Trip to the Zoo with Grandpa

My father is in town this week for a visit with us and a vacation with his friend. It is good to see him, and important to us for the kids to have some great memories of their grandparents and great grandparents. For my dad, his special activity with the kids is taking them to the zoo, which he had previously done in DC and is now continuing in Texas. He braved to zoo alone with the two girls back in DC, but I came along with Casey and lots of snacks in tow this time. This was our second trip to the zoo, and as I mentioned in a previous post Lions, Tigers, and Bears, the San Antonio Zoo seems to have lots of birds. This time around, I got some great shots of the girls feeding the parrots (but none of the girls playing with the goats b/c I was trying to keep the goats from eating my skirt and jumping on me).

Note that Lizzy has a parrot perched on her head, which she thought was pretty cool until it started digging its claws into her scalp, which then led to a round of tears.

And the ducks.

And checking out a bald eagle (hiding in the bushes).

Swinging on the rope was fun also.

A great part about the zoo is there "Under 5 Discovery Area." We took a brief spin through it last trip, but had more time to stay and play this visit.

There activities included "fishing." Right up there with baseball as America's favorite pastimes.Pretending to be a Prairie Dog.Going to the "beach." (Isn't she a spitting image of Ryan) Taking a break at their "house."

As for Casey, he had a good time from the beginning...

...to the end. Lizzy wants to go back to the zoo again, but tomorrow, we are off to check out Natural Bridge Caverns. However, due to lighting conditions I am not betting on too many photo ops.

Three Little Monkeys

This picture was just too cute not to share with everyone. Might I add that this was conducted unprompted. I put Casey in a chair to go do something, and next thing I know the girls are up there with him and Elizabeth is asking me to take a picture.

True Love

Time hasn't change much... Elizabeth loves babies. She adored Ava and she worships Casey. She desperately wants him to be able to sleep in bed with her, and she always wants to hold him or talk to him. As for Casey, he always stops crying when she is around, and even when he is nursing he will take a break to see what Elizabeth is talking about.

First Day of School

Tuesday was the girls 1st day of pre-school at Madison Hills Baptist Church. They will go Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 2pm. Both were very excited to attend, as we have been prepping for this day for a couple of weeks now. They decorated their lunch boxes with stickers and got to pack a juice box (which they never get) and gummies (Spiderman for Liz and Strawberry Shortcake for Ava) along with their fruit and sandwiches. I also took the girls to the fabric store so they could pick out a special print for their blankets and pillows for their rest period. Ava went with ladybugs, and Elizabeth picked out guitars. This was all in the hope that they would adjust well to school. I put them in daycare a few times when we were in North Carolina back in April and they were in tears every morning when I dropped them off.There were no tears upon drop-off. Yeah!!! Ava was just bit confused on why she couldn't stay with Lizzy, but they had a nice reunion on the playground later that day. No tears from the moms either. Most had made big plans to celebrate their few hours of freedom. Casey and I went to the gym and then out to the Olive Garden for lunch with one of my girlfriends. It was a very nice feeling to only have one kid, and I think Casey enjoyed being the only child, even if it only lasted for a few hours. I am not sure what we are going to do when summer comes around again. Okay, got to run and pick the girls up from their 2nd day of school and then head over to the pool to wear them out before bedtime.

Bicycle built for Two

Ryan is doing a rotation on ultrasound right now. This means he makes his own hours as long as he gets all the pictures he needs and meet the minimum number of hours of practice. So we have been fortunate to see a lot more of him lately. First for Ava's birthday last weekend, then most evenings, and now this whole weekend. ...So we packed a picnic lunch and the whole family (including our dog Sam) and went to the park on Saturday. Elizabeth and Ava received this tandem-trike for Christmas from Gram and Bub. They got a few chances to ride it in DC, but with such beautiful weather in Texas the opportunities have been more bountiful. They had a blast racing around the playground on their bike as well as playing on the equipment, before we got into the afternoon peak of the Texas sun and it was time to go home for naps.Today, I think we will head to the pool, since it only 9:30am and already the sun is blaring.

Weddings: Love'em or Hate'em

Our good friends from medical school, Beau and Ally, got married on Friday night in a small ceremony. Both girls were asked to participate, Elizabeth as flower girl and Ava as ring bearer. This was Elizabeth's second gig as a flower girl and she was pretty excited to participate. I think most of the allure centered around the idea of eating cake. I know that is why Ava willing went along. However it tough for a 2 year old to behave when the wedding is scheduled right at her bed time. Plus, Ava took an earlier nap then usual because we had to got to the doctor to get shots for school. As for Elizabeth, she was pretty giddy because I don't think she napped at all. She has taken to laying down and resting quietly but it is not the same as "sleeping." Needless to say, the girls added their own unique flair to the wedding as only little kids can.

Instead of preceding the bride down the aisle, Elizabeth stood at the base of the stairs tossing all her flower petals on the floor while the bride passed her. Even some coaxing from the audience couldn't get her to leave her post. She insisted that she had to pick up all her flowers before coming to sit down with the rest of us. As for Ava, you could hardly get her to sit still. She kept stomping around the room, looking out the window, pulling dead leaves off of the plants, and tossing a small plastic sheep at the bride. Finally, we got her contained and she managed to hand over the ring pillow at the appropriate time. By the way, Casey was an angel the whole time.

Note the cute, but totally useless baby shoes.

Anyway, we managed to survive the ceremony and the girls added some humor which covered up our giggles at the officiant who spoke with a strange accent (but only during the ceremony).

