We woke up on day two in Des Moines, which just happened to be Eclipse Day... to a bunch of absolutely pouring down rain and horrible weather. I was concerned about our plans which required us being outdoors, and we almost decided we might as well just head home right away, but we decided to try and wait it out a bit.
Turns out that was a good decision. We made a stop for breakfast and then headed to Homemakers... an errand I was particularly excited for but Cody - not so much. ;) Homemakers is an unbelievably amazing furniture store in Des Moines with a selection that can't be beat easily. I was on a mission to find furniture for our four seasons room, a room that I was so anxious to start utilizing as a cozy but bright reading and study room but hadn't had an opportunity to do so yet with the absence of comfortable furniture to sit in. ;) Homemakers was the right spot for me, and I easily - and rather quickly - picked out two comfortable reading chairs and ottoman that perfectly matched the look and color I was going for in that room. We wrapped up the sale within an hour - looking forward to a delivery in another two weeks - and by the time we were done with our complimentary juice and cookies, the rain had stopped. We were on our way to see the animals!
While Brandon was excited for roller coasters during our getaway, Jaden was most excited to see the Lions and Tigers and Bears. It had been about four years since we'd taken them to the Blank Park Zoo, which meant that Brandon had no memory of his first visit, and Jaden's memory was foggy at best. We love this zoo because of its intimate feel and quick walk through... taking only about three hours to see everything.
Our zoo day... mostly in pictures.
They made friends...
...and then Cody got spit on in the face! :)
By the time we were wrapping up our visit, I had completely forgotten about the Eclipse that was about to take place. The only thing that tipped me off right before the big moment was that a few minutes beforehand, all the birds in the bird cage had gone completely silent and still. Right after that, the sky darkened and by the time we got back to the entrance of the zoo, the big moment was happening!
We all got to see the eclipse through the special glasses, and we later learned that everyone at home missed out due to too much cloud cover. We felt pretty lucky to get to enjoy the full experience - with the animals!
We returned home late that afternoon - just in time for the boys' first football practice and a school year just two days away.
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