Zoo Tycoon

After having read two blog entries from friends, I'll join in confessing. My story begins a few weeks ago. . . . .

We were at Staples, and Rebekah had been asking (begging) to buy a computer game she played at a friend's house. She explained it to me, but I didn't really get it. Zoo Tycoon was about building your own zoo, and managing it--didn't sound very exciting. She found the coveted game on the clearance rack, so what could I say? We bought it, and I had a lot of trouble getting the kids OFF the computer for a while after that.

In fact, it seemed like whatever this game was, they couldn't get enough! They'd play for a loooooong time, and then still groan when it was time to quit. And the music was kinda catchy too.

Fast forward to last weekend. Hannah and I were home alone and Jesse was sleeping. She asked me to help her "work on her zoo". I finished up what I had to do, and she showed me the world of Zoo Tycoon. She had a piece of property, and a certain amount of money, and the "tools" to make enclosures, and create the right habitat for each animal she bought. Not only that, she had to make sure the habitat was to their liking--the right type of terrain, the right height, enough and the right kind of rocks, foliage. . . the list was endless! After that she had to hire zoo keepers and make sure they kept the animals fed and well. Messages from the game told us if an animal was hungry, sick or upset. Hmm, getting sucked in here. . . . .

After all the animals were happy, we still had to worry about the zoo patrons! Were there enough benches to sit on? Drink/food shacks? Bathrooms? Were there restaurants? Oh, and how about a gift shop? yikes. After all that, we had to make sure that we had the snack places/gift shops etc charging enough money to fund the zoo. Then just about the time we thought we were set, we'd notice the animals needed attention again. Somehow those polar bears multiply really quickly! Oh, and the flamingos need someone to rake the poo. . . . then the lions have too much trampled terrain, oh and the crocodiles are hungry again. . . .

. . . . then there were research and conservation programs going, money to be spent on advertising, to bring more guests in. . . . it was making my head spin.

So here is my confession. . . . . I "helped" Hannah with her game, and got her zoo from being $50,ooo in debt, to where it was $100,000 in the black, and the animals AND guests happy! In fact, then Emily asked me to help her with her game, and Rebekah as well : ) Okay, after I fixed Emily's game, she renamed it "Mom's zoo".

The game is addicting! Now I understand why the kids could not get away from it! The more animals you have, the more there is to check on! I won't say how late I was up playing that first night. My zoo now has 124 animals and I don't even know how many zookeepers.

but I can quit anytime, really. Gotta run, I need to check on those flamingos. . . . . .

How we spend our days

I thought I should post a "day in the life" type thing. . . .

Some of us are morning people, and are hard at work, bright and early:

Others take a while to wake up. . . . .

We all enjoy swimming with friends. . . . .

And hanging out with someone special. . . . .

Some of us are very cool. . . .

And others, well, very interesting!!

City Critters

"Mom there is a strange noise in the backyard, and I don't like it!" The dog is having a fit, so he doesn't like it either apparently. No choice but to go check it out. One of the girls even opts to stay indoors--you never know what danger might be indicated by strange sounds.

The strange noise turns out to be someone scolding us. A little furry someone I didn't really expect to see around here. Up on the telephone lines, making his way from yard to yard, we found this little guy:

I guess there is more wildlife in the city than I knew!

Happy Birthday!

Here are a few pictures from our celebration of Jesse's birthday. As you can see, some of it was rather confusing for him. To be very honest, for the most part he had little to no interest in any of the presents until they were unwrapped for him. Good thing he has older siblings. I was very happy to see him get some new clothes--he wasn't so excited about having to get changed into them right away. I think highlights for him were the various vehicles, the farm toy and the bag of pretzels. Yes, we gave him pretzels--he likes them! I should note here that he received nothing which uses small batteries.

What a wonderful first year for our little guy. Full of unexpected twists and turns, but also full of excitement and joy. It has been exciting to watch Jesse develop into his own person, with a unique personality. Almost as exciting is seeing his siblings reaction to his growth and change. Each sibling has his or her own relationship to this little guy and it is something to watch.

The day after his birthday, Jesse went for his well baby check up. He's now 18lbs 10oz and 2 feet 3 1/2 inches tall : ) He was pronounced healthy, but that is something we already knew.

Here's to another year of watching this little one grow and change into the person God made him. Happy Birthday little man!

Winding down

Seems like summer is fast coming to a close. Yesterday was Emily's last tennis lesson, and the end of the Library's summer reading program. Today was the last tennis lesson for Rebekah and Hannah. We won't know what to do with ourselves next week, not having to be at the courts at 8am!! I foolishly offered to sign everyone up for one more round of swimming lessons. My wise children declined. phew. Maybe we'll stick with a week of lounging around doing nothing.

Here are a few pictures from the Library party, from the "tennis carnival" and of the kids at their last lessons, with their favorite coaches.

Wow, that's old!!

Late last week Hannah mentioned how HOT she felt. The days have been getting warm, and so I suggested she look in her closet for a nice sundress. She went away for a while and came back in this very nice little number. I mentioned to her that this wasn't exactly what I had in mind, I was thinking more of a dress she could play in. In fact, I told her, I once wore that dress! I believe that it was made for my grandparents wedding anniversary. Either for my cousin or for me. . . . either way, I wore it when I was Hannahs' age.

Hannah was very impressed to learn that she was wearing a dress I had worn at one time. Her comment to me. . . . "Wow! This dress IS old."

Now I'll just take my walker and hobble on out to the kitchen for a drink.

A boy and his dog. . . . .

well, the dog doesn't really belong to the boy, but it makes for a catchy title! Somehow our dog, and our youngest son have a symbiotic relationship. Both know about the loose place at the bottom of the sliding screen door, and both are eager to trade places with the other. Both also know they aren't supposed to do that.

These pictures show how this little toddler somehow sneaks past the chair set up to block them both. You'll notice the dog is not present in the last picture. I'm sure that's because he is in the house!

Jesse does love to be outside, and has even learned that the patio tiles are often hot, and to be avoided. He tests the tiles before venturing out, and even then tends to stick to the shady parts of the patio. If given the chance though, he much prefers to play outside and explore--almost as much as the dog prefers to come inside and explore in here!