Staying dry on a rainy Monday...

Yes, a rainy Monday. Not only a tough start to a new week, but a rainy one at that. What better to do on a rainy day than walk to the zoo for lunch with a friend? At the onset of today's adventure, Ada and I started out dry. She had a fresh diaper and I was showered and ready to start the day. The sun was hiding behind the clouds and the rain hadn't found it's way to our neck of the woods just yet. An so our adventure began.

With Ada strapped on the front of my chest in her Ergo carrier, snug as a bug in a rug as they say, we set off to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Not to really go see the animals or anything like that but we have a friend that works at the Zoo and today was slated for our semi annual lunch date. I debated taking the bus, but kept missing it as is typically my luck, and opted for the nice walk instead. We walked the bus route just in case I got tired or in case it took longer than expected. About half way there, I notice a familiar face -- this happens to me a lot for those who don't know me so it isn't much of a shocker. It was a woman pushing a stroller and I of course had to see if it really was someone I knew or not. So I ask, "Is your name Allison by chance?" And she replied, "Yeah, and you're Amanda right?" Sure enough, this is a woman I used to have in my business classes at Iowa. She was my roommate's neighbor Freshman year and I had known her about 7 years ago for about 3 years. Turns out, now she is an attorney here in the city. Go figure. The weirdest part is that she wasn't pushing her daughter in the stroller, but was watching her for a friend, and doesn't even live in the neighborhood. What are the odds of that? Pretty good in my world. Hmmm... maybe I should start to play the lotto...

So as we are catching up on old times and saying our goodbyes, it starts to sprinkle. I pop out my handy dandy trusty umbrella -- the one I got for high school graduation and just sent in for a replacement since totes has a lifetime warranty -- and we continued on our way through the sprinkles.

On the way from the zoo with our friend Ellen, it started to poor, and continued to do so through lunch. For the trip home, we considered taking the bus, but it sped past us as we were walking out of the restaurant. So we started walking and Ada fell asleep on my chest. About five blocks into the walk, I was tempted by another bus, but decided the fresh air and exercise would do us both good. So we walked, and walked and walked. Through big puddles and small. All the while shifting the weight of the umbrella and my should bag from one side to the other. Finally, about half an hour later, we arrived home. A bit wet and tired, but happy all the same.

Our little umbrella kept us mostly dry...and reminded me that I should probably invest in a few larger umbrellas if we plan to walk together in the rain often as the tiny one just doesn't cover as much as it needs to. Once we got inside, I started to change Ada since her socks and lower pant legs were a bit wet. As I took of her pants and started to switch out her diaper, she peed all over everything. And normally when she pulls this trick, she just pees and it goes underneath her. Not this time. She waited until I was lifting her legs into the air to situate the new diaper so that when she peed, it went up and back over her hip, to soak her shirt and her pants and her back and the changing table and the new diaper and the new diaper cover. Tricky little thing. Always coming up with something new to keep me on my toes.

Moral of the story: Sometimes even a big umbrella can't save you from getting wet. :)