On Tuesday, as we turned into the parking lot for zoo camp drop-off, Ruby said from the back row of the van, "Aunt Daffy, Emmie says her stomach hurts and she doesn't want to go to zoo camp.".  Uh, oh!  I pulled the van over to the side, put it in park, opened the back passenger side door, got out and walked around to check on Emmie.  I unbuckled her and asked her if she was okay.  She looked a little puny and said, "My stomach hurts bad!"  I asked her if she felt like trying to make it through the day and told her that Abigail, Grandmommy, and I would be close by at the Children's Museum if she needed us.  Ruby said, "Emmie, if you get to feeling bad, just tell your teacher and she'll take you to the office and they'll call Aunt Daffy."  Emmie nodded and said, "Okay, I'll try...".  I started the van back up and pulled up to the drop-off point.  The three girls hopped out of the van and I thought to myself that Emmie's stomach was probably just a little queasy from riding in the back seat. 

Grandmommy, Abigail, and I headed to the Children's Museum.  Okay, this may be one of the coolest places ever!  It's like a huge, indoor playground.  They even have a full size plane cockpit in an atrium in the front of the building.  This, of course, was the first place Abigail wanted to go.  She was a little overwhelmed by the actual cockpit, but she liked the plane seats.  Here she is sitting beside Grandmommy, heading on an imaginary trip to who knows where...


And to prove this is a place for kids of all ages, here's Grandmommy flying a plane


After we'd been there about thirty minutes, my cell phone rang.  Thinking it was my sister calling back (I'd left her a message about Emmie's stomach), I answered, "Hi!  How are you?"  "Ummm, is this Daphne?" the voice at the other end said.  I told them it was and the lady said, "This is the zoo.  I have Emily here in the office.  She said her stomach hurts - we thought if she talked to you for a minute, she might feel better."  I told them okay and in a moment, I heard a sweet little voice say, "Hello..."  Okay, I knew in that second that I was going to go and pick her up - I can not stand to hear Emmie sad   I asked her if she felt like staying or if she wanted me to come and get her.  She said, "Can you come get me please?"  I told her we'd be there in fifteen minutes.  We loaded up and went back to the zoo.  I had to wait outside the double glass doors while the class finished a Ruby Bird (I'm not sure what kind of bird it actually was, but Emmie said it was called a Ruby bird - I tried to Google it and came up with nothing) .  I could see Emmie sitting at the desk coloring a picture.  She saw me and grinned a little grin.  I felt infinitely better when I saw that grin   I took her back to the van.  After a quick trip by her mommy's office and a lunch of chicken nuggets at Wendy's she declared that she was feeling much better and was up to going back to the Children's Musuem.  So, back we went.  Here's Emmie at the Mississippi River exhibit.   Look closely - this is what a severe case of Abigailitis looks like:


While their big sisters were finishing out the day at zoo camp, the two little sisters had a blast playing in the exhibits.  Here's Abigail in the Dramatic Play area, channeling her inner Elmo:


Yes, we were at the museum during naptime, but Abigail didn't really seem to mind.  She took a few couple-second power naps!
 



Here's Emmie on a huge paintbrush



And the two of them playing in the dentist exhibit

Aunt Bronie picked up the big sisters and brought them to the musuem after zoo camp and we spent another two hours playing.  Gracie wanted to get into the plane cockpit


Then, we headed over to the Curious George exhibit.  I think Aunt Bronie & I both loved this exhibit best - they had all types of science and math demonstrations set up around the characters from Curious George.  Here's Ruby wearing the Doorman's outfit:




And Abigail meeting one of her favorite TV friends.


Next, we went into the Emergency Vehicle exhibit.  This was Gracie's favorite part - she's always loved fire trucks and lately she's developed an obsession with police cars (and about people getting arrested and taken to jail - she asks at least once a week if we can go find the jail in our town and drive past it - so far, I haven't honored that request)  Here she is sitting in the back of the police car.  I asked her why she had her hands behind her back like that.  She replied, "These are handcuffs!"  Yikes!


And this picture ought to make you feel very safe when you see the officers who are patrolling our streets, keeping crime at bay


Have you ever seen a cuter fire chief?


And Eric Estrada, move over, there's a new CHIP in town
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For some reason, this picture just makes me life - doesn't she look like ET?


We ended the day shopping in the pretend store - the pretend store that has real food boxes and real, miniature grocery carts


And real cash registers that actually worked!


Abigail bought three bottles of Laundry Detergent.  Here was her total:


At least grocery prices aren't quite that bad in real life.  Yet....

By that time we left, though, the store was crowded, and the lines were long, just like in real life



After the store exhibit, we loaded everyone up and headed back home.  You would think that the girls would have been about to drop from exhaustion but it would be another 6 hours before all of them were asleep for the night.  I'm just very thankful that Emmie's stomach ache was nothing that kept her from feeling like playing.  Although, she did say to me on Tuesday night, with a little twinkle in her eye, "I think my tummy's starting to hurt again.  I might not be able to go to zoo camp again."  I think her case of Abigailitis might be flaring up again

Stay tuned to find out:  Will Emmie make it to Zoo Camp on Wednesday?  Will Gracie survive her visit in the Stinky, Really Stinky Bat Cave?  Does Ruby run faster than a cheetah?  Just how big of a fit can Abigail really pitch?


Steve, we miss you!  I love you - we'll be home soon!