Category Archives holidays

Lions, and Tigers and Bears . . . Oh My!

On the 4th of July we were visiting my brother, sister-in-law and niece for the long weekend. Uncle I had to work in the morning, so we decided to head to the zoo later in the day when he was done. We had a quick lunch at Moe’s and then went to the zoo.

When we arrived nearby the zoo and parked, NHL decided to lead the way. He has been to this zoo two other times (just a year ago when we went to Aunt M’s baby shower), so he knew the way. The stroller brigade followed with Cousin S sleeping for the start of her first time to the zoo. JSL was awake and curious about all of the fuss.

The Zoo Adventure begins

NHL was on a mission. He wanted to see the lions and tigers. He was a little upset that we missed the last giraffe feeding, but was fine with just going to view them. We made our way all around the zoo and saw a lot of animals. Here is a sampling of the photos that were taken by JL. 

Animals Galore

It was a very warm day, so many of the animals were resting in the shade, hanging out in their watering holes, or hiding completely out of view by this point in the afternoon. We did have an "interesting" educational moment. The bear area is a crowd favorite. First there were the grizzly bears that were lounging. They could have cared less that we were there watching them. Next the polar bear was pacing. He/she definitely seemed to be sizing up lunch on the other side of the barrier. I have to say it was a little unnerving. Then we saw the Spectacled Bear. This bear was smaller than the rest and was quite active. The spectacled bear put on quite a show of nature. He came over to the edge of the enclosure and proceded to empty his bladder and then do the rest of his business. No, no pictures of that. However, here is a picture when he was done and NHL’s priceless reaction to the event.

4 year old's favorite part

At the end of the visit JL asked NHL what his favorite animal was. Without missing a beat he quickly replied it was the spectacled bear. When asked why he immediately replied "Because he peed!"   Yes, he is a boy of almost 5 you know so not a shocking response.

Eventually Cousin S woke up to see some of the animals. I believe she may have enjoyed her first bomb pop at the zoo more than the actual zoo itself. Of course it is always fun watching my little brother as a daddy. My question to you, who looks better in the pink hat? 

Pretty in pink - who looks better?

NHL also enjoyed going on the merry-go-round and the zoo’s playground. I have to say the playground is rather impressive. They did an amazing job making it follow a zoo theme. 

Merry-go-round time at the zoo

 Fun on the zoo playground

Just before JSL fell asleep from the heat and lack of napping all day, I asked to have a picture of both of the boys. Of course try to get them to look at the camera. Nope, that did not happen. Instead each looked in a completely different direction! 

Look that way - no that way!

Just before the zoo closed at 5:00 JSL was sleeping and everyone else went to look at the sea lions underwater. JL captured my little niece with her daddy watching them. Too cute! 

First time with sea lions

A fun trip to the zoo. The only part missing was the elephants because their home was being redone and will not be open until August.

TheAngelForever

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6 1/2 pounds of strawberry picking fun

Last year JL wanted to go strawberry picking, but it just did not work out with an infant less than a month old. This year he was quite persistent and gathered information about local pick your own patches. We finally narrowed it down to a place not too far away. On Father’s Day after having breakfast with my dad (mom was at work) we went to pick strawberries. NHL was beyond excited and could not wait to get there. Here are some photos from our time picking about 6 1/2 pounds of the yummy red goodness! 

Sign at the parking lot

 Lots of strawberries to pick

 *** Be sure to hover over the photos to see additional captions. Warning that this is photo heavy. Since my family does read this I wanted to share lots of the photos with them as well.

First JL took NHL out into the field while I stayed trying to rock JSL in the stroller (this never did work).

The boys begin picking

 Smiles all around

Serious work

 Comparing their finds

 Hmmm. . . any over here?

After a little while NHL and JL came back to get more containers for strawberries. Plus they wanted to show me all that they had collected. 

Mom look what I picked!

 YUMMY!

