Zoo 2013

I think we have decided to make our annual spring trip to the zoo a tradition.  Two Fridays ago the weather was perfect!  I convinced Bob to take the day off from work (not a hard thing to do) and we packed up the car and headed down.

I was sad that the zoo train was under construction, as I thought that would be Tayo's favorite part.  But even better than the train was all the construction!  Bulldozers, loaders, dump trucks, and excavators.  Tayo was in heaven.  He could have stayed there and watched that for a few hours then headed home, forget about the animals.

But we convinced him that there was more to see at the zoo.  So on our way we went. 

Well we didn't know which way to go.  Who do we ask for help when we don't know which way to go? That's right the map.  (We've been watching way to much Dora.)  Hannalee looked at the map and decided our first stop would be the elephants.

The elephants were just having their breakfast.  It was amazing to watch them use their trunks. They have amazing coordination.  The baby elephant was to short to reach the food, so it swept the ground for the hay the mommy elephant had dropped.  Hannie thought it was hilarious when the baby elephant reached into its mommy's mouth for food.

Next stop, the rhinos.  This is Bob's favorite animal.

 We hadn't been to the zoo since they had opened up the aquatics center.  It was AMAZING.  Tayo's favorite animal at the zoo was the otters.  He would laugh and laugh as they swam past him. Then he started laughing just to get the attention of everyone around.  One little boy was yelling at Tayo that he was too loud.

 My favorite part was the seal enclosure.  We got there at a perfect time. They were just getting ready to feed the seals.  It was amazing to watch them do tricks.  Each trainer had a shape that they put at the edge of the water.  The seals knew which shape was theirs and would automatically come to their trainer.

We didn't get to see much of the polar bear.  He was inside every time we came to see him.

But the grizzly bears were fun to watch.  

 They were playing with each other and the one pushed the other one into the water.

 
I have never been to the zoo at a time when the big cats are not lounging in the shade.  It was fun and scary to see the tiger up roaming.

 Hannalee's favorite animal? The ones on the carousal.

 Tayo on the other hand cried and got so hysterical that Bob had to take him of the animal and hold him for the remainder of the ride.

 What a great day a the zoo!

Hello Sunshine

 

 

  

These two are my sunshines! They make my day full of life and excitement.

I love them with all my being.

Just thought you should know.

Random February Pictures

 Hannalee is such a great helper these days.  She does a great job "watching" Tayo and playing with him as long as I am not in the same room.  The biggest problem is that Tayo doesn't like her being the boss and gets naughty.  But sometimes he just goes with the flow and lets her be "mom".  (Like today, I asked her to get Tayo dress. She did and he let her!)

 Tayo and Hannalee LOVE being read to.  At first the only books Tayo would sit and listen to were tractor books, but now he'll listen to any thing. Tayo even loves when Hannalee reads to him.

Tayo likes to haul animals:

 Hannalee pushes baby dolls in strollers while Tayo pushes blankets.  And he can suck his thumb and push a stroller:

Helping daddy push another foot of snow!

My silly girl:

Love this face he makes when he is trying to do something that is hard to do:

Tayo is a bit OCD when it comes to playing.  Everything ends up in a line:

Hannalee loves to brush Tayo's teeth and surprisingly Tayo lets her:

Playing Tractors:

Hannie Skis Again

For the last few Mondays we have been taking turns (Bob and I) to take Hannalee skiing at Nortic (I know it is called Wolf Mountain, but it will always be Nortic to me).

She is LOVING skiing and doing great!  She is an expert at the magic carpet and can load and unload all by herself.  After only two times down the magic carpet run she decide she wanted more of a chalenge.  "Lets ride the big lift."

Ok, but boy was it scary for a mommy.  The lifts seem so much higher when holding onto a four year old who likes to wiggle and is who still has no concept of hights.  Hannalee was fine with the lift and never even fell when getting off (something I remember doing a lot of when I was her age).

For the first time down the "big hill". the steepest hill she has been on yet, we used the harness.  She did great at turning left, but there is only so far left you can go before the fences makes you turn right.  It was hard to explain which way to turn, since she doesn't know left and right yet.

By the time we got to the bottom I was tired.  But Hannalee was just getting warmed up.  So up we went again.  This time I told Hannalee that she needed to follow me.  It was a big leap of faith for me.  I had to let go of the harnesses and Hannalee was on her own.  If she were to get going to fast I would not be there to pull her back. If she was going to run into someone or something, I was not close enough to stop her.  Big leap of faith here we go.

But she did it! She turned both directions. She followed me.  She turned where I turn and slowed down when she needed to.  She can ski all by herself!  It was so exciting to see.  It was a very proud mommy moment.  (And every everyone who I called that night could hear it in my voice. :0)

Now the only bummer is that when we are just getting warmed up to skiing, so is the weather.  Hopefully next winter she will remember how far she has come and we can really start skiing.

Tayo at 2 years

Tayo, my little man, you bring so much happiness to our life. 

You have a smile and giggle that are contagious.  Sometimes you just break into a silly laugh just to make us laugh at you.  You love to be tickled which makes you laugh and laugh.

You are my little snuggler.  When you wake up you love to snuggle on my shoulder and rock.

You are a boy through and through.  You love to play in the dirt and sand.  Your favorite toys are trucks, trains, and tractors.  You're constantly pushing one of those around.  You also love stuffed animals; you like to pet them and then make them attack us.  If you are ever seen with a baby doll, we know you are just trying to drive your sister crazy.

Which brings me to my next point. You love to bug your sister.  You know just what pushes her buttons; whether it's "touching her", taking her things, opening doors she wants shut or closing doors she wants open.  You don't really ever want to do what she does.  You like to do your own thing.  She is actually the one that copies you. 

You are still a thumb sucker and you love your fuzzy blankets with the white bias strip on them.

 You still don't have many words, though you are pretty good at jabbering and trying to get us to understand.  The words you say are: dada, ma, tractor, yeah, juice, cheese, stuck, please, and oh-no.  You still sign for more, all done, please, and milk.

Your favorite time of day is when daddy comes home.  You scream "dada" and run in an almost dancing run strait for him.  He is your favorite person.  Once daddy dropped you off in Primary with me.  You started crying like he was leaving you with a stranger.  I know you love me too and your my little buddy, but you have a very strong relationship with daddy.

Happy Birthday To Us!

This year's birthday is one that has brought me much trepidation (next year will be even worse!).  It's my last year in my twenties....sigh.  That means I am going to need to take full advantage of my youth this year.  And so far it has been great!

My wonderful husband stayed home with the kids for my birthday and sent me skiing. Thank you! And what a perfect day to go skiing! 

 Bob and the kids set me up with some new gear for running.

 Hannalee made me a great card.

And this yummy banana cream pie from Madox had been sitting in the fridge all weekend, just taunting us.

Having Tayo's birthday the day after mine makes for many days of partying around here.  On my b-day my mom came up so we also celebrated for Tayo too.  We made him a new quilt (see the full description on my quilt blog...soon).  Here is the picture Hannie took of it.  He loves the tractors on it.

 On Tayo's birthday we went grocery shopping and picked him up a balloon.  What a happy boy.

Tayo was an expert at unwrapping.

A stuffed dog from Hannie.

He got a remote-controled car.  It mesmerizes him that it can drive all by its self.

 Hannalee helped frost the cake.

 Tayo was so excited when he saw his cake.  He wanted so bad to take the tractors off. But he waited until after the birthday song.

 As you can tell, he was having way to much fun with the tractors and frosting to worry about eating the cake.  He sat in his high chair and played for 45 min!