The Davis Family: Thunderstorms and The Zoo

We have been having a lot of thunderstorms here lately. Last Saturday Derek and the kids were outside and there was some distant thunder. Jared freaked out and ran inside crying. We coaxed him back outside eventually. He was hanging out with Derek on the hammock when he heard more thunder. This time he didn't say anything. He just got off the hammock and ran as fast as he could inside. On Wednesday night we had a severe thunderstorm. It kept me up because it was so loud. It woke Jared up and he was terrified. Derek calmed him down and went to lay him back in his crib. Right as he did there was a HUGE crack of thunder. That sealed the deal and Jared was not going back to bed. Derek told him he could sleep with us. We are pretty strict about not having our kids in our room, but we felt that this was an OK exception. He slept in between us. I have to say that of all my children he is the easiest to share a bed with. He stays in the same little spot. He doesn't try and press up against you. He even stayed asleep when Derek and I got up at separate times (me to go running, and him to take a shower). Now I have had to practically throw him outside because he is afraid there will be thunder. If he even hears an airplane, he will come inside crying and refuse to go back out even if the rest of us are outside. I hope this is just a phase. :)

Last Wednesday (yes I am a little behind) all of the kindergarten classes at Kevin's school went on a field trip to the Richmond Zoo. It worked out well that it was finals week for Derek, and he didn't have any finals that day. Derek went as a chaperon, but only was in charge of Kevin, which was great. Because Derek drove up separately, he and Kevin were able to stay after all the classes left. They pretty much had the zoo to themselves. It was a great experience for them. Just to warn you, there are a lot of pictures. There were 63 though, so be grateful I didn't subject you to all of them. Ha ha! :)

(Oh, one other thing...I found out the reason we didn't have water one day last week was because of a scheduled upgrade. They thought they could get it done without interruption, but they were wrong. Apparently!!! I was really annoyed when I read that in the local paper. They really couldn't have at least warned us? This is when I really hate monopolies. I don't have any other choice for water. Argh!!)

Enjoy the pictures (You'll notice that Kevin makes a funny face in almost all of the pictures. He refuses to make a "normal" face):

These were some very talented acrobatic monkeys. Kevin thought they were very cool.

I love Kevin's expression in this picture.

That is a huge tortoise behind him.

The children each had a cup of food they could give to the animals. These giraffes would eat out of their hands.

Kevin refused to let it eat from his hand, so this is one of his classmates.

Kevin would only feed the animals that he could throw food to. :)

Kevin and the penguins.

The zoo had a sky ride (i.e. cable cars) that allowed them to see the animals from overhead. Kevin was a little scared at first, but he warmed up (at least a little) by the end.

Derek said when all the Kindergarteners left the noise level in the zoo dropped dramatically. He said the animals were pretty warn out from all the little kids. I think these rhinoceroses paint the perfect picture. I must admit that I often look (or at least feel) like that when my children go to bed each night. :)