Mothers Day

Yesterday I decided that what I really wanted for Mothers Day this year was to go DO something with my family for the day. Zane's mom hadn't mentioned wanting to pick him up for the day, so I figured we could just make plans and if she wanted him for the day we would just go ahead without him. I told Luke I really wanted to go to the zoo in Wichita and go out to lunch at Panera Bread.

As it turned out, Zane was able to go with us. His mom is picking him up this Wednesday evening, so she said she would rather just wait until then. Funny how that works out - first year we make plans with or without him, and he's able to come. :) We didn't get out of the house quite as early as I wanted this morning, but the extra sleep was definitely nice.

It was a PERFECT day for the zoo. I couldn't have asked for better weather. The zoo was busy, but not ridiculously so. And it only cost us $15 for all 4 of us to get in, thanks to moms getting in free today combined with the half off discount we get for having the membership at our local zoo. (That membership has paid for itself at least double at this point!) The animals must have also been enjoying the nice weather today, because most of them were very alert and interactive. I think our favorite was probably the chimpanzees - they were so expressive and fun to watch. There was a baby, and he had gathered up all these little treat balls and was playing a game with them. He would kick and throw them around, then throw his arms up in the air and make a face like he was laughing. It was adorable! Raegan kept squealing when we were at the penguin exhibit - definitely her favorite thanks to Jolly (her stuffed penguin, a.k.a the love of her life!)

Raegan was a rockstar today - no nap and she did great! We did have one meltdown during dinner tonight, but she spent a couple minutes in her room and calmed herself down just fine. She didn't make a peep when I put her down for bed tonight, and she typically talks to herself for awhile before she goes to sleep. I think between all the walking at the zoo, no nap, and playing on the trampoline with Zane forever tonight, she was wiped out.

Raegan was captivated by the baby chimp!

We just thought this little guy was super cute

"That's Jolly!!!!!" she said :)

Raegan was so happy to see the penguins

Annual picture with the lion statue

Here's the comparison picture from October 2011

And this one from October 2010. Look at that little chunk!!! :)

Wichita Zoo Videos

Here are those videos I promised from our visit to the Wichita Zoo last weekend. The first two are of the baby chimp and the last two are of the elephant training.

Wichita Zoo

Last Saturday we took the kids to the Wichita Zoo. It's probably my favorite zoo in Kansas (and really, probably the only zoo I like more than Wichita's is Omaha's!) We got half priced admission thanks to our membership to Rolling Hills here in town, so that was pretty nice. It was beautiful weather for the zoo, and Raegan held up pretty well, even though she didn't get down for nap until we got home a little before 3:00.

They had fun entertaining themselves on the car ride down.

Baby chimp!

Luke and I both swear that this bird talked to us. And mooed. It was pretty awesome!

Giraffe looking for a handout

Strange child....

My best attempts at getting a picture of the kids together.

Yuckyuckyuckyuckyuck! Giant spider in the Asia exhibit. Ugh.

I have some really cool videos that I'm going to post once they all load. The baby chimp was being absolutely adorable, and I got some good footage of the keepers training a couple elephants. :)

Zoo trip with friends!

This morning Raegan and I went to Rolling Hills with my longtime friend Kayley, her husband, 1 year old daughter Layla, and Kayley's mom. We got there a little after 8:00 in the hopes that we could avoid the extreme heat. It wasn't too bad, because there was a breeze, and the zoo had these lovely water misters set up at decent intervals. It was Layla's first trip to the zoo, and Raegan loves the zoo, so we all had a good time. It was nice to catch up with Kayley. I don't think we've seen each other since Christmas, and we're both so busy with work and our families that we don't even catch up by phone very often anymore.

Kayley, Brad and Layla

This tiger had the right idea! He just kept sinking further and further down into the water!

Layla was just fascinated by every animal :)

Layla and Raegan really liked the bunnies

And of course, Raegan was super excited about the chickens. She loves any kind of bird!

Posing in the museum

What a great morning!

Father's Day Car Show

Man, I have a lot of catching up to do. I guess I'll start with the most recent pictures, then figure out where to go from there.

This morning we went to the annual car show at our local zoo. (Hello, free fun thanks to our zoo membership!) It was pretty hot and humid, even at 10:30 in the morning, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

This is how Raegan enjoys a car show! :)

Luke's favorite car there

Mommy and Raegan

I just took a picture of this car because it was the EXACT same color as my toenail polish. Silly!

It doesn't quite look the same in the picture because the car was partially in the shade, but it was. Trust me. lol

Bicycle with a steering wheel. The sign said they go for about $3000 now. Yikes!

Love that brother....

Zane liked this one with the spider web on the front

Ha! Picture of Luke!!

Raegan looking up at Zane

Inside the museum to cool off a little

Zane and Raegan

Zoo trip with the kids

We are loooooving our zoo membership. Zane, Raegan and I went on Tuesday, because the weather was just fantastic that morning. The animals must have thought the weather was fantastic too, because a lot of them were out. We got to hear a lion roar as we were walking towards their exhibit, and we saw several animals that are usually sleeping or hidden from view.

I love the way the colors on this picture turned out!

Zane = goofy!

There were a bunch of toads in the prarie dog exhibit.

And the prarie dogs were actually out! Usually we don't see any!!

Raegan was excited about the geese and goslings. "Honk, honk!"

When we walked up to look at the wallaroos, this one came hopping over to the fence.

He was really interested in the kids.

He was kind of standing on tiptoe to look at them. It was really cool!!!!

Majestic kitteh is majestic.

First Week of Summer, Part One

Our first week of summer is almost over, and boy did we have a lot of fun!

Wednesday morning, Raegan and I went to the zoo. Luke and I decided it would be worthwhile to go ahead and get a family membership for the year. It includes admission to the museum and the zoo, so we only need to go as a family 4 times for it to pay for itself. We're definitely wanting to go on Father's Day, because the zoo has a big car show on one of their open fields in the morning.

Raegan and I mostly stuck to the museum, which we had entirely to ourselves. They have this wonderful play room that we entertained ourselves in for quite some time. I had forgotten the stroller, so when we were done in the museum we only walked down to the petting zoo portion of the zoo. I would say the only downside of our zoo is that it's outside of town, so there's no turning back if you've forgotten something. :)

Wait, where's the stroller?!

At first she was a little hesitant about the museum, but when we started seeing birds she started to get into it.

Rawr!

We had the whole play room to ourselves!

Wide view of the play room. Isn't it nice?

Kack-kacks!

After the zoo we brought Dada lunch. (No, I did not let her have a whole carton of french fries! lol)