4, 3, 2, 1 week!

(Let the great blog catch-up begin!) For the days surrounding the Fourth of July, we had the little Austins in town while the big Austins moved from Chicago-city to Chicago-burb. With special guests Grandma and DD, the week was jam-packed with four kiddos ages four and under. (Or 4, 3, 2, 1 which are roughly their ages.) Ha, I'm tired just thinking about it.  It was really really really great to spend so much time with LylaBird and JackPot. They are all starting to really play well together. And we had some great adventures - although I totally didn't have the time to take as many photos as I normally do (you called that one Tia). Here are some highlights. Enjoy!

 THE ZOO TRIP (If you haven't checked out the new Cat Canyon exhibit, it is seriously awesome. Look how close the tigers get - inspiring Lyla's now classic line, "Kiwi, these tigers are freakin me out!")

Riding in style (worth every bit of the $20 rental):

Grandma & Uncle LouLou show the babies the gorillas while the big girls run around:

Everyone had a blast mimicking the gorilla sounds:

The carousel never disappoints!

Time to cool off and get a little manatee smooch:

The babies were BEAT so I got to keep the big girls with me while the babies went home to nap. I had so much fun with Lyla and Josie. They are SO hilarious together! We rode the back of the train together, and I pushed them around in the double stroller while they sang "Three Little Birds" as loud as they could. They jumped about a gazillion times off of the backs of the turtles in the children's zoo playground. And they were so tired they wanted me to carry both of them to the car. (And there are photos of that afternoon somewhere - On instagram? Or did I text them? Crap, are they on my old phone?)

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We spent a lot of time playing outside until it got too hot each day (like 100 degrees with full humidity hot).  The kiddos spent a lot of time only partially dressed!

On our big last night we ventured downtown for the Sawyer Point fireworks. Considering we ended up their on a total whim, we were a little unprepared but everything worked out okay.  You can see just how hot it was in the pics - sweaty little sweeties.  The park was a fun and the fireworks were pretty (and loud).

Waiting (about 10pm after a loooong day) for the big show:

 Matching outfits courtesy of Grandma (thanks Grandma)!

Told you it was hot!

The closest we got to all four (uber-tired) kids in one pic:

Awwww Jacky!