Giraffes, Snakes, and Rabbits

This past weekend we spent a lot of time outside. It was pretty hot, both days in the 90s, but we survived. Saturday we purchased a membership to the zoo and took our first trip of the year there. I was excited to see what Mason's reactions to the exhibits would be since we haven't been there since he was 7 months old. His attention span wasn't quite as long as I thought it would be when it came to checking out the animals, he mostly wanted to run through the exhibits and touch other kids. At least he enjoyed himself I guess!
He was really awed by the giraffes. He has a stuffed one at home and has learned how to say "giraffe", so seeing a big one that actually moved around was pretty cool.

Popcorn, perhaps the best way to keep a toddler in a stroller?

Last time we were at the zoo.

Sunday we stayed home and decided to begin to tackle this mess:

This involved snake wrangling. I would guess there were over 50 snakes living in this pile. Harmless Garter snakes, don't worry. Tyler caught about ten of them with a pair of scissor tongs and kept them in a big trash can until we decided what to do with them. Let's just say, it wasn't a happy ending for the snakes.

The snakes would disappear for a while and then pop their heads out to spy on us. It was kind of a Where's Waldo? scenario at times.

The hardest part of the day was keeping Mason entertained while we did this. He prefers to play in our neighbor's yard across the street and unless he's occupied, he'll bolt over there. So we set up some water play for him and it kept him entertained.. for a while.

He did not enjoy this sprinkler he got for Christmas. Sorry, Aunt Lindsay.. maybe later this summer.

Unfortunately, when we got towards the bottom of the pile we found a nest of baby rabbits. Their mom hasn't moved them yet, but they are still alive. I am just hoping she keeps coming back!

We still have A LOT of work to do in our yard, but at least we've started now!