A day at the zoo

Christmas Day Russ called his family.  His dad asked him what fun things we were going to be doing around town since we hadn't been able to come down to California for Christmas.  When Russ told me this, I kinda looked at him with a blank look.  My mind hadn't even processed that we should do something fun with the girls.  So we tossed around a few ideas, and rested on taking the girls to the zoo.  They had been asking to go there a lot recently, so what better opportunity?!

We started off by running to Target and Toys R Us.  We grabbed a new bouncer for Bree since hers had broken yesterday.  Toys R Us we grabbed a few presents for Charlotte's birthday.  I love shopping for two year old, because you can shop for them while they are there, and then on their birthday they will still be excited about what they get!  We had to wait a bit in the parking lot so Bree could eat, but it worked out nicely since it was snack time for the girls as well.

Finally around 11:00 we made it to the zoo.  The girls were super excited.  We had to keep reminding them not to run too far ahead out of excitement.  This was only our second time going to the Houston Zoo.  Last time we went was the middle of summer and the animals were pretty lethargic.  Today we were lucky enough to see the animals much more active.  A few were missing due to the cold weather though.  Allie was bit sad that the alligator was one of those.

Walking through the gates Russ saw this rhinocerous that was coming out the building.  He jumped on it and insisted I take a picture of him.  It was too funny!  A bunch of people were pointing and smiling as I took it.

 

The girls couldn't let daddy have all the fun so they asked if they could get their pictures taken too.  Sure thing!

  

 

 

Next we hit up the aquarium first and saw a lot of beautiful fish.  At one of the first tanks Allie excitedly pointed and said, "Look it's n-a-me!"  I was so impressed that she could actually identify a sea anemone even if she couldn't quite say it right.  She promptly set out to find Nemo, his dad, and Dorie.  We eventually found all of them...and a few friends too.

After the fish we headed straight for the elephants.  We did stop by and see the sea lions swim first though.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that their were two baby elephants still at the zoo.  They had grown a little bit since we were at the zoo last but you could still tell they were babies.  One baby had a bunch of fun throwing its hay all over its back instead of eating it.  The girls thought it was the funniest thing ever.

We saw some cats after this.  The male lion got a little annoyed with a lioness while we were there and let out a good roar for us.  The girls got even more excited from this and started jumping around.

The African jungle was our next stop.  On the way there we saw this guy next to the glass.  We parked Charlotte right in front of him.  He turned toward her and licked the glass.  She laughed and laughed as he kept doing this.  It was super cute to see this little interaction. 

We didn't quite make it to the jungle though because our little animals were roaring for lunch, so we stopped and ate.  Bree was also done with being in her carseat so I strapped her to me using the Moby.  So glad I bought that thing!  I carried her the rest of the trip and my back and shoulders never hurt from it!

At the beginning of the African jungle they have a fun little area in this part of the zoo where you can play some drums.  Charlotte was particularly excited about this.  

The monkeys were our next stop.  Most of the monkeys were either playing shy or moving to fast for me to get picture of them.  However this guy took a trip around his cage carrying his blanket and looking for food on the ground.  He was soooo cute and came right up to the window where the girls were standing.  Charlotte loved being so close to him since most of the time she couldn't see many of them.  Allie was in HEAVEN seeing him as well since she has a thing for monkeys.

This guy also sat still for me.

 We thought these were the cutest monkeys at the zoo though. :D

Next, we passed by some Rhinos who got in a little scuffle as we passed by.  Only Russ and I were tall enough to see it over the fence, but we enjoyed watching it.  The Rhinos were followed up by the Giraffe's, Zebras, and Ostriches.  We were greeted there by another baby!  Oh this baby giraffe was sooo cute!  The girls were starting to get tired by this time and started pulling faces for the camera. 

A nice lady saw me taking pictures of Russ and the girls and offered to take a picture of our family.  Oh how nice that I actually got to be in a picture with them too!

We went and saw some birds before heading out of the zoo.  We were tired and ready for a rest.  We walked across the zoo plaza and payed to go on the train that goes around Hermann Park.  The girls loved going on the train.  Charlotte kept yelling at me, "Mom-meee!"  She was excited to tell me all about the ride.  It was a short ride and not very scenic, but it still was fun to be on it.

