Post birthday grandma and papa fun

The girls got a basketball hoop from my parents for their birthday.  It had been rainy and wet, so when the sun finally came out, Greg got it put together, and they played outside with grandma and papa.

I was at work, but Greg had taken the day off, so they went to the zoo and took another picture on the bear.  I really need to dig out a series of these bear pictures.

Airport for lunch outside.

Pretty sure this was playing in the car when they got home from zoo.  Yes, that would be Rebecca, upside down in her car seat, reading a book. 

Park and zoo

How could a day that starts out like this be bad?

Getting in the car to go to the zoo.  It just struck me how old Emma looks here.

At the bar, we discovered this little gem that had been previously overlooked.  But oh how they loved it.  We attracted a couple of other kids, too, so finally we had to turn it over or I think the girls would have been there all day.

We finally made it into the zoo.  Um, sometimes I'm pretty sure that the girls like the animal statues more than they do the actual animals.

I think Emma was looking at the goats.

Chickens and ducks.

Rebecca looking for the owl.

See that smirk?  She's just about to tell me "I was just kiddin'."  I don't remember about what... something having to do with food or lunch, but it just totally hit me that she's at that age where she likes to be funny and kid.  She hasn't started telling jokes yet, unless poop jokes count.  ("You want poop for dinner?")

This was two weeks ago now, I can't believe how time flies, and how far behind I am.

We went out to lunch to the airport after the zoo, and saw some drawings for a new park that they are adding right next to the little restaurant.  Should be awesome!

Last weekend

Ok, so last weekend for real this time.  It was supposed to be rainy all weekend, which of course meant it was gorgeous out on Saturday morning.  Fearing a weekend stuck inside, we headed for the zoo.

And by zoo, I mean playground outside the zoo.

Emma finally shed her hat.  First time on the big girls swings.  I tried to teach her to pump her legs.  I think she got it, but didn't quite have the rhythm down.

We did finally make it into the zoo.

Love this pic of Emma, even though I don't remember taking it.  And she did the hair clip herself.

The two lions are next to each other.  I think Becca was roaring at Julie and Emma.

Hugs on the lion

Sometime, when I get a chance, I'm going to have to do a series of the "sitting on the bear at the zoo" pics.  Check out Emma and Becca's "cheese" faces.

The squirrel was eating the chickens' food.

It was still pretty bright and sunny when we left the zoo, and Julie had been requesting to eat at the airport for a few days, so that's what we did.

watching the planes

We had a bit of a wait, but we actually ate outside.  In mid-February.  We colored for a bit, and Julie still talks about how daddy put his keys on her coloring sheet to keep it from blowing away.

And then they discovered the hole in the middle of the picnic table.  When we asked why it was there, I believe the consensus was that someone got hungry and took a bite out of the table.  Much silliness ensued. 

Emma was quite proud of her onion ring Mickey Mouse.

December Daily: Dec 14, 15, 16

Wednesday December 14 was another work day, with the girls home with Grandma and Papa again.  Greg and I came home early, though, because the girls had a 6 month recheck with the ENT to take a look at their tubes.  Emma's are still in, Julie's are barely hanging in, and Becca has one left.  The good news is that their ears look great, they will most likely not need another set of tubes, and we don't need to go back for 8 months.

We all went out to dinner, and Papa chose the restaurant at the airport.  We got there just as it was getting dark, and got to see a bunch of planes take off, and a helicopter land.

After dinner, we went to see Santa Claus at the holiday lights that we've been going to since the girls' first Christmas.  Becca was actually excited to see Santa, but Emma and Julie?  Wouldn't let Greg and I leave the picture.

On Thursday, Dec 15, Grandma and Papa took the ladies on another trip to the park.  (On Wednesday, they discovered that cutting off breakfast at 9:00 was the only way to have time to get them out and about.  And that fresh air and running around is one of the keys to getting them to take a nap.  So on Thursday, they weren't messing with success.)

Love, love, love this picture of Julie.

Friday the 16th was again another work day.  And at the end of it, my work Christmas party.  The location was fabulous, food was great, and we got a $10 Best Buy gift card (I'm working up to an iPad) and a little tote bag.  I was exhausted and had a head ache all day on Friday.  Seriously, it felt all week like I hadn't caught up after the drive home from the Polar Express the previous weekend.  I got a short second wind at the party, but by about 9:00, I was ready to crash.  They had a photo booth at the party, so I'll use one of the photo strips in my album.

Labor Day Weekend Recap

Another blur of a weekend gone by.

To combat the girls' nap protest, we had this grand plan: We'll take them to Costco and feed them lunch, do our shopping, and let them fall asleep in the car on the way home. So this was the first weekend I tried it. After Becca ate a whole Costco hot dog and 1/4 slice of pizza, Emma ate 3/4 slice of pizza, and Julie ate half a hot dog and 1/4 slice of pizza, we shopped. And about a third of the way home, I realized they weren't asleep. And they weren't going to fall asleep. Genius me bought a new rake at Costco. And the only way I could figure (at the time) to get it home was through the middle of the car. Which meant that Emma and Julie fought over the handle and pushed and pulled and twisted the rake into me and Rebecca the whole way home.

Our "big plans" day was Sunday. We went to the Apple Festival and walked around for a bit, but it was hot. We ate as much good food as we could while we were there.

...apple slices

...fried apple pie

...apple ice cream

...apple juice

And when we were hot and sweaty and full, we ventured to the Air Museum.

"Flying" out to see the biplane.

And if that wasn't enough, we drug the girls apple picking next.






We were all pretty worn out by then, so we decided to go get some pizza for an early dinner. The girls all took a short nap on the way to get pizza - maybe 15 minutes at most. But when we got there, they were too tired to eat. I seriously don't know that I've ever seen them turn down pizza. I think Emma just stared at the soda machine the whole time we were there.

So, they crashed on the 1.5 hr drive back home, right? Nope. Wide awake. Chasing each other around when we got home.