he'd be able to do it, but we must have underestimated how much the love of money can motivate him! In total, T1 probably ate 5 crab legs and 25-30 large shrimp! Surprisingly, he didn't even get a stomach ache....at least, not yet!