busy weekend...we may have done too much.

alex was busy this weekend, so i had penny all to myself.  since this is a rare treat for me, i guess i overdid it a little maybe and exhausted myself.  but it was all fun!  and i got some photos!

on saturday, penny and i ran into her friend andie and family at the playground.  andie has a two week old baby sister, so i invited all of them over to our place for a change of scenery.  penny and andie had a great time, and i hope andie's mom got a little bit of a break.  after penny's nap, we headed over to our friends' apartment for a race-day bbq.  penny used their toilet (awesome) and was terrorized by dogs (not awesome).  there were three friendly dogs at the party, and it was too much for penny.  just as she was beginning to warm up to them, one of them ran up to her out of nowhere, put his paws on her chest and took a bite out of the cookie she was holding.  before she could process what had happened, he jumped up and took another bite.  she and the dog were both totally fine, but she totally lost it and was inconsolable for a while.  once we replaced her cookie, things got a lot better.  we had a good time watching the race, though penny is still baffled by commercial tv.

on sunday penny told me that she wanted to go to the "other playground".  we packed up the diaper bag and headed to harmony. we weren't even halfway up the block when i noticed one of andie's shoes!  apparently she had lost it the night before!  quite an auspicious beginning to the day.

we stopped by these hydrangeas to capture penny's favorite color.  i'll give you three guesses. 

i had noticed on our way into the park that it was the carousel's 100th birthday, and there was going to be a celebration starting at noon.  since it was only 10:45 as we were leaving harmony, i figured we could spend a little time at the zoo first.  there was some construction in one of the tunnels, so i took an alternate route, which landed us at this playground.  we stayed for a while, penny ran around and climbed on all of the equipment, and kept running back to tell me "i've never been to this playground before!"  it wasn't until we actually got to the zoo that i asked her whether she wanted to go.  this is a parenting trick that you may use - it helps if you tend to get lost and don't want to disappoint your child with your inability to find a zoo.
we had a super great time!

we spent a fun hour an a half at the zoo!  penny loves the animals, and the baboons were all up front and center so she got a great look at them.  by the time we left the zoo, the carousel party had started, so we got our (free) tickets, and got in line.  as it turned out, they were cutting off the tickets two people behind us, so our timing was perfect!  we had a fun ride - penny chose a horse that went up and down, and i stood next to it for her first solo ride!  after that, we made a quick stop at a picnic, but penny was really done by that point.
she fell asleep in the stroller, and i ran a couple of errands.  we took a trip to the animal playground in the afternoon, but the sky got really dark really fast, so we headed home pretty quick.
penny decided to have a picnic dinner!

i may have given myself heatstroke pushing that stroller around all day in the heat, but i had such a fun time with penny.  girlfriend is fun to be around and funny and charming, and just as sweaty as i am.  we sang songs and cracked jokes, we watched dogs swimming in the dog pond, ate animal crackers, detected nature with her magnifying glass...i am having so much fun with this person!