FOUR-DAY WEEKEND

Zoe's social calendar is filling up fast. It seems every weekend from early June through Christmas is booked, so the three of us capitalized on the four-day Memorial Day weekend by doing as little as possible. Together.

Friday was also our fourth wedding anniversary. About 2 p.m., Zoe gave us our gift... a five-alarm, jaw-droppingingly enormous poop.

Sonja had been weighing Zoe by stepping on our bathroom scale without her, and then with her. Hardly scientific. Sonja's sister, Shawn, found a baby scale on eBay for $12 (at least they told me it was only $12) that arrived earlier in the day. Literally seconds after we first tested it out (a healthy 9.8 pounds), Mt. Zoe erupted. We heard it. Hell, I think the house shook. When Sonja (who has six nieces and nephews and worked in daycare) gags, you know it's impressive. It took both of us, and Zoe's first fully-submerged bath, to properly clean up. A post-poop weigh-in said she'd lost nearly a half pound. Do you realize the environmental impact that would be felt if I pooped 1/20th of my body weight?

Enough about poop. The weekend was otherwise uneventful. Friday we grilled out at home, walked around downtown for a couple hours and had some ice cream. Saturday was dad's day out (joined my dad and Uncle Norman to watch Michigan win an NCAA softball Super Regional) and Sunday mom was able to shop alone for a little while. Monday we toured the three metroparks. While two are closer to our house and very lovely, we discovered they don't have a lot of stroller-friendly paths. Since a one-day metroparks pass gets you in as many parks as you're crazy enough to drive to, we hit all three. On our last stop we found a great, woodsy, 3-mile paved path that hugs stretches of a river and circles the park. It was nice. We'll be back.

Zoe, of course, slept through the entire walk. Just as she slept through the entire downtown outing Friday evening. About 8 p.m. Monday she woke up, looked around and moaned, as if to say "Damnit. Are you people ever going to get me out of this house?"