White Tiger Cubs

Oh, I am so excited! We went to Lowry Park Zoo yesterday. For some reason, whenever we go to the zoo, I never seem to make it to the area where they have the tiger habitat, so my goal of the visit was to make sure we saw the tigers.

As we are walking toward the tiger habitat, we notice that it is blocked off and we can't get to it. At first, I was really upset because that was the one thing that I had wanted to do that day. But then I thought, maybe they have it closed off because they are introducing the new white tiger cubs that were born back in April. So, Karen, one of the moms from the playgroup, spots one of the little cubs in the habitat and points him out to us. We couldn't get a great view because we were so far away, but he was so cute. Sarah said that when she was looking, she saw the other cub, too.

I can't wait to go back when they reopen the exhibit so I can see the cute little cubs up close!

Sheikra

I rode Sheikra today. Can you believe it?! That's right - me, terrified of heights and more terrified of falling to my death, me. I rode Sheikra today. Of course, I did keep my eyes shut tightly for almost the entire ride, but the fact that I willingly got onto the ride in the first place is an accomplishment.

Busch Gardens just reopened the ride after having removed the floor from the carts. They are having a special promotion where pass holders can get into the park an hour early to ride Sheikra, so we got up early and went. At first, Phil was just going to take Sarah and Emily so they could all ride it, but I decided after having been woken up, that I would go ahead and bring Katie and go with them. Of course, I was not planning on riding, but while Phil and the girls were riding the second time, I decided that if I was ever going to ride it, now was the time. So, I went on it with the girls for their third ride of the day. Phil and the girls ended up riding it another time after I went, for a total of three times for Phil and four times for Sarah & Emily.

First Steps

Katie took her first steps!!! After all of the times we have tried to get her to take those precious first steps, and failed to get even one out of her, she just decides to do it on her own. First, she took two steps to my mother, who was over here visiting us. Then, she turned around and took three steps to me. Just like that! With absolutely no prompting!

After we made such a big fuss about it, she just kept on taking steps. Two or three here, four or five there... Walking to me, my mother, Emily. Sarah was on the video camera, so Katie didn't get to try walking to her, but I'm sure she would have if she'd been able to. After I called my Aunt Kathie to tell her about Katie's walking, she came over to see it for herself. And Katie did not disappoint her, either!

I can't wait until tomorrow to see what she does next!

Sick Baby

Early yesterday morning, I was awakened to find that my sweet, sweet baby had her first real illness. Sarah had gotten up just before midnight and started vomiting. After being up for a few hours being sick, she heard what sounded like Katie coughing and went into her room to check on her. It turns out that Katie was vomiting, too. So, she came into my room to let me know what was going on. This was around 4:00 am.

I got up and got Katie out of her vomit-covered clothes and gave her a bath. She loves her baths, and really enjoyed this one in particular. She was just the happiest little thing, so I was hoping that she wouldn't vomit any more. But we weren't so lucky. The vomiting continued until about 11:00 am. Unfortunately for Sarah, hers lasted a couple of hours longer.

Amazingly, Katie was happy as a clam throughout her entire illness. If she didn't stop playing every once in a while to vomit, you wouldn't have a clue she was even slightly sick. Sarah, on the other hand, was miserable the entire time. She was begging me to take her to the doctor, but I told her that there is nothing that can be done about a virus and she would just need to rest and wait for it to pass.

Emily didn't get sick at all - lucky her! And even though Katie vomited on me several times, so far I haven't gotten sick either... Knock on wood!

We were supposed to go to MOSI and Lowry Park Zoo yesterday, but obviously, we had to cancel our plans. Hopefully, we'll make it to the zoo soon, though, because they just opened up the new penguin exhibit, and I can wait to see it.

Sarah's Surgery

Sarah's surgery was this afternoon. She had her adenoids removed and is doing great. She was really wonderful about it all, and was not at all nervous. The worst part for her was that she couldn't eat anything after 7 o'clock this morning. The poor thing was starving by the time she was finished with her surgery. She proceeded to eat an ice cream sandwich, a chili cheese baked potato, and a bowl of macaroni and cheese, all within the first hour that we were home from the surgery center.

She seems to be already back to her normal self... Bugging me about calling her friends on the phone already! So much for being able to baby her all weekend!

On another note, today is the first official day of Hurricane Season. And on our way home from the surgery center, the National Hurricane Center officially named Tropical Storm Barry, which is out in the Gulf of Mexico and currently scheduled to make landfall just north of us sometime tomorrow morning. It's not supposed to become a hurricane, and will probably be mostly a rainmaker. We really need the rain. We are about 30-40 inches below where we should be, so we could use a few good storms.