Zoo Date?

 One Friday in April Wes and I decided to go and play at the zoo with Violet.  I had already gotten my hours in for the week early that morning and Wes decided he was done with work too.  Lydia and Adelle were at school so it was just the three of us. 

 Violet loves seeing the animals and chatters on and on about them. 

 The monkeys are always fun to see jumping about. 

 Violet loved this little rescued owl.  He was so small.

 There is one thing she is absolutely terrified of though.  The elephant statue.  Wes tried to take her over to the big guy, but she didn't want to see him.  She loves to talk about him when we are at home, but at the zoo she cries if we get too close. 

 The small animal house is always a favorite, especially the central room with the trickling waterfall, birds, lizards and even chickens. 

We couldn't pass up the big cats.  Violet loved seeing the sleepy tiger and his BIG paws. 

 We packed a lunch for each of us.  Wes still was hungry though and bought some zoo food.  It wasn't as good as he'd hoped.  Violet had to try some too. 

 We checked out the giraffes.  Violet wanted to see too and Wes put his little girl on his shoulders. 

 

 We met a really nice zookeeper feeding the rams.  I enjoyed hearing about her life and her passion to work with animals. 

We explored more in the Discovery area.  Wes tried to snap the perfect picture, but all he got was a girl with her eyes closed. 

 Violet wouldn't let us pass up the playground.  She even loved the old elephant slide!

 We made one last stop and Violet checked out the Discovery caves, but then it was time to head home for her nap.  It was fun to have time alone with our littlest one. 

Riding Buddy

Violet has pretty much learned how to entertain herself since I am usually busy working.  One day I turned around to see her and Pooh bear together on her pink tricycle.  They had their own little drive-in movie theater.  Best buds forever!

Aunt Erica's Easter Egg Hunt

Every year Aunt Erica has an Easter egg hunt for my girls! This year, even though she is a newlywed, she still continued on with the tradition. The girls were very excited, even though it was a windy evening. Violet got to use a trick-or-treat from grandma and grandpa. I helped her find the little hidden treasures.

Even Lydia got into the fun. She and Adelle can be pretty competitive!

Before too long the clouds rolled in and it started to rain.

That didn't put an end to the egg hunt though. They just ran around faster trying to find all of the eggs.

Who knew we'd find an egg in a car tire!

After all the eggs were found we hustled inside. Erica had hard already hard boiled eggs so they could all dye eggs together.

Who could ask for a better aunt! Her new husband, Phil, informed us that they paint eggs in England because all their eggs are brown.

Violet's favorite part was cracking open the plastic eggs and finding oodles of candy!!

What a sweet couple! Some day they are planning to move out of state so Phil can get a job as a pilot! We are sure going to miss both of them!

Before long we had to head home. Adelle did the classic mopey face and we thanked Erica and Phil for all the fun.

Eggs worth Dying For

Easter evening the girls and I decided it was finally time to dye Easter eggs.  We didn't want Lydia to miss out so we waited until she was home.  I am so thankful that Lydia still like participating in family events even though she is growing up. 



 Adelle was super excited to color the eggs and had been asking me for days if we could.  I kept reminding her that we had to wait for Lydia. 

Violet was finally old enough to dye her own eggs.  She had a fun time trying to draw on her egg, even though it was rolling everywhere.  

The girls and I always have a fun time trying to find the most beautiful way to color our eggs.  It usually involves dipping our eggs in various colors seeing what new things we can create!  We often use so much dye that the egg inside will start picking up some of the colors.  

Violet couldn't wait to dip her own egg and got a little upset when we were finally done, but she sure enjoyed it while it lasted!

I always love the days after dying eggs.  I love hard boiled eggs and they are even more fun to eat when you can crack open the colorful shells!  If only we made more each year. 

Easter and the Great Hunt!

Easter was a little different this year.   The Easter Bunny still came bringing all his sugary treats!  He also left eggs, but Lydia and I missed out on the hunt.  Lydia flew in from her Dad's and I picked her up from the airport.  While I was gone Wes snapped pictures of Violet and Adelle hunting for eggs.  He didn't use the flash, so some of the pictures are darker, but I'm glad he captured such a fun event. 

Violet really got into the hunt.  It is always a very serious event for Adelle.  She tries to find as many as she can. 

There is nothing like jelly beans for breakfast!

Zootastic!



Early in April I decided to take Philip, Adelle and Violet to the zoo.  Lydia was with her dad.  I decided to buy a year pass so you will be seeing a lot of zoo pictures this next year I'm sure.  I was so excited to take Violet.  It has been a long time since she has gone and I knew she would love all the animals.  We had a few meltdowns, but overall it was a great day. 

 Adelle is growing up so much! She really loves it when Philip is able to join us on our adventures. 

Violet really liked all the animals, particularly the elephants, but she was absolutely terrorized by the large elephant statue that sneezes and makes noises.  She didn't expect it to make noises so it has traumatized her and to this day she cries around him. 

 I always love seeing the monkeys.  There was a cute mom, dad, and baby monkey that we all enjoyed looking at. 

 We all packed our own lunches to avoid the high priced food.  Philip even shared some of his yummy candy!

 Everyone got quite a kick out of the giraffes.  They were licking the walls with their long blue tongues.  They are so beautiful and fun to watch. 

 Violet craned through the fencing to see them. 

Philip is really patient with my girls and he loves coming along.   

We also spotted a white wolf.  After our couple hour stay we had to head home for nap time.