Zoo Days

Grana came down at the end of February for a few days and this is what our backyard routine has turned into on these newly welcomed beautiful days:

Turning into such a big boy... in his Elmo (melmo) jammies

Logan playing "cool dude"

This is the time of year that having a zoo membership is REALLY useful! We went two Wednesdays in a row in the last two weeks, and if it hadn't rained last Monday, we'd have made a third trip with friends during Spring Break!

Beautiful day at the zoo called for picnic by the duck lake

Even though we have a zoo membership, we had never taken a ride on the train. Special memory with Grana I guess!

Ryan's "stroller" for the day... so fun!

Notice how Logan was our little tour guide... he LOVES the map!

Checking things out

Elephants are a big deal in our house... Ryan's got a GREAT elephant impersonation and both boys are just kind of mesmerized by them!

We even got to enjoy an elephant performance

The African Forest opened in the winter, but this was our first visit since November so it was a greatly anticipated exhibit for us!

Grana and the boys in the caves

Drum fun!

We have always used "Rhino" as a nickname for Ryan and have really been anticipating the arrival of the rhinos. Ryan and his counterparts:

Rhino LOVE

These things are massive! Pretty interesting animals!

Mommy has a thing for the giraffes! :-)

Ryan's first petting zoo experience... NO fear, NO surprise!

The second visit was Daddy's first time to join us at the zoo! This made things very nice, as it was great for me to share in this fun stuff with Jeff instead of just telling him about it!

Logan was definitely in a posing mode this day!

Daddy showing Ryan the elephants

This was the first time EVER that the bears weren't asleep

The zoo membership was the best birthday present for Ryan the family last year! We are loving getting to know our way around and figuring out the best ways to make a day of that trip! So glad we've now shared it with Jeff and looking forward to bringing friends along with us throughout the Spring and Summer!

Love and Shamrocks

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Holidays have gotten a lot more fun with each year. Logan likes to do fun activities, thinks making (and sharing!!!!) cookies is tons of fun and I like getting to get creative with him.

For Valentine's Day, I already blogged about our Daily Love Note activity HERE. It was a great hit and since he traveled for the whole week before leading up to the big day of love, it was nice to get to write them all and for him to receive a note from me each morning that he was at Grana and Papa's house.

I decided to try something new for his "gift" by doing his first scavenger hunt. Notes were hidden all over the house with hints... and he did great at "getting it".  He thought it was hilarious that his new Toy Story guy was in the dryer!

Ryan's very good at "showing" his love!

Making cookies

 

We made homemade icing too... 

and Ryan woke from his nap JUST in time for a taste!

He was quickly moved to the high chair for that mess

 Give me more!

He has figured out the use of the step stool too... 

to get more icing...

This is his "busted" look!

Logan doesn't decorate for long, as he'd rather just eat them!

Logan got ahold of the camera!

Self portraits... gotta love 'em!

The finished products!

 We delivered cookies to the neighbors and still had more than enough!

We had breakfast for dinner! 

Heart shaped pancakes, bacon and strawberries!

And because Logan only wanted the actual hearts, daddy and Ryan ate all the extra bits!

And, now that I've gotten you caught up from our Valentine celebration, let me fill you in on how today went. We made these the night before (as this morning and day was going to be VERY busy!).

SO fun!

 

Left some for guests to decorate on their own.

In the middle of the night, magic happened in our home! 

 

And apparently Logan wasn't very thrilled about this!

(He woke up on the wrong side of the bed!)

 Time for some green eggs for breakfast... 

Ryan and Mommy ate them- Logan ate the plain yellow ones!

Logan received a "Happy St.Patty's Day" activity from Grandma, but for one reason or another, it was on his mind to do it "however he wanted" and this is what we got! (Again, wrong side of the bed!)

After waking up on the wrong side of the bed and making it through the green milk and green eggs, he was totally THRILLED! We went to the Y and he was on a mission to pinch anyone that wasn't wearing green AND to tell EVERYONE about our green milk and green eggs, asking them if "magic" happened to their milk too. So funny how he can go from one extreme to another on something... I mean really, did you check out that pout face when he found the green milk?

I made green jello too, but when he saw it, he told me he didn't like green jello and that daddy could eat it all himself! Go figure!!!

Grana, Papa and Aunt Kelley came today and are here for the last weekend of their Spring Break! We combined the whole family by going out to eat with Grandma and Grandpa too, but all those pictures (of the boys in their matching green shirts!) are on my mom's camera, so this update is a bit "incomplete". Such is life!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

and Valentine's Day too!