We hopped in the car and came home to the golden arches for dinner.  Long days like this always end with us going out to eat.  Do you blame me for not wanting to cook?!  We had such great time on our family outing.  I'm hoping to plan something fun for us to do each month this year.  The family outings really are helping us grow and bond as a family.

Festival of Lights

Festival of Lights snuck up on this year.  So much has been going on that we spaced it until we saw the Christmas Trees and decorations going up around town.  Russ and I discussed last night what we should do.  Charlotte was barely recovered, Allie was on the mend, and Bree was the same.  We decided if it was warm weather we would go to the festival.

This morning the sun was shining and quite warm, so we put on some coats and headed out.When we arrived we noticed right off that the mini trai wasn't there this year.  The had replaced it with some motorized animals.  These actually may have been better than the train!  Allie wasn't supposed to ride hers without an adult guiding her but I had Bree so they let her anyway.  Let's just say the workers had to keep running over to her and steering her from running into someone.  I was laughing my head off!

Char chose a giraffe.

Allie chose a monkey of course!

Lily chose a Panda since that is her school mascot.

We went and tried out a few bounce houses after that.  Allie actually went in one this year.  She must have gotten over that fear from last year.  Charlotte enjoyed it so much Russ had to go in after her to get her out.  Char was starting to lose her steam so we rested while Lily went and did some rock climbing.  I'm very proud of Lily for doing this.  She is quite adventurous!  She got a little scared the higher she went but we talked her through it and she made almost all the way to the top!

Impressive skills huh?!

Yup, a tad bit worried!

The girls begged to go on one of the carnival rides.  Russ spent some of his spending money to let them ride the merry-go-round once.  What a good daddy!  The girls loved it, especially Charlotte!

Walking back to the food booths we passed a Church booth that had clown making balloon animals.  They were free so we stopped and got one for the girls.  A lady there was surprised to find out all the girls were ours.  LOL!  We tend to get comments like that a lot.  Allie and Lily chose flowers for their balloons and Charlotte got a cute doggy.

We went and bought lunch.  Russ got himself a giant turkey leg.  He has been eyeing those since last year.  He shared with all of us, it was really good!  Charlotte and Allie shared some nachos with me, and Lily had a corn dog.  We all made sure to get some yummy fresh lemonade.  It always tastes sooo good!  At some point while eating our food Allie's balloon blew away.  This is the THIRD year in a row this has happened to her.  Poor thing started to cry, but we couldn't get her a new one since the clown had left.

Everyone was tired and ready to go home by this time.  We went and got our desserts to go.  Allie was still upset about her balloon and telling me about it.  A little girl standing behind us {10 or so} handed Allie a gigantic flower balloon and said, "Here you can have this!"  What a sweet girl huh?!  We went to the car and enjoyed our yummy desserts.  Fried Oreos, fried Snickers, and fried Twinkie.

We spent the afternoon relaxing.  After dinner we headed back for the parade.  It was cold but we all snuggled together and had fun watching it.  Bree slept all the way through it snuggled against me all wrapped up in her blankies.  I'm so happy that are little city puts this fun event on.  It is a fun tradition for our family.

Party at the Park, and other adventures of the day.

Life is pretty much out of control busy for us right now.  Last night Russ decided it was time to start on the shed.  Since we bought the house we knew that the shed's roof was damaged and needed replaced.  When we got those huge rainstorms awhile back we were catching rain with buckets inside the shed to prevent anymore damage.  After a couple weeks of waiting for someone to help Russ get the lumber to our house, it was time to start.  Russ spent several hours last night ripping off shingles and particle board.  He got down to the rafters and was kind of at a loss as to how he was going to get them out.  I suggested sawing them in half and then ripping them out.  He didn't think that would work, and it was too dark anyway for him to do more on it.

This morning while I was crazily trying to make some chili for our ward party Russ was on the phone calling some people in our ward asking their suggestions on how to get the rafters out.  Someone suggested a saws-all.  Great idea, we didn't have one nor could we find anyone that did.  Sigh.

So with that we left shed as is and went to our ward party which happened to be at the park that is one block away from our house.  Sadly enough we had to drive there.  Lily is prepping for her ballet recital in a few weeks, so she has extra practice every Saturday.  Of course that practice fell right smack dab in the middle of the ward party.  We opted to drive the van so I didn't have to keep walking back and forth from the house to take her and pick her up.

