Pick up Mima and head to the Zoo!

After picking Mima and Grandpa Scott from the airport (from their vacation to their home in Montana) we headed to the zoo! The kids had been anticipating this trip for weeks! Even tho Grandpa and Mima were EXHAUSTED (having been up since 3:30AM our time) they were reading to party (so to speak!) First we checked out the flamingos and the then we saw the monkeys. Oli was just interested in snacks. Here they are watching the swinging apes.

Here's my own swinging ape. This is what a 3 year old does when we are watching the bats (do nothing). Probably far more exciting.
Aurelia was armed with her Uncle Mikey camera and shot anything that moved. We'll have to post her viewpoint of the day later on.
Oli is as cut as a bug. Here's the proof!
Lunchtime involved sandwiches, icees and hanging out at the wall.
Did I tell you we're thinking of changing Oli's name to Linus? He certainly does a good impression (notice he has TWO gas. VERY important).
While watching the giraffes, we discovered that the young can be as irritating to their mothers as human children are to us. This little guy kept butting his momma's head so finally she started swinging back. It didn't look like love to me, but whatever.
Here's cutie face posing with the "toy" he helped decorated with goat's wool for the lions. Aurelia helped too.
Aurelia WAS wearing her cute new cowgirl boots, from Montana, but here they are off as she shows us how an elephant trumpets. I liked how this photo made the elephant look as if it were trying to take her hat.

Ah- and here we are at the end of the day making our souvenier penny. See the cute boots??

Back at the home-front (on a different day, even) Ezra and Oli get as close to fishing as they've ever come. Good practice for later, right?
And here are Aurelia and Mima snuggle-laughing.
What a great day, Thanks Mima and Grandpa Scott!! We love you!

Animal Watching

Sunday was a recap (I think) of VBS at our church, so Jason didn't have to be there to play the drums (it's been a long time since he's had a Sunday off) so we skipped church *gasp!* and headed out for a family day of fun! We asked Ezra if he knew what a zoo was. He said "Yes" as he nodded his head. So we asked him "well, what is it?" and he had no idea (gee I wonder why - it's only beentwo years since we've been to a zoo) so we decided to head up to the Sacramento Zoo.

Check it out! We were at the front of the line when the bridge went UP to let a boat go underneath. Here it is coming back down.
The Sac Zoo is pretty great. Not too big and the enclosures are really natural looking, but not so overgrown that one can't find the animals. Most of the animals were actually out and around even though it was hot and in the middle of the day so we really got to see a lot and not get too tired! Here's Ezra getting close to the tiger. Wow!
Jason and Ezra enjoying the giraffes who were enjoying a little lunch.
My dancing queen pulling out the vegetation and putting on a little show for us : )
These are the cutest little kangaroos ever (in this momma's humble opinion!)

Just below is Oliver (my little Olligator) who had to be covered up most of the time, but there was a lot of shade so he was able to stay cool and enjoy the ride.

Here's Ezra and Aurelia climbing on a cute little alligator sculpture. Next time we head out that way we're going to visit Fairytale Town, which is just across the street, so they can climb to their hearts' content.I thought it was kind of interesting that they had this big aquarium full of koi, but the kids were pretty fascinated with the big fish. Aurelia wanted to look at the fish from the top so Jason held her up and she decided that it was pretty smart of the zoo to put this window in so we could get a good look. For some reason this made her want to hold her own fish, Daniel, in her hands when she got home, but we had to say "no" to that. I have to say that the reptile and amphibian house at this zoo is the best I've seen ever. The design was really smart, it kept people moving, it was cool (a huge plus on this 100 degree day) and it had a lot of great, easy to find creatures.
The last part of the day was spent on the train ride. Aurelia was so enthralled with the ticket punching process. It made her feel very grown up to hand over our tickets and get them punched. Ezra just loved the idea of getting on a train. I had fun too!
Here's a few photos of the kids starting up at gymnastics.

Ezra on the trampoline - Teacher Kristi was surprised at his "natural ability" until I told her we have a trampoline at home!
Aurelia doing high steps on the Balance Beam.
I'm not sure what they were doing here. Ezra had to do bear walks across but the bigger class must have been doing something else. My momma took the photos this first day of class (thanks, Mom!) Anywho . . . The kids were JAZZED to be back at gymnastics! Ezra got up the next morning and said he was ready to go to gymnastics again!