Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Today I'm So Grateful That It's Not 95 Degrees.

I just LOVE the Pacific Northwest.  It's usually a nice comfy temp.  **sigh of happiness**  Right now it's about 61 degrees where I'm at.  And I am truly grateful to be here right now. 

During our vacation last week we went to visit some friends in Rexburg, Idaho (it was kind of on the way home) and before we got there we decided to take a quick trip to Bear World.  Last time I went there I was about 10 years younger and it was a LOT cooler.  In more ways than one.  It was 95 degrees at Bear World this past Saturday.  And our trip there was a disaster.  It kinda makes me chuckle now.

We paid the 30 bucks to get in and then drove through the park to see all the bears roaming around.  Except, wait, it's too hot to roam around.  Even if you're a bear.  All the bears were hiding in the bushes, under the trees, and in the water.  We let Ash get out of her car seat and come up front to sit in my lap so she could see better.  No worries peeps, we couldn't go any faster than 3 mph. 

Ash wasn't very interested in looking for camouflaged bears.  She was much more into pushing all the buttons she had access to: windows, locks, radio, seat warmer (yikes!), etc.

The only bear insane enough to walk around in plain sight of the sun.

After driving through the park we thought we'd have more fun at the petting zoo they have at Bear World.  Thought wrong.  Hehe.  Long car trip+being stuck in a car seat for hours+extreme scorching, hot weather+weird, new place = one toddler full of meltdowns.


Checking out the fish.  Jealous of the fish.

Meltdown #1:  Goat Poop.

Ash petting one of the cute little goats.


Watching the goat poop.

Daddy yelled, "Don't touch the poop Ash!"  Trying to warn her, but it was too late.  He had to knock the little round pellet out of her hand.  She took it very personally.


She's a naturally sensitive child.


Bambi.  Look at those pink cheeks!!


Bambi's mom.

Meltdown #2:  Mud.



She walked through the ONLY tiny patch of mud in the whole area.  This is the kid who howled when we introduced her feet to grass at 6 months and then again when we made her walk through sand for the first time at 18 months.  She got mud on her feet and lost it.  The amount of mud she got on her feet was about the size of a dime.  **rolling my eyes**

Meltdown #3: Dumb Train.


Before it moved.


After it started moving.

It was slow.   REALLY slow.  But not slow enough for cranky baby Ash.  I think she'd just decided life was too hard at this point.

Meltdown #4:  Scary Bear Stuffer.

We felt like loser parents for picking a fun place that really wasn't all that exciting for our little family at this point.  Sad.  We went into the gloriously air conditioned gift shop and Ash found a pink bear skin.  Kinda like build-a-bear.  Only cheaper.  So, we thought, "Why not end this little mess of an outing with a new, soft bear to add to her stuffed animal collection."  All was well with this plan until the cashier started the machine to stuff the toy.  It was loud and scary.  Britt and Ash started spouting tears of fear at about the same time. 

Double the "lame parent" feelings.  **sigh** 

At that point we just gave up and left. 


This is her today playing with the Bear World bear.  It's name is Cotton Candy.

On a different note, thanks to Jared and Crystal for the fun visit (it was too short) and for letting us sleep over!  It was good to spend some time with you!!

Ash's new favorite people.



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5 comments:

Jenny Bolech said...

Oh I am so jealous of your nice cool weather! The man on the radio had the high for today predicted at 105... yuck! Hot weather makes me pretty cranky, so I can only imagine what it would do to your little girl - no matter how many exciting things there are to look at :)

Allison said...

HOW FUN! I'm sad we didn't get to see you guys!

Rachel said...

Don't you just love the toddler meltdowns? Andrew's just keep getting worse and worse.

And I'm totally jealous of your weather right now. Its been in the 90s for weeks here. Its just too hot to do anything.

Heather said...

I hear you on the meltdowns! Adorable outfit she has on in the goat poop pictures!

Bonnie Weeks said...

That was a great story. I know those days exactly with my 2. Something that's supposed to be fun doesn't quite work out to be that way with our little hoolagins. I love the part about the goat poop. Classic.