Christmas and Birthdays!!

I'm so far behind in posting on here but so this is just going to be a mass of pictures covering Ryan's birthday, Christmas and Elizabeth's Birthday! Enjoy!!

Ryan's 10th Birthday: 

We took him to the zoo and then home for cake and pressies!!

Christmas Program at church:

Decorating cookies and family time:

Christmas morning:

Elizabeth's 4th Birthday:

Annual zoo trip

Dennis had off work today, the weather was beautiful, so we put away the books and took a trip to the zoo!

Elizabeth had such a great time running around and seeing all the animals!
She was completely worn out by the end of the day.

We thought it was funny, they fed the fish "salad" (as Elizabeth said).

These two cracked me up! First the one on the right was poking his head up at the glass. When I went to take the picture, the little guy on the left came over. I think he's a camera hog.

Nemo and Dori!

Funny looking unicorn fish!

Cute little monkey munching on an egg.
Elizabeth loved the monkeys!

Here they are looking in on some monkeys ;)

Sean decided to act like a monkey instead, and climb on some rocks.

Then Ryan got in on the game.

Pretty maned wolf.

We stopped and had an ice cream/snack break near some llamas.
They were enjoying the spring weather as well.

Snacking:
Dennis telling me to "quick get a picture of the ant eater"

He was pacing up and down behind trees.

Finally we saw the bears. Most of the bears were all in hiding or inside but the Polar bears stayed around to give us a show. I think they loved the camera as much as the lizards.

A Year in Review

I made a video today of pictures that we had taken through the year.
I set it to music to make sure you have your headphones or speakers ready. :)

So much happens, yet a year goes way too fast!

Enjoy the video! :)

School? On a Saturday?!

What do you mean, school on a Saturday?!

Yes, you heard that right!
We had school on Saturday, and the boys were just 'miserable' the entire time!! I mean really, who can have any sort of fun while you're running around forced to LEARN about animals at the zoo and eat ice cream at the same time!!!!

Our first visit was to the sea lions!
(the pink arrow points to the children ;) )



Elizabeth was a little taken back by them. They were darting here and there in their pool. We just had to tell her that they were like "doggies" and she started to like them a bit more... from a distance of course.



They have a small aquarium that we walked through. Sean enjoyed the jelly fish. I thought this picture turned out pretty neat.



Monkeys are always good for a laugh. This one managed to get a hold of a baby bottle that was more than likely dropped into the pen. He was having fun filling it up with water, pouring it out, standing on the bottle, rolling it around... all sorts of stuff to see how it "works".






I thought this was sweet, there was a mama monkey laying down nursing her lil'babe.




The boys got a few chances to act like monkeys themselves!!





Sean wanted to go see the Tapir next. Why? I dont know... crazy looking animal this one is!!






Of course we saw the giraffes, they have some cute babies!!



The elephants are always a great treat!!




Elizabeth wasn't all that impressed though, she was more interested in her snacks!




We got up close and personal with the Cheetahs. I did not use any zoom on this picture, he was really close!!
You can always count on the Cheetahs! I think he was enjoy the attention.



We also got a little too close for comfort to the Hippos. On this side there was glass "protecting" us but just a few steps over was the water and you could literally put your hand in the water if you reached over the edge - no bars or glass. Tubbie there, in the picture, got in the water and put on a show for us, which was pretty neat, but made mom and dad a bit nervous how close he was.


I thought this was a funny picture. Not quite sure what it says on the sign, we just assumed it meant not to walk down there. The picture is funny though, what does that mean? No "goose stepping" ?!



Here are some pretty flowers that were in the garden! I love spring time over here, it's so colorful!!!


Finally, just some quick snaps of Elizabeth I took before church this morning. :)