The Zoo

We had a visit from Meme & Grandad over Memorial Day weekend and one of the "musts" on the agenda was a trip to the zoo. It was a perfect day! The weather was great so we got to see lots of animals moving around. This was Mallory's first trip this year and it was a lot more fun for her (and us) since she knows so many of the animals and sounds they make, etc.

She loved watching the monkeys, gorillas, orangutans, etc...

There was a lot of pointing going on ... "hey, hey, see-em?" (see him?)

Those same two ... showing off.

Casey said to me at this exhibit ... do you think the momma monkey ever looks at the baby monkey and says, "Will you just go find something to do? You're driving me nuts today!" Made me laugh...

Mallory was thrilled with the aquariums ... she also loved the penguins when they waddled around and jumped in the water.

Shortly after the fish we saw two snakes, I don't remember what kind, but we obviously caught them at lunch time. BOTH had mice in their mouths ... half way ... one was making steady progress ... quite a sight.The "cooling mist" areas were equally as exciting to Mal as the animals.

We hit the petting zoo ... loved feeding the goats, though she was not a fan of the bigger, pushier ones ... too aggressive! Then it was home for a nap, but not before she snagged a snack

April 2010 - Blue Harbor Resort

Here are the pictures from our trip to Blue Harbor Resort & Waterpark in APRIL. I'm clearly a little behind in posting.

Casey, Mallory and I went with my brother, his wife and my niece to an indoor waterpark about 40 minutes from where we live. We spent two nights (one night would have been fine) and enjoyed the comfort of the 80 degree waterpark since it wasn't nearly that nice outside.

Here's a view of the resort from a very windy pier.
Dinner the first night ... "the whole nine yards". We got pizza, chicken tenders, french fries, cheese nuggets, chips, salsa and drinks ... enough to feed us all with leftovers.

A visit from the tickle monster!

...the sprinklers were a hit...

These fountains fascinated the girls...

....we could have just hit a local park with a splash pad. Cheese!

Jill & Ember

Uncle Kevin & Mallory

...storytime before bed...

...in-room entertainment...

Mallory & Ember shared some cheerios and eggs

from the breakfast buffet

...fun in the game room...

I think we walked the steps to these slides at least 100 times!

(videos to follow)

The food was a hit too ... the breakfast buffets were fabulous, one had a "made-to-order" omelet bar, we visited a local steakhouse for steak and seafood (grilled cheese and fries for the little ones) and had hand-dipped ice cream from a little shop in the resort. YUM.It was a fun little getaway and it was nice to enjoy the heated waterpark with the cool spring weather outside.

Sand & Water Table

Mallory has her very own sand & water table to play in this summer. We haven't actually put water in it yet since the weather has been so hot & cold (literally), but she is LOVING the sand.
And she has already discovered SO many uses for the table...

She can play in the cover!

(this was a HOT day)

She can SIT in the table - it's a sand box!

(before we bought play sand she carried it from our horse shoe pits)

OR!

...when RUDY comes over...
...he might be patient enough for her to bury him in sand...
(check out Buckeye off the deck)

Who needs the beach??

Hmm, this was taken over the weekend, but mysteriously there isn't NEAR that much sand left in the table. Casey and I are taking bets on how many bags of play sand can disappear in one summer. What do you think?

Simple Pleasures

Happy Mother's Day!

Knowing how much I loved the edible arrangement he got me last year for Valentine's Day, Casey thought it would be an appropriate gift for Mother's Day as well. But there's one difference ... he MADE this one! I'm still so impressed with his creativity and how it turned out. He tried to enlist Mallory's help, but apparently she only wanted to run off with the fruit! I was out of the house Thursday night so he gave it to me when I got home. It probably goes without saying that it didn't even last until today, haha. YUM!
Here's a quick picture from my mom's house today. This is (left to right) random neighbor girl, Mallory and Ember. Each face is better than the next, but they're sitting on our gift to my mom.

I hope your Mother's Day was a happy one!

Strike Three??

So they say bad things happen in threes, right? Well, this afternoon, PRE-BUNNY RABBIT INCIDENT I cranked up the umbrella on our patio table and windexed the glass so I could fold some laundry. I was multi-tasking while Mallory played in the sand, collected rocks, chased the dogs, etc.

Fast forward past the poor bunny's death, past the peeing on the freshly cleaned carpet (see previous post), Mallory was napping and I was catching up on other stuff. I actually HEARD a large gust of wind and then...........A LOUD CRASH.

I walked outside to find this:

Seriously?

NICE.
Thousands of shards of safety glass.
In every deck crevice.
And not so safety-like since I did manage to get a small cut.

Who would have thought?

Here's to an uneventful Wednesday!

Lunch

Over the past couple months we've trained the dogs to stay in the family room during meals. There's really no need for them to be in the kitchen begging and it was just enabling Mallory to throw food on the ground since it's obviously hilarious to watch them snatch it up. Anyway, they do a pretty good job now though Buckeye does get exceptionally sneaky once in a while (and you can see how they both like to push the boundaries eeeever so slightly).

Aren't they cute??
They're actually both for SALE.

Since lunch Claddagh killed a bunny in our yard
(sorry, no picture ...)
and Buckeye peed in the family room on the carpet
I just cleaned YESTERDAY!

OK, they're not for sale.
Dogs will be dogs.
I take it back.