Happy Resurrection Day!

 

 

Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My!

 

So we didn’t really see tigers or bears, but we did get to see a lot of animals on our trip to Oz—I mean the NC Zoo—this past weekend. We’ve been planning this trip awhile. The zoo is actually only a 2-hour drive from our house, but it has to be an all-day adventure because there’s a lot to see & do. We wanted the weather to be just right. It turned out to be a little cold but still a sunny, nice day. We went with our friends Nathan & Laura. Brett got the day off work.

 

The first half of the park is North American animals. First stop: the seals. They were playing around with us at the window.

 

Then we saw bison.

  

The aviary was a favorite. The birds got so close. Leah & Andrew loved this little quail.

  

We rode a bus to get back to the parking lot, where we had a picnic lunch. This was, of course, Andrew’s favorite part. He had a fit every time we had to get off. (Of course no nap & a whole day of walking made this even worse!)

Oh, Abigail was there, too. She had it rough!

  

After lunch we went on an African safari.

We found the baboons rather disgusting.

 

The ostrich came by to say hello.

 

The chimp posed for us.

 

The gorillas were one of our favorites. They had two babies that were only a few months old. The mommies would swoop up their babies & throw them on their backs to carry them around. This little one grabbed on to his mommy’s leg & she dragged him around. They were so cute!

 

We stopped at Lemur Island for Abigail to take a milk break.

There was only one lion, but he was huge. And he ROARED for us.

We were bummed to find out many of the animals were off exhibit because it was too cold. We didn’t get to see giraffes or bears. And we almost didn’t get to see zebras or elephants. We saw the zebras on our way to the tram to leave. And then, we asked the driver if the elephants had come out yet, and they had! So we rushed to see them. There was one out & he was leaving shortly after we got there! Leah said he was her favorite.

 

We definitely plan to go back again, and the visit will probably be different, since there was so much we still didn’t see. It’s definitely a long day trip. I know the kids won’t soon forget all they saw!

 

Hotel Fun

 

The weekend of my brother’s wedding, my children got their first experience in a hotel room. It occurred to me halfway there that they didn’t even know what a hotel was, and Leah had no clue we were going to spend the night. We had told her about the swimming pool and told her she could take some of her toys and she was so excited about those things it didn’t occur to her that we’d also packed clothes & everything we’d need to sleep there! We got to swim in the pool Saturday morning and though at first they were both a little scared of how big it was, they got used to it. Leah was able to stand up in the 3 foot and walked around boldly. Andrew sat on the step most of the time until Daddy came to carry him around. Abigail even got to get in the water (she doesn’t have a swimsuit yet so she just wore a diaper). She only tolerated it about a minute or two before she was all done and then she was content to lay out on the side.

 

  

And at the end of the day, these two giggle boxes were exhausted, but had a hard time settling in their shared bed. They talked and laughed until 10:00 or later both nights we were there and then woke up a few times throughout the night the first night, but overall they did really well adjusting to the new situation. And didn’t they look so cute once they were really resting peacefully?

Wedding Weekend

 

This past weekend my brother got married. He married a great girl named Jenipher who has really been a good match for him. They got married near her hometown, which is about an hour or so from our house. The ceremony & reception were held at a little “farm” type area with a pretty lake, cabins, and a nice building for dinner & dancing. The ceremony was outside by the water. Friday night the rehearsal was freezing cold, but the weather Saturday turned out beautiful, in spite of the drizzling in the morning.

When we got there Friday we had some time to wait before the rehearsal. We walked across a big bridge.

And Andrew chased this poor kitty EVERYWHERE. She was a good sport.

I missed most of the rehearsal itself because I had to take Abigail inside where it was warmer—she was not a big fan of the wind blowing in her face, and she was hungry. But Brett took some pictures. And I did enjoy the good food we had for dinner.

 

Leah got to be the flower girl, along with Jenipher’s younger niece. She was an absolute princess! She was so excited about wearing her pretty dress. Jenipher told her to twirl and dance when she was throwing out the petals, and boy did she ever! She was a ham and everyone thought she was too cute.

    

 

Thankfully, with the ceremony being outdoors, I wasn’t as concerned about Andrew being still and quiet. Most of the time he played with his cars on the ground.

Our pictures of the ceremony probably have a little different view from the photographers’, but you can see how beautiful everyone looked.

              

     

These ring bearers were so funny to me. They came down the aisle to some cool boy music.

The reception turned out to be a lot of waiting. All three kids were getting fussy by the end, and Abigail (my usually easygoing baby) especially cried a good part of the meal (until my dad volunteered to take her downstairs and ended up rocking her to sleep in her car seat). She hadn’t had a good nap all day. We had told Leah we were going to the “ball” so during all of dinner she kept asking when we’d get to dance. Both kept asking when we’d get cake (and as you can see, they got CAKE!—a huge piece).

  

Finally it was time to dance, but we only stayed a few minutes because it was already around 9:00. Leah did get to do some twirling around on the dance floor. Most of the rest of my pictures didn’t turn out great because it was all moving so fast.

 

   

 

 

And this was how we all felt by the end of the night.

It was a long and busy day but we were so happy we could celebrate with BJ & Jenipher on their big day!