Went to Zoo Boise with Porter today and these are my favorite animal attractions:

5. Giant Finnish Bunnies
4. Wallaby Walkabout
3. Sloth Bear, he’s really cute
2. Butterflies
1. Tigers

Porter’s favorites:
Any of the big cats, gibbons, and feeding the farm animals.

P’s first merry go round. He rode Dumbo. You can’t tell from this picture, but he loved it. I, however, was trying not to toss my cookies.

I’d never seen this statue before, but leave it to Porter to find a honu around every turn. I tell you, honus are everywhere!

The first butterfly to land on Porter. He didn’t quite know what to think, but he listened when he was told not to touch. He stared at it for a little bit, and when he said “all done” the attendant quickly removed the butterfly from his belly.

Since last week when we had a crazy smoke induced heat wave (and insanity), the temps in Boise have hung in the low 90’s during the day. It hasn’t been so bad if we keep the evaporative cooler running and the correct doors and windows open/shut. Going outside, however, is a different story. 90+ degrees in the sun is not a whole lot of fun. So, Porter and I have been all over town trying to stay cool and these are my Top 5 favorites:

5. Park it in the living room in front of the evaporative cooler, read books and be still like a lizard.
4. Go to the library, where the AC is always pleasantly cranked and there is often entertainment of some kind.
3. Turn on the hose and get a bucket with which to dump water all over ourselves, preferably in the shady backyard (thank goodness for that sweet new lawn we installed).
2.  Play in the gigantic fountain at Ann Morrison park, serious fun.
1. Head out to the lake for sand slinging, water fountain and inner tube floating relief.

On Sunday Porter and I hung out at the fountain in Ann Morrison Park. Porter’s always a little hesitant at first. Then he sees the big boys run the perimeter, slicing through the water, and total chaos ensues. It’s really fun.

Just hangin’ with the big boys.

When he was littler, the flood irrigation water was too cold. Not anymore.

My boy eats his colors.

Porter and I listen to a lot of music these days. Usually the Toddler station on Pandora or Jango. Thanks to my excellent upbringing and stint as a teacher of young children I know quite a few of the children’s repertoire. Some of my most favorite songs stem from my childhood when we would go camping as a family in Big Sur and listen to lots of music on an old school boom box. One of our favorites was the soundtrack to the Broadway version of The Sound of Music. My brother and I knew pretty much every word to each song. My love for these songs was reinforced as a teacher at Challenger School since, lucky for us, they were part of the curriculum. I have sang Do Re Mi, My Favorite Things and Edelweiss hundreds of times, and they never get old or annoying. Unlike some of the tackier pop songs that have been known to filter through my head. My Favorite Things came on the music station so I took the opportunity, again, to sing along while my child watched me with curiosity. It was a very tender moment. Here are my Top 5 Favorite Things:

5. Sleeping on clean sun dried sheets
4. Buttery flaky chocolaty croissants
3. Foggy summer mornings
2. Porter facial expressions
1. Singing and Dancing with a group of other people

Fiery smoke filled sunset.

It doesn’t happen very often (usually in the dog days of summer and depths of winter) that I get grumpy, cranky and mad. This week’s weather has gotten me there and the only way to sum it up is bah humbug and to hell with everything. Wait, I feel like I’m already there. At 7:30pm it was 105*F and smokey. It’s been smokey for the last 3 days. Bleh! So, to try and get myself in a happier and more content place, I’m going to think of all the places I’d rather be than where I am right now. Not very zen, but I’m no Buddhist, just bitter.

5. Somewhere air conditioned, cause we certainly don’t have it.
4. Nevada City at the Alton Ranch swinging in a hammock watching the wind in the trees.
3. Capitola on a foggy summer morning wearing jeans and a sweatshirt with a warm latte.
2. Maui, floating in the ocean on a pink plastic floaty without a care in the world.
1. In a better frame of mind.

Okay so maybe it’s a little pretty, whatever.

These are my top 5 favorite movies of all time.

Enjoying blueberries at Grandma’s

Did you get the part where I mention frivolous in the description of my Top 5’s? Here are some pretty people for you to gaze at.

5. Taylor Lautner, team Jacob.

4. Gwen Stefani, in the No Doubt Tragic Kingdom days.