We dressed Allie and Charlotte in their swim suits for the party since there is a fun little splash pad at the park.  I was unsure if Charlotte would even get in the water.  She loves swimming, but she hates water splashing in her face.  Russ headed off to talk to some of the men in the ward, so I steered Charlotte and Allie towards the splash pad.  Lily was given strict orders to not get anywhere near the water or dirt.  Charlotte saw the water as I headed her that way and she made a beeline for it.  Turns out she loved the splash pad.  She didn't mind the water in her face at all.  She pretty much stayed in it the whole two and half hours we were there.  We did manage to pull her out for food, but she went straight back in afterwards.

Allie enjoyed being in the water too.  She get roaming between the splash pad and the playground.  She couldn't decide what she liked best.

After a short while I took Lily of to ballet.  When I returned Russ told me he was going over to the house.  Jaime had a saws-all and was going to help him with the rafters.  They were gone for an hour or so.  I felt so bad for them working right during the middle of the day when it is so hot.  An hour or so later they returned with most of the rafters being sawed in half so Russ could rip them out.  Hmmm...didn't I say to do that ; )  The only problem was that Jaime had to go home, and all the rafters weren't finished being sawed in half.  I went and picked up Lily so she could come back to the party.  She got to play for five minutes in the water, before it was time to go.  She was disappointed, and I felt bad, but such is life right now.

Russ and I rounded up the girls and were talking to some friends about the Avatar party they were having that night.  They wanted us to come, but at that moment in time we didn't think we could since Russ really needed to figure out the shed.  As we mentioned that to them, Dave said he had access to a saws-all and would come over and help Russ for awhile so we could go to the party later on.  An hour or so later Dave showed up and they set to work.  I kept myself busy with the girls and shuttling ice water to Russ and Dave.  It was soooo hot outside!  

A few hours later they had everything cut out and removed!  Phew!  Originally we had hoped to have the shed finished tonight, but that obviously wasn't going to happen.  However, we were super grateful that we had even been able to get as far as we did on it.

We all cleaned up and hurriedly went shopping for an appetizer for the party, then headed over to Aaron's house.  The girls enjoyed talking with the Markham kids and watching Avatar with them.  Russ was just like one of the kids.  I spent most of my time in the kitchen talking with Carolyn and feeding Charlotte food.  That girl can sniff out food a mile away!  It was a fun little event and can't wait until we do it again.  It is really fun that we have quite a few good friends in our ward that share our infatuation with Avatar.  We drug the girls away from the TV around 8:00 so we could get home and put them to bed at a decent hour.

Today really was just go, go, go, and sadly enough the "going" hasn't stopped.  We still have a bunch of work to do on the shed, Lily's ballet recital is looming in the future, school is coming to end, and much, much more.  Stay tuned for updates on all of that!

New Year's Eve Party

This was our first year celebrating New Year's Eve as a family.   I've been wanting to more fun things for holidays so I planned a special little night for all of us.  We had a long day and Russ felt that it would be fun to go out to eat instead of have me cook so we went to taco bell for dinner and ordered cinnamon twists for dessert! Charlotte was a HUGE fan of the cinnamon twists.  I didn't want her to have to many but she kept sneaking into everyone's while we weren't watching.  I tell you this girl is pure mischief!

While munching on our dessert we watched our new Lion King DVD that Lala and Papa Joe had sent us for Christmas.  The girls were very excited about celebrating New Year's that they insisted on wearing their party hats through the whole movie.   

Charlotte only made it through about half of the movie deciding it was time to go to bed. About that time I made some yummy Frosty's for us to eat.  They were a knock off of the Wendy Frosty's, but were not as good as I had hoped.  They also made a ton.  Probably three times as much as we needed.  I don't think I'll ever be making that recipe again!  We had just enough time to eat them before it was time for the countdown.

Allie and Lily grabbed their horns and got ready.  Daddy led us in the countdown and we all blew our horns very loudly.  The girls couldn't help but giggle and laugh at the fun times.  They were so excited about the fun time that they were having that they didn't even realize that we counted down to 8:00 instead of 12:00!

Shortly after the girls went to bed.  Russ and I stayed up until twelve reading and listened to all the people setting off fireworks.  What a great way to ring in the New Year!