Return to "normalcy"

We didn't have any set plans this past week and weekend ... hooray! This meant we all had the opportunity to rest and relax after a couple of busy weeks. It also meant that we could do a few fun, spontaneous things.

Thursday afternoon we headed into McFarland to the farmer's market and to do some errands using our *new* stroller. I'd been hoping for awhile to find a sit and stand double stroller on Craig's List, but wasn't having much luck. Then Matt surprised me by ordering one online and having it delivered Thursday morning. We've already used it half a dozen times and I LOVE it. Kate can stay in her carseat (until she's big enough to sit in the front part) and Anna can either sit strapped in or stand in the back behind Kate.

The stroller is great for trips to the zoo or walks to our local park, too, which, by the way, is finally having a slide and climbing equipment installed! Until we got this new stroller, I had to put Anna in the backpack and Kate in the stroller or Anna in a stroller and Kate in the front carrier just for a walk to the park ... having them both in a stroller is MUCH easier :)



Anyway, Friday morning we went to the zoo with Peter, Tina, Sadie, and Lukas. The babies were great and the older girls were wonderful. They loved playing the puddles (it had rained the night before) in addition to seeing and hearing all sorts of animals. They also liked taking turns poking their heads through various animals :)


Unfortunately, Kate is working through her first cold. Anna brought the germs into the house this time with a nasty cold that started right before the 4th and stuck around for the first part of last week. Then she passed it to me and I fought with a sore throat and runny nose last week. Yesterday morning Kate started coughing and sneezing a bit. She had a stuffy nose and a fever yesterday afternoon and evening, but seems to be well on the mend today. Still a bit of a cough sometimes, but she's a lot more pleasant and her fever is pretty much non-existant. Hooray!

In spite of the colds, we decided to go for a family bike ride on Saturday afternoon. Anna gets to sit in the seat behind Matt while I pull Kate in her carseat which gets installed into the bike trailer. Everyone did great until the last third, when Kate got tired of being jostled. Then she gave us some pretty pitiful cries every time I'd ride over the smallest bump ... poor kid. We may have to wait a bit longer to try one of these rides again :)