Moving On

The end of the year wrapped up a couple of weeks ago and Cb's and F both had milestones.

First, at Cb's school, one student from every grade received a "S.O.A.R." award, but I forgot what each letter stood for.  Anyway, Cb's was the kindergartner who received it!  I was so proud!  It was a strange feeling because it's the first academic recognition she's been awarded.  I can't describe it, but if that's how I felt about a kindergarten award, I am going to be a mess as she gets older and achieves more.

Second, F graduated preschool!  He is excited to be in Cb's school and class next year.  I'm looking forward to teaching them both, as well.

Finally, here are some pictures from our first zoo trip of the summer.

It was a bit hot, so we cooled off by dumping water on our heads.

Zoo Day

My parents bought us a family zoo pass for my birthday, so we decided to break it in today since Cadence had the day off from preschool.

Atticus did pretty well for his first trip.  He started off a bit grouchy, but once he ate, he was a happy camper.

We love our zoo trips!

Zoo Day

We woke up yesterday, saw the beautiful weather outside, and decided it was a perfect day to go to the zoo!  Woo-hoo!  I love zoo trips!  

Cadence loves to pose for the camera, so I got plenty of pictures of her.  Don't you like her zoo outfit?  She put it all together herself.  

Finn wanted to wear matching hats with daddy.  Finn wanted to see sheep and Cadence really wanted to ride the train (which we did at the end).  

As soon as we pulled into the zoo parking lot Cadence said, "Grandpa used to take me to the zoo."  She misses her Grandpa dates.  We ate our lunch by the seals, my favorite.  They were poking their heads in and out of the water for us while we enjoyed our packed lunches.  Finn was great at making all the animal sounds for us.  He's got a talent!  

Aria was content to stroll around and look at everything, so I'll take that as a sign that she liked it.  We are looking forward to several more trips to the zoo this summer, hopefully meeting up with friends and cousins.

Going To The Zoo

Words and Music by Tom Paxton

Daddy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow, 

Zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow; 

Daddy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow, 

We can stay all day.

[Cho:]

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo;

How about you, you, you?

You can come too, too, too.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

See the elephant with the long trunk swingin',

Great big ears and long trunk swingin',

Snuffin' up peanuts with the long trunk swingin';

We can stay all day.

[Cho:]

See all the monkeys scritch scritch scratchin',

Jumpin' all around and scritch scritch scratchin',

Hangin' by their long tails scritch scritch scratchin';

We can stay all day.

[Cho:]

Big black bear, all a huff huff a-puffin';

Coat's too heavy, he's huff huff a-puffin',

Don't get too near the huff huff a-puffin',

Or you won't stay all day.

[Cho:]

Seals in the pool all honk honk honkin',

Catchin' fish and honk honk honkin',

Little seals honk honk honkin'; (high pitched voice)

We can stay all day.

[Cho:]

(Slower tempo)

We stayed all day and we're gettin' sleepy,

Sittin' in the car gettin' sleep sleep sleepy,

Home already and we're sleep sleep sleepy,

We have stayed all day.

[Cho: (alternate)]

We've been to the zoo, zoo, zoo;

So have you, you, you.

You came too, too, too,

We're been to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

Momma's taking us to the zoo tomorrow,

Zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow;

Momma's taking us to the zoo tomorrow,

We can stay all day.

cho:

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

Yesterday we decided to go on an impromptu trip to the zoo! It was a cool day, perfect for walking around and looking at animals. So, after eating lunch at home, we packed up and headed down to the zoo while the kids napped in the car.

Cadence wanted to see the sea lions, which turned out to be a very active exhibit, not PG rated. They were barking, diving into the water, jumping up on rocks, and having a little romance. The kids thought it was funny how they were "playing" together.

From there, we headed to Finn's favorite animals, the monkeys. Unfortunately, only one monkey came out to see us, but he was entertaining. I think he enjoyed the spotlight.

Then, it was time for me to feed Aria. So, while I fed her, Brad and the kids went to see the tigers. Brad said that the tiger was walking on top of the edge of his wall and Finn kept saying, with real concern, "Don't fall in tiger. Be careful! Don't fall in tiger." What a sweet and caring boy. On their way out, they stopped for lollipops! Why else would you drive an hour and a half down to the zoo, but for lollipops.

The trip wasn't over yet, though! We had a gift certificate to Cinzetti's, that we got from my parents last Christmas, and we still had to use it before it expired. So, we called up Mimi and Kevin and were able to treat them to a wonderful dinner and have some fantastic company. They are always such a blessing to be around and so tolerant of our energetic kids. We took a nice little walk after dinner so that we could talk more before having to part ways. It was a fantastic day!

Zoo Day

So all of my posts are going to be a few days behind when the actual activity happened for awhile because Aria doesn't give me much down time to type. In fact, I'm typing this with one hand while feeding her.

This past Monday we ventured down to Denver to go to the zoo. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to get out of the house. Cadence, Finn and I went on a train ride while Brad strolled Aria around. They loved it! Finn's favorite animals of the day were the monkeys. Cadence's favorite part was feeding the birds pieces of her bread while we were eating. Aria's favorite part was when we got home. My favorite part was the peacock that hung out by us while I fed Aria. He raised his feathers twice! I love how beautiful and vibrant peacocks are. I don't know what Brad's favorite part was. It was a tiring day, and much easier to this activity when we lived in Lakewood, but I'm glad we went and that the kids got to do something fun.