Zoo Day

It was way too nice to not be outside today. So, we went to one of our favorite hangouts, the zoo! As we were getting parked, I asked Harper which animal she wanted to see today. Very authoritatively, she said "The elephant and I want him to spray water out of his nose." The first part we could definitely do, but I wasn't so sure about that last part. However, when we got to the elephants, they were congregating around the watering hole throwing mud on themselves to keep cool. Close enough!

Next up were the flamingos. I always like the flamingos. They remind me of Pinkalicious, a cute kids book where the main character eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink (kind of like how flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp and algae that contain pink and orange pigments).

I usually judge the success of our zoo outings by whether or not we can avoid the petting zoo area. Today was not my lucky day.

After a good hand washing, we leisurely strolled through the rest of zoo and I practiced the fine art of cell phone nature photography.

Spider Girl

Mom...I know I said I wanted to try this, but now I'm not so sure...

Ok, I think I'm getting the hang of it...

Hey...why don't you put your cell phone down and help me?

The end is in sight...

Must keep going...

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Field Trip

Harper's class went on a field to the zoo on Saturday. It was super fun. I tried to take as many pictures as I could, but my relatively poor photography skills coupled with the fact that trying to take pictures of 2 year olds is like herding cats made for a difficult situation. I did the best I could. Check out the tie dyed shirts that the kids made earlier in the week so they all could match.

I'm not a huge fan of petting zoos, but the kids seemed to like it.

Harper and Cy

Cy, Avery, and Bryce

One of the cutest moments of the day - Avery and Harper holding hands and singing as they walked.

The Nashville Zoo just opened a brand new flamingo exhibit.

A rare mom and daughter pic

Best Harper quote of the day - "They are all tangled up. And pink."

I really did try to take some good pictures. But every time I tried to get the kids to look at me, they all ignored me. Even my own flesh and blood.

A carousel ride was the perfect way to end our day.

We had so much fun on our field trip. Harper's teachers did a great job planning it. It was so much fun to see all of the kids hanging out together and it was nice for the parents to get to know each other a little better too. I feel really lucky to be able to send Harper to the school that she gets to go to. Can't wait for our next outing!

Family Time

Over the weekend, we ventured to Southern Illinois spend some time with Rob's brother and his family. We don't get to see them nearly enough (they live in Seattle). So anytime we get the opportunity, we jump at the chance to hang out with them.

This is Mike, Janelle, and Gavin. If you think Mike looks a lot like Rob, you're right. They're twins.

We went to the Centralia Balloon Fest. Janelle's dad does hot air ballooning as a hobby. He gave us special passes that allowed us to get right up close to all of the action.

Harper even got to help Aunt Janelle spread out her dad's balloon.

When it got dark, the balloons did what they call a glow. They all fire up their burners and glow like lanterns.

Harper liked the balloons, but she LOVED hanging out with her cousin Gavin. They were fast friends despite the fact that Harper insisted on holding Gavin's hand at all times.

We next met up with some extended family and took a little side trip to the St. Louis zoo.

Harper, Uncle Mike, and a big bug

Can you see the resemblance?

All in all, it was a great trip. Can't wait to do it again.

Hanging Out At The Zoo

Last Saturday, we got to hang out with some of our favorite people at one of our favorite places, the zoo. This is Sarah.

Pretty cute.

Sarah hadn't been to our zoo before, so Harper showed her the ropes. We saw some pretty cool animals...

including this monkey having a snack.

She looks innocent enough, but trust me, she'll bite your hand off if you come between her and her teddy grahams.

Next, Harper wanted to show Sarah the proper way to tame the animals on the carousel.

One must first pet the animal in order to establish trust.

Works like a charm.

Sarah was a natural.

Then, Harper taught Sarah how to feed the lorikeets.

Sarah is a quick study.

I just hope she didn't see Harper kiss the bird. That's an advanced technique that should only be attempted by professionals. (Yeah, two seconds after this shot was taken, she leaned in and kissed the bird!)

Yes it was unbearably hot and yes it was oppressively humid. But, we all had a great time. Can't wait to do it again.

Thanks to our friend, Steve (Sarah's Uncle), for taking all the pictures!

Weekend Update

We packed a lot into this weekend. Here's the recap.

1. On Friday after work, I decided that Harper and I both deserved a cupcake. So after I picked her up, we went to Gigi's. I let Harper pick out which cupcake she wanted and, surprise surprise, she picked the one entitled Miss Princess. I chose the much more sensible carrot cake one.

2. On Saturday, I thought we should take advantage of the slightly cooler temperature (high of only 90 instead of 98) and go to the zoo. It was great. Harper had her very first carousel ride. She picked the zebra to ride on.

Then we headed over to the lorikeet exhibit. This exhibit is cool because you enter into their enclosure and can feed them nectar out of a little cup. Harper loved it.

3. Sunday reminded me that my daughter is every bit of 2 years old. The highlight of the day came when I went outside to take the garbage out. Harper must have been trying to open the door to come with me. But instead of turning the doorknob, she turned the lock. When I realized I was locked out, I called to her and she came to the door. In the nicest voice I could muster, I asked her to unlock it and let me in. She wiggled the doorknob and locked and unlocked the deadbolt for a good 5 minutes before she actually unlocked the door. I didn't know whether to hug her or beat her when I got in the house. Even though we've tried to instill a strict "no door touching" policy, I think we will be hiding key in the garage. It's never a dull around here.

After "the incident", we all needed to take it down a notch so I decided to fold some laundry. Harper is a good helper. It's her job to find all of the socks and put them in a pile. I'm guessing that a normal 2 year old would pull the socks out of the basket and throw them in a haphazard pile on the floor. Not my kid. She carefully removes each sock and places them one on top of each other. She definitely got a healthy dose of my OCD.