Toddler Spring Break

A week with no blog posts – did you miss me?

Jack and I spent the last 5 days visiting with some of my family in Nashville. I don't think that I have taken a "spring break" type of trip in a decade and going on one with a toddler is certainly a different type of trip.

My mom had the week off from work, so she and my dad drove over from Searcy. We have found that my sister's house is a great central location for all of us to get together. My brother works 5 minutes away and was able to take his afternoons off so that he could hang out with us as well.

Monday night we visited and the kids played. We ended the night with the cousins taking a bath together. I'm not sure what Jack thought about this, but he seemed to have fun.

Tuesday, we made our way over to the Nashville Zoo. 

I think Jack had the most fun when I let him walk instead of riding in the stroller. 

Also the ginormous playground was a big hit for the kids.

I thought the best part was listening to my dad make various animal noises and watching the animals respond.

The funniest (though perhaps meanest) thing was when he made a call like a hawk while we watched the meerkats.
 

This poor little meerkat dove from his watch post into a hole to take cover.

Dad also got the flamingos going and a cassowary took notice of him as well. 

When we made it to the lemurs, Izzy wanted dad to call to them as well, but there isn't really a noise that the lemurs make.

I enjoyed seeing the zebras, giraffes and elephants. 

One reason I like to take my own photographs is that when you hand a stranger your camera, you take a gamble that they will take a blurry picture or cut someone out of the picture. In this case, the strollers holding Levi and Jack were left out!

After the zoo, we headed back to my sister's house, where my aunt and cousin met us for dinner. We enjoyed getting to visit with them.

Wednesday we were supposed to go to an Easter Egg Hunt at the library. Unfortunately the librarian booked the wrong event and we were treated to a ballet lesson instead. Izzy enjoyed it.

The boys were ambivalent.

After the library, the boys took naps and Angela and I took Izzy to a local consignment sale. Angela got a boat load worth of clothes for her kids. I was excited to find a kid carrier for our bicycles. As soon as it warms up again, I can't wait to take Jack on his first bike ride!

Wednesday afternoon we let the boys jump in the trampoline. I'm pretty sure that they will be having full blown wrestling matches out there in a year or two.

After bedtimes, the adults either watched Duck Dynasty and/or played Rummikub.

Thursday was cold and everyone was a bit tired from all of the playing and visiting. We decided to take the kids to CFA to wear themselves out a bit. One of Daniel's 3rd cousins met us there. She has been dying to meet Jack, so I'm glad that it worked out.

Jack climbed to the top of the Chick-fil-A playland. This was a first ever for him. Cousin Izzy helped him go down the slide, twice. He was pretty excited.

Friday morning, we got up and said our goodbyes after breakfast. I think Jack was pretty worn out from a week of non-stop playing. It may take a few days for him to adjust back to his normal schedule!

Red Penguin

At my last job, the president/COO of the company, Pat Riley, was always talking about the Red Penguin experience. Basically a Red Penguin is someone who exhibits a wow factor, they go above and beyond what is expected of them, thus adding intrensic value to their business.

 

An simple example of this would be employees at Chick-fil-A always saying, "My pleasure" when they serve you.

I believe that Seth Godin calls this type of person/experience the "Purple Cow."

Whether you are talking about penguins or cows, I think that the message of these men is that in this over-crowded markeplace, you have to find ways to stand out from your competition.

This morning I had a Red Penguin at Starbucks. I was up early, working on a last minute project, and then I had to run my husband to the bus stop at 6:00 a.m. Since I was up and working, I took the opportunity to run into my local Starbucks.

The woman behind the counter was a wonderful example of a Red Penguin. After taking my order, she took the time to converse with me. She asked me about my weekend plans and then was generally excited for me when I told her that I was going to the beach. I am not the type of person to shout out my plans to the world so it felt good to have personal interaction, even with a stranger.

After I left her post and waited for my coffee to be mixed, I listened as she continued to be genuinely interested in the customers in line behind me.

In our world of drive-up/drive-through/walk-through machines where you can choose to avoid human contact, it is refreshing to have a person interested in you. She could have taken my order and still been courteous, but she went above and beyond and took the time to connect with me.

Maybe it is a woman thing, but connecting with people, whether they are strangers, friends or family is important to me and I feel that it is becoming a lost commodity. If you are looking for a way to stand out from the competition, try connecting with your customers/clients on a human level.