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Happy Mother's Day! We are having a land hurricane, so we can't really go anywhere, but hope your day is going well. The winds are so bad, they rolled all of our large plastic playground toys completely apart and down the street. One was a playhouse with a roof that was screwed down into the walls, but it still all came apart.

Anyway, yesterday was the USO day at the zoo. The USO was handing out safari passes to the first 1800 active duty military people who showed up. The Safari pass gets you free access to the children's zoo, free tram ride, free carousel rides, and also, the USO offered a free continental breakfast and an animal nose for the kids. Abby picked a duck bill, and she chose a tiger snout for Nathan.

Well, to back up a bit, the kids have been having a bit of a tummy bug. Nathan had thrown up a couple times in his bed without crying out or even making much of a noise (still the happy spitter like when we was a newborn), so when we would go get him in the morning, it was all dried and he had rolled in it--YUCK.

We thought he had gotten over it when Abby had a night of it. She yaked before bed one night, so we gave her a bucket, but she yaked again all over her bed. That is a fun wake up call at 2 in the morning! The next night, nothing. Both kids were fine. So anyway, we decided maybe it had run it course so we would try to go to the zoo.

I packed up a bag full of sunscreen, diapers, wipes, the camera and video camera, and some bottles of water and snacks. We had just gotten on the highway when I thought--shoot, I forgot a few changes of clothes in case the tummy bug attacks. Oh well, we'll just see what happens.

Halfway there, we hear this weird noise from Nathan like he was clearing his throat. Sean looks back at him, pulls over to the shoulder, and Nathan waits until I have gotten out and opened his door to throw up right in my hand. Nice. Nathan doesn't even looked phased by it, maybe a little green. We get his chin wiped off and my hand cleaned up, but luckily, his clothes are unscathed. OK, so in hindsight, we SHOULD have turned around and just come back home. But Abby was so excited about going, we thought, well, maybe that will be it.

We are like one exit from the zoo when Nathan kind of coughs again, and I turn backwards in my seat and try to catch it with a wet wipe. Not much comes out, so surely, that is it.

We get parked and unloaded and start the march to the USO van. Nathan seems to be enjoying the stroller. We get there, get our passes, and Sean grabs some packaged cinnamon rolls for us. He gives half of one to Abby and the other half to Nathan. The sight/smell of it makes him yak AGAIN. It is just clear now. His tummy is empty. So, we decide lets go into the zoo, find a gift shop, buy him a clean shirt and maybe go home. We buy a zoo shirt and a big bib with one of those plastic catch pockets at the bottom in case he has more on the way home. We get him in the new clothes and start walking again, and he goes right to sleep.

Meanwhile, Abby is skipping and jumping and so excited. She really wants to see the prairie dogs. She is carrying Pudge, her stuffed prairie dog from the Tulsa zoo, and he just has to say hi to his friends. Well, Nathan is sleeping...lets go ahead and see the prairie dogs.

We see the prairie dogs, and that early in the morning is apparently breakfast time for the animals, so they had just gotten fresh carrots and lettuce to munch. We decide to make our way to the children's zoo because it is free for us today, and we've never been to that part of the zoo before. We see the stuff there, and there are big info plaques by each animal with info for kids, so Abby wants me to read each one. She is really paying attention and enjoying learning about the animals. We go see the bears and Abby rides the carousel. It is right next to a barbecue lunch area. It is getting to be about 10:45 or so, so they are starting to cook up some meat. It smells INSANELY good to me, but Abby starts to look a bit green and is holding her tummy saying she doesn't feel good. We start to head back for the exit, but she is walking slow, kind of acting like she is going to puke on the grass any minute. Great. So...plan of action is to go BACK into the gift shop and try to find some kind of souvenir bucket she can use in the car if she needs to ralph.

So, we get back home, no issues. Everyone seems perfectly fine. And no one has ralphed since. At least is was a beautiful sunny day and perfect weather for a day at the zoo. If only we had healthy kids! Nathan would have really loved the train ride.