Elizabeth willing posed for some pictures, and helped with the cake. Ava did her own thing. The only time she sat still was to share some cake with Dad and Elizabeth. I believe that Ava's opinions of weddings are that they are a lot of work just for a piece of cake and that she rather stick to birthdays.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears

The kids and I went to the zoo and met up with a friend of mine, Cara and her 2 year old son Frankie, who I met when we lived in DC. Also being a military family, she and her husband now reside in South Carolina and of course we are now in San Antonio. Luckily her parents live in San Antonio and her husband is traveling this month, so she is out here for a long visit and we get to hang out together. Our adventure this week was an outing to the San Antonio Zoo with the kids in tow. (I think our next meeting with be without all the munchkins.) Actually, we just saw mostly birds at the zoo. In fact, I think the San Antonio zoo has more birds than I have ever seen at any other zoo, but maybe that is just because San Antonio put their bird exhibit right at the entrance of the zoo. It is almost impossible to avoid, and this way the poor birds feel loved, because really who comes to the zoo to see birds! There are some cool things about the birds, like you can feed them. Cara brought dog food, so we didn't have to spend the quarter to get little food pellets from the machines. For the record, birds like dog food and so do fish and alligators. We did splurge and spend the dollar to buy nectar to hand feed the parrots. Lizzy and I thought it was pretty cool to feed the parrots. I did have to yell at one of the birds for flying on to my shoulder and trying to eat my diamond earrings. Ava was less than impressed with the parrots and sat in the stroller eating goldfish crackers, while hanging out with Casey. She and Elizabeth did enjoy brushing the goats, and Casey like the air conditioned tiny tot play area with a water bed for him to play on while the girls "fished" in a little indoor stream. It was a really nice morning, topped off with a picnic lunch next to the zoo lake, where the girls continued to feed the birds...this time pretzels and bread crusts. Sorry there aren't more pictures, but I had my hands too full most of the time to pick up my camera, but this is a place we will definitely visit again. For the record, we didn't see the poor little snow leopard at the zoo this time, obviously the 95 degree heat was too much for him.

Happy Birthday Captain Destructo

Ava (aka Captain Destructo) turned 2 this weekend. We celebrated this milestone with Ryan's family in New Braunfels with a family dinner on Sunday. Ava of course picked out a red/pink cake for her birthday and couldn't wait to dig in.

Note the Captain Destructo T-shirt that Ryan got Ava for her birthday. I got her one of her other favorites, balloons, as a gift.

Some of the other weekend fun enjoyed a picinic lunch in the backyard, some pool time, and of course popsicles.Ava continues to lead from the front. For example, she is sporting to new horns on her head from crashing her bike and take a spill down a few stairs.

She also enjoys "tearin' it up," which include running and biking at super sonic speeds.

We are hoping that "2" is going to be a great year for her, but first we need to get her screaming and whining under control.

Masters of the Indoor Play Gyms

Due to the blazing Texas summers, indoor play areas are a booming business here in San Antonio. Personally, I think it is a great idea for just about anywhere in this country to entertain kids whether it is too hot, cold, wet, etc. It is nice to have somewhere to go besides McDonald's. This was our second visit to an indoor play area this week. First on Monday because of rain, and today for a playgroup with other military spouses. Dynamoze's had 10,000sf of real estate for the kids to run, jump, ride, and play. A plus is that you can bring in your own food and drinks for snack/lunch time, so that you don't have to feed your kids garbage and you can let them stay and play right up to nap time. (I have noticed that the indoor play gyms' business sharply declines between 12-3pm.) These places are a big hit with my kids, who always seem to behave better when I take them out in public. It helps me keep my sanity and my house a lot cleaner. I even got to read two magazines and interact with some adults while the kids played.

The Elusive Ryan and the Mighty Casey

Casey is a bit over 4 months and is "stretching" like a weed. He has jumped from the 10 percentile in height up to the 50th, and is now a towering 25 inches. However due to this growth spurt his weight percentiles have dropped from 25th down to 10th at 13lbs, and to compensate for the growth spurt he is waking up once to twice a night to consume extra calories. I am looking forward to introducing solid food in the next couple of month and I am sure he will chunk up. Ryan has wrapped up his stint in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit where he was putting in a lot of long hours and he was lucky if he got to see the kids 30 minutes a day. We are hoping the his shifts in the emergency department the next 4 weeks will give him a bit more time to play with the kids when they are awake.

Disclaimer

Many of you have asked for more pictures of our house. I snapped a few of the interior and will post them, but remember our house is not staged for sale, it is where a family of five and a big dog reside on a daily basis. So I try to keep up with the chaos, but it seems never ending. The kids do their part in making a mess but they are getting better at cleaning up also. The house is a one story ranch style home built in 1978 with around 2400 square feet, plus a 3 car garage set on about 1/3 of an acre. The layout once walking in the front door is a great room in the center of the house, with the kitchen, breakfast nook, dining room, laundry room and garage on the left side of the house, and the 4 bedrooms and 2 baths on the right side. View from foyer. The GREAT room! The Kitchen. The Breakfast Nook w/ French doors to patio. Dining Room. Main Bath. Office/Guestroom. Liz's Room (soon to be the girls' Neverland Room w/ bunkbeds and lots of pirates). Ava's room (soon to be Casey's Jungle Room, formerly a "car" room). Master Bedroom (w/ Casey). Master Bath.