Iris Garden

We made a pit stop on the way to school this morning. 

The Only Thing Ants Are Good For

The peonies on the side of our house are blooming. Legend has it that ants are needed to crawl through the buds and open the petals. This isn't actually true. Peonies will bloom with or without ants. But, I'll ignore that and give this one to the ants. Really, what else do they have going for them?

Puddle Jumper

Really glad I put her rain boots on before we left for church today...

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.

This Never Happens

Looks like someone played hard at school today. 

She fell asleep in the car and then continued her siesta on the couch when we got home. In fact, she's still snoozing as I type this. At this rate, she'll be up with me at 4am to watch the Royal Wedding.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Professional Egg Hunter

Today we went to the annual McKendree Easter egg hunt. Steve and Penny Hooper have been holding this wonderful event at their house for the last 37 years! Today marks the third one that we had the pleasure of attending.

2009

2010

2011

I hear that this is the last year the Hoopers will be hosting an egg hunt. I completely understand, but I'm really hoping they reconsider. Come on, just 7 or 8 more years! Please?!?

We had a fantastic time. The weather was beautiful and the eggs were plentiful!

Last year, Harper's basket runneth over with eggs. This year, I wised up and got her a bigger basket.

Taking a break to check out the loot.

Well done, kiddo!

After the hunt, the Hoopers have all kinds of snacks and activities set up for the kids. Harper blew bubbles for at least an hour.

All in all, it was a fabulous day that culminated in an epic nap. She's still sleeping in fact, which has given me ample time to pillage inspect her eggs!