How does this work?

Good afternoon! Needless to say, I'm obviously new to blogging. But I figure, I need to document this amazing time in my life somehow. (And honestly what are the chances of me writing everything in a journal when I'm only going to be accountable to myself, right?) So! I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat, biting your nails in suspense of what thrilling events have gone on in the lives of my little Carlton family...but I'm gonna burst that bubble. We are but a normal family in tiny little Baker City, making an honest living and squeezing adventures and fun into our schedule whenever possible. Away we go! Yesterday, which happened to be July 9th, we were in Idaho on a (super) mini trip! We ended up making our way to Boise, because I finally convinced Josh that it would so much fun to take Landen to the zoo! Anyhow, anyone who has ever been to the Boise Zoo knows that it's a pretty lackluster zoo (compared to my all time favorite Portland Zoo!). But for our purposes and for the entertainment of our 17 month old, it would do just fine. We began making our way around the monkey exhibit, apparently during nap time, because the monkeys were about as interesting as a rock out in our yard. Nevertheless, we pressed onward! We made our way through "Africa", and found ourselves looking at our all time favorite animal: GIRAFFES! It was magical, and even had Landen saying "raff" with a 1000-watt smile on his tiny face. We soon learned that in just a few minutes the zoo would be holding a giraffe feeding! (a clever way to suck extra money from gullible patrons like us who are looking for a cheap thrill). Long story short, and six dollars later, we had two whole lettuce leaves to feed to this beautiful creature!

What an experience of a lifetime! Hopefully we'll be able to go back through the years and have another go at feeding them again :] We ended up finishing our way through the zoo, but not without struggle. Landen soon decided that he didn't care what animals were there, he only wanted to help me push the stroller. Which was very sweet, don't get me wrong. But from that point forward, the 106 degree weather had turned Landen from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde...and Landen was not trying to "hyde" it from anyone. But luck was in our favor as we made it through 95% of the day before Mr. Hyde showed up. What happened next, you ask? Well skip ahead to TODAY. Today was nothing special. I worked, Josh worked, and Landen took a pretty long nap. But this evening was fantastic! Our little Bug had his very first swim lesson! Josh and I were both nervous, wondering how Landen would do in a pool for the first time...but he ended up loving every minute! He wasn't shy at all about sticking his face in the water (although his sole intent was to drink the water). And jumping off the edge and into my arms was scarier to me than it was for him!

We were so proud of our little Bug! (We were also so happy that Landen had exhausted himself by the end of class that he only required a small dinner and was ready for bed within the hour. But any parent can appreciate days like that :])