Weekend Recap...all about the ZOO

We came into this weekend knowing that we really needed to find things to do to keep a 13 year old busy and keep him from getting bored! I think we were successful and this post is going to be FULL of pictures (which we all know everyone loves posts full of pictures)!

We started out Saturday by hitting up the Mall of America. Luke, (Tate's brother, my BIL) really loves malls and wanted to go. We pretty much hit up every athletic shoe store there was in that place. Luke has his eye on a pair of Nike's he really wants. He needs to save his money a bit longer to be able to afford them! We also hit up the amusement park so he could go on some rides. He really enjoyed himself. Good thing we hit up the mall first since it was raining all morning...perfect weather when your at the mall!

After the mall, we decided to have lunch at Leeann Chin...I love Leeann Chin. Once our tummy's were full...it was time for the ZOO!!! I absolutely love the zoo...could go every day. I'm like a little kid when I go. I want to see every animal and stare at them for hours...I'm just amazed and in love with them all!

If you can't tell here...I am super excited to be @ the zoo!!!

I took a load of pictures of all the animals. Gotta love having a nice camera with a separate lens to get close up pictures of the animals.

The Dad


The Mom

Their child...born in 2007

I so did not want to leave the zoo...taking these pictures make me love it even more because I can see their facial expressions up close.

After we left the zoo, we hit up the grocery store to grab items to make homemade pizza. Luke just loved making his own pizza! It was lots of fun!

Sunday was more mellow, but it wasn't planned to be. We had another day filled with showing Luke a good time. We went to church and then got everything ready to go to Stillwater for the day to watch the Nature Valley Grand Prix and then enjoy the rest of the day at the beach. As we were leaving to go to Stillwater, we noticed the clouds were coming and that rain was in the forecast. We were hopeful they would clear up so we could still enjoy the day outdoors.

Tate and I had gone to the race last year, so Tate was really looking forward to going again and showing Luke what it was all about. It started sprinkling while there, but nothing to bad to make us leave. When 7 laps were left, it was raining harder and I was ready to go sit in the car while the boys finished watching. We were kind of bummed because we knew the rain meant to beach that day.

Since we weren't going to the beach, we thought it was a perfect day to bake something. So I found a recipe to make sugar free oatmeal cookies. Luke and I changed it up and added  peanut butter...but I didn't like how they turned out, but Luke loves them...so that makes the bake session a success!

It was a very fun and eventful weekend. I think Tate and I did well on keeping his 13 year old brother busy. We are not sure how long he will be saying, but we definitely have enjoyed having him here. I think he has enjoyed himself also.

Don't worry...I didn't forget it was Father's Day! Even though Tate and I didn't get to spend the day with our Dad's, we definitely thought of them and thanked God for having such great Dad's.

I hope you all had a great weekend also!!!!