 Macro shot of strawberries

At this point the little guy made it crystal clear that he was not about to stay in his stroller. JL took him and all of the boys went back out to get more strawberries. Apparently at one point JSL got a hold of a strawberry from the container when Daddy was not looking and squished it. He was then given a sample to taste and LOVED it! 

JSL joins Daddy and Big Brother

 The little guy wanted to try one

He definitely likes it!

The boys out in the field

Little guy helping Daddy

 Picking strawberries

Eventually all of the boys wandered back to show me more strawberries and to let me head out into the field. Believe it or not I believe this was the first time I had ever gone strawberry picking. Poor JSL was really tired from lack of a nap – thus the reason his binky was in (that and teething).

Hey look what we got

 I want some

 P1080406

After a while we had four good sized containers of strawberries. Both of the boys were tired from the heat and humidity so we went to pay and head home.

Our haul

Ready to pay

NHL posing with our loot

He LOVES strawberries!

So if you made it through all of these photos you can see we had a great time. So much so that one of us never made it very far before falling asleep.

 One tired baby after picking strawberries

Depending on the weather we may go again this coming weekend. So I ask those of you reading this – any suggestions on things to make with strawberries?

TheAngelForever

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Majorly Missing Moe’s Tasty Tomatoes

After spending the morning strawberry picking (photos to come later) we decided to head out to dinner. Kids eat free on Sunday at Moe’s so we went there for a quick meal before tub time.

When you walk into a Moe’s they greet you with "Welcome to Moe’s" across the restaurant and then you get on line to order your food. Today we quickly noticed a paper posted at the counter. It certainly is a sign of the times given the constant food contamination problems plaguing us these days. As we all know the latest victim is the friendly tomato, a summer time favorite and especially important part of Mexican food. Moe’s decided to make customers laugh at the current situation with the following poster. 

Missing sign posted at Moe's

We certainly missed the tomatoes in our food, but are happy not to have to worry about the consequences of eating them. The boys loved their food. This is the first time JSL was awake for a visit to Moe’s and he loved his meal. 

Yummy. . . NHL love Moe's

 JSL enjoys his food

As always JL and I were amused by the fun artwork at Moe’s. This is one of our favorites . . . be sure to read all the way around it. 

Guacamole sign

Hopefully next time when we head in and hear them say "Welcome to Moe’s" we will not be greeted with the tomato sign. Moe’s just is not the same without the tasty red summer goodness. 

Welcome to Moe's

After dinner we went to a local ice cream place for JL to have his free Father’s Day scoop. It was a fun day . . . now we just need to figure out what to do with six and a half pounds of strawberries!

 TheAngelForever

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As the Seat Turns

Monday morning we went to breakfast at my parents house. It is rare that everyone has a holiday off, so we took advantage of it. 

Hanging with Papa

While there we decided it would be a great opportunity to head out to my car to turn JSL’s car seat around. Sure he loved being able to look at NHL while turned around, but another milestone has come. The little guy was officially a year old and had long since topped 20 pounds.

JL and I fought with the latch system for a little while to get the seat out. Then we flipped it around, set it upright and struggled to get it latched back in. 

Both seats facing forward

Not long after that it was time to head to the car to witness JSL’s reaction to being turned around. 

Off to see the new riding arrangement

Once he was all buckled in he was a little confused. He was not used to looking to the right for big brother. Still it was the first thing he did – watched to make sure NHL got into his cow seat. 

Looking for big brother

This face tells the story: 

Not too sure about this

Luckily once NHL was on board JSL was content. He soon realized that he could swing his feet around and not have to hit into the seat in front of him. 

Wow, this is comfy - room for my legs

Soon it was time to test drive both car seats facing forward. Both of the boys seemed content and ready to go. 

Both boys ready to ride

JSL was very tired at this point since he was lacking a morning nap. Before we even got to the main road to our destination he was sleeping. Clearly he was quite comfy in his newly turned car seat. 

Conked out within 5 minutes

JSL was so tired that he managed to sleep through most of our shopping trip. On the way home he let us know he was quite happy with the new view from the car. 

Refreshed after a nap

 TheAngelForever

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