The monkeys visit the zoo

My little monkeys and I joined my friend Kym, her parents, and her three monkeys (oops, I mean kids) at the Nashville Zoo on Friday.  It was a freakishly cold day, but it ended up being a much better zoo experience than a usual hot June day.  

Unfortunately, a lot of the photos I took that day are of the backs of the kids as they gawked at the animals.  It's hard to get good reaction shots when you can't climb into the animal enclosures to do it.

Odie found an alligator to ride in the playground area.

Peter found a huge snake!

The snake turned out to be a cool tunnel.  Peter ran through it about 40 times.

Luke found a hippo!

Some hunters tried to catch Peter in a big net.

Waiting anxiously to enter the lorikeet enclosure to feed some birdies.

Charlotte was a pro at feeding the birds with the nectar cups!

The birds mistook Luke for a tree.

Grumpy even after a picnic lunch?

Revisiting the scene of her famous goat-accessorizing incident!

Charlie Jo and Luke tried to blend in with the flamingos.

Odie and Petey each brought a favorite stuffed animal.  Petey, however, decided to take a siesta on his for some reason.

Poor Kym spent most of the time that Gabe was out of the stroller chasing after the soon-to-be-two-year-old as he raced ahead of the group.  Charlie Jo and Luke look so cute holding hands as they tried to keep up with the little sprinter.

Check out that alligator skull!  Odie and Charlotte look like they're featuring it as a prize on "The Price Is Right."

Somebody get these monkeys back in their cages!

Charlotte and Peter take on Texas

I left our week-long vacation in Texas without a single photo because I plumb forgot to load them onto a flash drive before we left.  Whoops.  Until I get my hot little hands on those shots, you can check out my sister's point of view on the trip here, here, here, and here.  She posted probably the best of the pictures, but I'm sure there's a few fun ones she missed.  Stay tuned!

A sweet moment . . .

"It's okay Peter -- sometimes I'm sad too.  It will be okay."

Old Hickory Lake

Corey is much more willing to pack up the kids and head out to do outdoorsy things than I am.  When he suggested we head out to a lake today, my first thought was "ugh".  Turns out, I was totally wrong (today, anyway).  Not only was the weather perfect, but the beach was nice and the kids had crazy amounts of fun.  We drove about 40 minutes out to Old Hickory Lake (the only thing I know about that lake is that Johnny Cash used to own a home on the lake, and it was subsequently burned down while one of the Gibb brothers was renovating it).  The kids were beyond excited to be there.

Okay, Charlotte looks slightly less crazy in this photo.

The temperature was about 92 degrees and there were just a few fluffy clouds in the sky.  The water temperature was perfect -- refreshing but not too cold.  I sat in a low beach chair in the water nearly the entire time we were there and I never felt too hot or too chilly -- ideal for my extremely narrow comfort range.

Petey was a little timid in the water at first (we haven't swam very much in the past couple of years because I'm so lazy about the logistics of such a feat), but after a half an hour or so he was splashing all around and having a grand old time.

Corey decided Charlotte was part river otter.

Come get me and swim me out to the booby, Daddy!  (Peter was pretty sure a buoy was called a "booby").

Practicing their Cirque du Soleil acts:

My boys!  Corey is between pairs of sunglasses right now, so he borrowed an old pair of mine.  I tried not to tease him too much.

Save me, Daddy, save me!

We managed to stop the kids from swimming to eat a little bit of lunch before they raced back to swim again, but then we had to drag them out of the water kicking and screaming to go home.  They were pretty sure we should stay there all day.  It was getting a lot more crowded and we figured they had gotten enough sun though, so we packed up and headed back to Franklin.  We will definitely be returning again soon though!

Two more that I missed . . .

We have a little bit of cabin fever from our self-imposed quarantine due to Charlotte's coxsackie virus outbreak and my declaration that our TV addiction has gotten out of control (thus limiting TV to one hour per day).  The kids are playing like angels right now though, so I have a few minutes to post two more sweet photos of my little bubba with his favorite pillow pets.  Sometimes I bemoan the fact that Peter has chosen such bulky security items, but I must admit it is pretty cute to see him dragging these buddies all over the house.  I just love these pictures:

Lying on pink bubba and hugging bubba foo-foo:

And during a hunger strike, when he refused to eat dinner and wanted to sleep on the couch instead.  I was able to change his diaper and put on his jammies without a peep out of him but when I tried to carry him up to bed he suddenly wanted to eat dinner instead.

The great sleeper

Peter loves his pink bubba.  Whenever he needs a little break, he grabs his bubba and snuggles up.  Apparently, I always feel the need to document this cuteness, because my cell phone is full of photos of Petey and bubba in all sorts of places:


Wearing his sister's sandals on the floor of his room (with pink bubba's cousin, bubba foo-foo):

In the bounce house at Luke's birthday party (he wasn't actually asleep, but I think he might have been soon after this had a whole herd of kids not raced in a moment later):

On Alicia and Dan's porch swing:

And that same afternoon after I carried him back across the street and laid him gently on the couch:

It doesn't matter where he is, as long as he is with his pink bubba.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everybody!  Charlotte, Peter, and I are thankful for all the mothers in our lives.

First of all is Niki - Charlotte, Peter, and I are so lucky to have Niki in our lives.  She is the frosting that holds our little cake together.  Her innate combination of morality, openness, integrity, whimsy, and sweetness inspires our family and causes all of us to be become the people we should be.  Charlotte, Peter, and I are who we are because of Niki, and we will always be thankful for that.  It is fun being a parent with Niki.

We are thankful for all of the mothers in our family.  Meem, Grandma Jane, Granny Great, and Grandma Stringer set incredible examples for us.  Our mothers, Barb and JoAnn, brought us up and their love and support are just as important to us now as ever.  Our sisters, Erin and Stephanie, are wonderful mothers to Sonia, Quinn, and Maisie.  And our aunts, from Pennsylvania to Traverse City to Prescott to Lake Havasu to Arroyo Grande, all show us what is possible.

Finally, we are thankful for the other mothers we love -- Alicia, Kym, Lauren, Melissa, Joslyne, Kaye, Dawn, and countless other mothers who have been and are part of our lives.  We wouldn't be who we are with out you!

Love,

Corey, Peter, and Charlotte

Stringers in April

We have behind in posting mainly because we have had a nutty month - lots of guests, lots of work travel, lots of home remodeling (more on that later), and lots of fun with friends.  Unfortunately, we left the camera behind most of the time.

Here are a few things we have been up to:

On Easter morning, the kids followed a trail of eggs to find where the Easter Bunny left their baskets.

MMMMMMM!  Easter treats!

Rocky tried to find some treats among the eggs, but alas the Easter Bunny forgot him.

I took the kids to an auto show at the Nissan headquarters.  Charlotte got into the spirit!

A Hudson Hornet just like Doc in the movie "Cars"!

Charlotte and Peter were as perplexed by the Bricklin as everyone else in America was.

The kiddos reflected in the door of a Deuce Coupe.

Charlotte at Monkey Joe's.

Petey at Monkey Joe's.

Sweet Charlotte.

Sweetie Petey.

More on our April adventures later!