Tiny Zoo + Bridal Shower

Lo on many weeks ago (three of them), when Rowen was just a wee lad (four weeks old), we took the trek to my parents’ house for my sister’s bridal shower. (Well, the shower was actually at her inlaws’ house, but the original trek was to my parents’.) I knew I wanted to be to Kaeli’s shower nice and early with lots of time to spare, so I decided to go up the day before, and I dragged my whole family along with me, even the dog (mostly because we can’t leave alone overnight.) We decided to have some fun on the way and stop at a combination animal sanctuary/zoo in Fulsom.

We decided to save money and take the Prius, but we were SO crammed in there that Ripley had to ride at my feet… You can see she didn’t really mind!

Unfortunately I wasn’t thinking ahead (still in the newborn fog no doubt) and didn’t give us enough time to drop Ripley off at my parents’ house (a half hour outside Fulsom) and then come back before the zoo closed in the afternoon. My original backup plan was to park in the shade and leave her in the car for our short visit (with water, windows down, and regular checks), but of course the weather went from 70s to 90s as soon as it sensed my thoughts and that plan went out the window. So instead Dan walked around the park with Ripley while I pushed Damien and Rowen around the zoo in their stroller. Kassi drove out to meet us so at least I had some nonbabien companionship.

Damien isn’t as big as a bear…

The Fulsom Zoo is really cute and little. The exhibits are set up really well, but unfortunately the heat (and the time – it was late afternoon) drove all the animals inside so we didn’t see very many of them. I felt bad because I promised Damien a trip to the zoo and it turned out to be such a bummer, with hardly any animals and Dad doing laps around the park outside. Oh well… I think Damien had fun anyway. We did get to see some really cool animals, including a wolf (and his wolf/dog hybrid friend), a mountain lion, several bears (holy crap, bears are huge up close!), and lots of birds (owls, hawks, eagles, crows, and parrots.) Oh, and there was a feral cat exhibit, which was pretty cute (and smart – I mean, what else are you going to do with feral cats? I used to petsit for people who set up a feral cat hangout in the back part of their backyard, and that was pretty cool too.)

Bear family!

Aannd this is what Rowen was doing. (This and sleeping.)

After we went through the zoo we met up with Dan by the train, in a slightly different part of the park. Dan, Rowen, Ripley, and I watched Damien and Kassi go for a train ride, then we all headed back to my parents’ house.

Rowen and Dan don’t seem that interested in trains

Train ridin’ with Auntie Kassi

Checking out the caboose (or ‘caboosey’ as he calls it – thanks Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)

We hung out at my parents’ house until they returned from a school activity, then the female portion (and Rowen) began shower planning. It involved several stores, printing, cooking, and staying up until 3am. Poor Dan was martyred again as the guest bedroom doubles as the office, so he couldn’t go to sleep until we were done printing… and Kassi had to print all the shower games, plus I had to print labels for the food.

The next day we woke up early and I was greeted with a bunch of texts wondering if I was okay. I had no idea what that was about, so I consulted the internet and discovered that we’d missed a 6.0 earthquake in the Napa Valley. Reading what other people from our town said on Facebook, I determined that our house was probably just fine (it was; there was nasty sediment in the water knocked off the pipes for about a week so we had to drink bottled water, but our belongings/house was fine) but it was still odd to not be there and see to make sure. My mom drove Kassi, Rowen, and me to Kaeli’s inlaws’ house up in the mountains, and we listened to news coverage about the earthquake for as long as we had reception. It took a little more than an hour to get there, but the scenery was absolutely gorgeous! If I ever head out that way again I’m taking a camera and stopping along the way.

We met Kaeli’s future mother and father in law, along with her sisters-in-law (I had previously met one of them; we were both pregnant and trying on bridesmaids dresses a few months ago) and they seem like a really awesome family to be marrying into. Kaeli’s other bridesmaids were also there decorating and making/bringing delicious food. I was so impressed with what everyone did; it made Dan’s and my work on the invitations seem kind of paltry… Sadly my phone was so dead it took thirty minutes of charging to even get it to power on (there’s no reception up in the mountains, and phones run down their batteries trying to function at all) so I didn’t get pictures. If I ever get some I’ll post them, even if it’s super late, because of how cute everything was.

I hope Kaeli enjoyed her shower; I know I had a lot of fun. The food everyone brought was delicious (and even the stuff I made turned out pretty good, which I was semi-terrified about) and I had fun talking to everyone there and introducing them to Rowen. There were actually three other babies there – a boy a month older than Rowen, another boy (Kaeli’s sister-in-law’s son) two months older, and our cousin’s daughter who was eight months old. The best part was when I was surprised to see my cousin and dear friend Daylene there – she lives in Australia with her husband and I knew she was in the states for a bit, but I didn’t know she was spending part of her precious family time traveling to the middle of nowhere to see us. Rowen got lots of Daylene-cuddles, and actually was perfectly happy being cuddled by pretty much everyone there (except when he was hungry and then suddenly Mom is irreplaceable, haha.) I’m sure it’s stressful for Kaeli to think of how soon the wedding is happening, but after the fun I had at the shower I’m excited for the wedding, especially because even more family is going to be there! (And I’ll actually take pictures then too.) (And if I don’t, a professional photographer will do it for me.)

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