ZOO x 2 = WOOHOO!

Our family loves the zoo and within the past two weeks we were able to go to two different ones! The last day we were home before our trip to AZ, we took the day to visit our local zoo. Daddy took the day off and went with us since he wasn't going to AZ with us and wouldn't see us for several days. We also had many of our playgroup friends there with us so we had lots of fun with everyone!

I think the chimpanzees are by far the favorite. That particular day the chimps were VERY active. They truly put on a show for everyone!

Three little friends watching the elephants...

Sweet little group of friends...

...and again...

...and one more time!

When we got to Arizona we worked hard day after day helping my mom unload, unpack and organize. On our last full day there she wanted to treat us to a day of fun so we went to the Phoenix zoo. It was absolutely beautiful. I can't even begin to describe the beauty of the scenery, and although these pictures don't quite do it justice, it will give you an idea.

Just a small portion of the entrance

Vibrant desert flowers

Papa and the girls pose with all the trees

I love this picture. If you look closely you can see desert rocks, mountains, palm trees and cactus all in one view.

Desert scenes

This plant is actually a cactus, but it looks like a miniature palm tree

My beautiful little flowers in front of the pretty desert flowers

This picture pose was their idea

HUGE tree trunk

They had a lot of really neat kid play areas and statues for the kids to play on. Here's my little joeys :-)

Cactus slide

Elephant cradle

Zora's coming out of her shell

My two beautiful little pearls

Zora practices tractor driving

The girls practice cow milking. I think we might need a farm :-)

We really did see animals while we were there, too! They have animals at their zoo that we don't usually get to see because our zoo doesn't have them. Here are some of our favorites.

Koala Bear

Petting zoo...couldn't pass that one up!

Free roaming peacocks

Cheetah

Top Dog
This was an animal I had never heard of... it is native to Africa.
It looks kind of like a cross between a hyena and a dog.

Baboons. This one was hilarious. It looked much older than all the others and it had a crimped fro. It seriously looked like someone had spent hours crimping it's hair. None of the other baboons had that much hair and all of them had straight hair.

Mandrills - such interesting and unusual animals. They almost don't even look real. Their fur is rainbow colored in the back and their faces are such vibrantly colored it looks like they are wearing a plastic mask. We sat and watched them for quite some time.

The male lion apparently didn't like us... he stuck out his tongue :-)

At the exit of the zoo there was this beautiful little pond with brightly colored fish. The girls enjoyed watching them.

Family pose!
Papa, Me, Nana, Zora, Lily

Nana Moves To AZ :-(

October 16 was a sad day for our family. Papa Doug and Nana Betty moved half-way across the country to Arizona :-(

Here is a short overview of the trip.

Saturday morning a few us gathered in front of the moving van

Papa drove the moving van and I drove my mom's van right behind him. This was my view for 2 days (almost 20 hours of driving). I took this picture right after we pulled out of my mom's neighborhood. Notice that the trailer is leaning to the left a little. Mom and I both noticed it right away, but we just thought they might have packed the trailer a little heavier on that side, no big deal, right?

A day-and-a-half later we found out that it was NOT the case. Apparently the wheel bearing was about to snap when they received the trailer and about 750 miles down the road it finally did. We were only 3 hours from my mom's new home when we got stranded on the side of the road...
We ended up having to stay the night in the nearest town because it was nearly dark and we couldn't get the trailer fixed that night. The next morning they decided to give them a new trailer instead of fixing that one, so they had to switch over all of their stuff to a new trailer before we could head out to finish the final leg of our trip.

Here's some beautiful scenery...

When we finally got to my mom's town and pulled into her neighborhood, this is what greeted us - a gorgeous, welcoming street lined with palm trees and ending with a beautiful pond and fountains.

My mom's new home!

Complete with a very pretty landscaped patio

This tree is not in my mom's yard, but it is in her neighborhood.
I love it!

Pond near the entrance of the neighborhood.

Park near the pond

Girls playing at the park

Zora peacefully thinks by the pond

Lily's thinking rock

While we were there we took the opportunity to visit with our good friends who moved there last year. We even got to see Noah play baseball!
Eva and the girls played like they have never been apart. They have such a sweet bond!

Nana Betty entertained the girls with fun little stories and rhymes during the game.
October 23, 2010 was an equally sad day because it was the day that the girls and I had to come home and leave them. Here are the girls with their Nana and Papa at the airport.
Although we were very sad to leave them behind, the girls loved their first experience in an airport and flying. They loved watching the planes land, take off and get loaded with luggage.
When we finally boarded the plane the girls got a little nervous. As we pulled onto the runway they comforted one another :-)

And here is their reaction to the take-off!

To Papa & Nana: Thanks for letting us help you move and for letting us stay a whole week in your new home! We love you and miss you very, very much!!!

Pumpkin Time!

Every year we take the time to visit a pumpkin patch and allow the girls to pick out their own pumpkins. We went with a few other homeschooling families and had a great time.

Pumpkin Pose!

Lily is searching for the perfect one

Lily found hers...

...now it's Zora's turn.

Is that Ma & Pa??? No! It's Zora & Lily :-)

Here is Zora & Aub having a duck race. Lily waits patiently for her turn to compete!

Three little friends anxious for the hayride!

THE END :-)

Lights, Camera, Action!

We stayed extremely busy during the month of October. I can't believe that the month is almost over and I'm just now finding the time to update! We started off the month with a trip to our downtown performing arts center to see a live showing of the ever-popular Click, Clack, Moo! The girls and I both love to read the books and we also love the theater so how could we pass this up?!?!?!? I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of the show, but we got one of us waiting for the show to start! Real nice, huh? Lol :-)
We also went to see Veggie Tales Live this month. I'm not really sure who enjoyed it more - me or the girls! The show was The Ultimate Silly Songs Countdown so all of my favorite ridiculous Veggie Tales songs were sung.


And by far, my absolute FAVORITE song of all - The Belly Button Song!

Thanks Jen & Jake for inviting us!