I Scream Baby Shower- the day spa

Continuing the tale of the baby shower, we've come to the funnest part-

the Spa Day!

Gorgeous weather, cooling off as evening came on, let us set up our pampering headquarters outside, so after munching on appetizers and opening gifts we sipped on watermelon spritzers,

scrubbed, lotioned, and painted,

chatted to our hearts content,

and dug into special pampering gift baskets filled with

nail polish & emery boards

hand and lip scrubs 

hand towels

cocoa-dusted almonds

homemade apricot jam,

and other fun goodies.

I Scream Baby Shower- the food

Since my last attempt to throw a baby shower for Melese was thwarted by her going into early labor in another state (the nerve), I was beyond thrilled to get a second chance 

at the party I had originally planned.

Since summer means getting together with family, we decided a Girls' Retreat was in order

and the first item of business was a Pampering Day Spa Shower with an 

'I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Baby!' twist.

I'll be tackling this post in parts, so let's start with the food, an array of the mommy's cravings...

Heirloom Tomato Caprese Sammies 

wrapped with various 'I Scream' stickers including, 

'...we all scream 'don't touch me' 

'...we all scream for ice chips'

'...we all scream for the doctor', etc.

Bacon & Broccoli Salad

Kettle Chips

Variety of Homemade Ice Creams

(thank you Jeni's Splendid!)

Homemade Maternal Waffle Cone Fortune Cookies

(By far my favorite detail- Ryan and I giggled ourselves silly writing the fortunes!)

To Be continued with The Day Spa!

  

Donkey's & peacocks & bag worms- oh my! (part 2)

To wrap up our tale of the Missouri zoo, here are pics from the reptile house (shudder), 

as well as a few wrestling brother bears, a dusty elephant, and Ryan wrangling a 'gator. 

Donkeys & peacocks & bag worms- oh my! (part 1)

In the spirit of catching up, here's our trip to the zoo in Springfield, Missouri with Ryan's sister, Holly.  Having never been before, we weren't sure what to expect, 

but for our kids skipping out on the animals is never an option,

and we were very pleasantly surprised.

Highlights of part one of the trip included the petting zoo (I could have a pet donkey and be oh-so-happy!),

the wrinkly, splay-legged giraffes,

a couple of peacocks shaking their tail feathers for a nearby female,

and the tiny furry novelties known as bagworms.

All the while Navigator Reese read the map, lead the way, and (bossily) kept us on schedule.