A trip to the zoo!

If you can't tell by now, we love animals and we love the zoo! It's also a great place to work on my picture taking skills...pictures of the zoo monkeys and my own monkeys! I decided this weekend to take the kids to the zoo today. It is the last Monday that they are opening the zoo an hour earlier for members and it was "only" supposed to be a high of 94. So, we were prepared with lots of water (some frozen, some not), snacks and little fans. As we were leaving the house, there were clouds and a little thunder...but that was not going to deter me! Driving there, it seemed that all of the clouds were to the north so we would be safe. We got there right after they opened at 9:00 and the kids were excited!! Although we have been to I think 3 of the 5 Mondays during Member Appreciation month, this is the first time we got the goodies...maybe we missed it the previous times since they were setting up when we were passing. We grabbed bottles of water and trail mix and were on our way. We stopped at a little "education" table and Daniel learned a little about Otters and Turtles. Next up were the monkeys and gorillas. I am fascinated by the gorillas and really could watch those guys all day. We stopped for a little snack and just observed the guys for a few minutes while they ate their breakfast!



My next favorite are the giraffes...they are so darn cute! We had to wait a few minutes, as they were still in their pens, but it was worth the wait! They all came out at once and we loved watching the little babies! As we got to the elephants, the clouds really rolled in and there was a good breeze. I called Tony to have him check the weather radar and he said we were ok...so I said then we will just be thankful for the cloud coverage! But boy, when there are clouds and a little breeze...people clear out. I was surprised at how many people actually left because they feared rain! We quickly became aware of the downside of a good breeze as we were looking at the tigers and bears...things were not smelling very rosy over there at all! Daniel said he wanted to see the lions, bears and kangaroos..and we did!



We are going to see Madagascar 2 tomorrow at the theater (yay free movies!), so we made sure to say "Hi" to the whole gang! They seemed to be resting up for tomorrow's performance!


We all love the penguins- especially Arianna! I love watching her look through the glass and squeal with excitement when the penguins get near her! We spent a good amount of time in here just chilling with the penguins.


Next up was the carousel! Not surprising that there was a wait for the carousel, but at least the sun wasn't blaring on us! They both loved the horses which always makes it worth it to stand in the line! We made a quick stop at the petting zoo and the candy shop and then walked back to the entrance. I have been promising to take him through the store the last few times, but just always run out of time. So, I planned better and we made time for it. He got a chirpy penguin thingy and Arianna got a different little penguin and all were happy!



We were there from about 9 until noon- so a nice visit to the zoo! It ended up being cloudy and only about 88- which was perfect weather for the zoo...at least for summer in Texas! I was pleasantly surprised at our luck with the weather and thankful I didn't feel sweaty and grimy as we left! And I had lots of water to take back home with us! After the zoo, we went and picked up Tony and headed to Freebird's for lunch- yummy! It was a great Monday!

Fun Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Father's Day last weekend. I had to tell Tony to go running without us that Sunday because I had promised to take Daniel to get donuts as a surprise for his Daddy. So, after he was out the door, I loaded up the kids and off we went! We actually almost crossed paths with Tony, so we had to slow down and wait for him to cross over. I thought it was a little funny that as he came in from running 4 miles, he was offered some oh so unhealthy donuts! But...they were GOOD! Later that morning, we made some rice krispy treats for Daddy and then headed out to lunch at Bosses pizza..yummy! We stopped at the park on the way home for a little fun. That night we grilled dinner outside and had a little movie night...if I remember correctly, we watched Meet the Robinson's (love this one) and Transformers with popcorn and homemade smores! Tony really enjoyed the day relaxing with all of us- the perfect day for him! I have to say that I couldn't have picked a better Daddy for my kids- he's wonderful!

Last weekend, we started running again. Well, I guess I should say that I started running again as Tony never really stopped. He is such a better runner than me, but he has said he enjoys the company much better. This weekend, we ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday and managed about 12 miles total. We'll see if we can work back up to 6 miles in one day again! On Friday, we strictly run as Tony has to get back to work. On Saturdays and Sundays, we usually go on longer runs and stop about halfway to let the kids play in whatever park we are near. They enjoy it, but it does make it hard for us to finish out the run after stopping. It has been so hot and humid here so we try to get out there early! One thing that helps us is that I freeze 3/4 full bottles of water and fill them up the rest of the way with water right before we leave. I think about 1.5 miles into the run today they were more than half thawed.

Here are a few pictures I snapped at the parks. Sorry for the blurry looking pictures- at the time we didn't realize the camera was very smudged...that darn Tony ;-) Actually I'm pretty sure it happened in the pool since both kids were having too much fun dunking the camera under water! Maybe they should be in an Olympus commercial showing that you can dunk and drop the camera without harm!

Hope everyone has a great week ahead!!

Personalized Disney Maps

If you have a trip to Disney coming up, or you just have a love for Disney World, you should look into creating these (free) customized maps! You can create maps for each of the four parks with your choice of rides and attractions. Your maps will be mailed to you, or they also have an option that you can print your own from home. I created some maps a few months ago and thought that they turned out really nice! The ones you get in the mail are bigger than the normal park maps and much better quality. They are a great addition to your scrapbook or photo album! Enjoy a little bit of the Disney magic!

Free chocolate coupon

Who couldn't use a coupon for free chocolate! Every Friday through September, Mars is giving away coupons for free chocolate. Just click here and fill out your information. The only thing to mention is that it takes up to 6 weeks to get your coupons! You can request one each Friday. Have a great day!!

Very special...

I was going to say this post is "nothing special"...but since it is pictures of my kids, it is VERY SPECIAL :-). Just some shots from today that I thought came out good. I also included some "outtakes" just for fun!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Golf anyone??

We headed out to meet some friends at Putt-Putt Golf this morning! The high today is supposed to be 99, so we opted to get it over with as early as possible. It was still quite steamy though! It's a good thing the kids played the fastest 2 rounds of 18 holes ever! After the "golfing", we headed indoors to take in the air conditioning..um I mean play games of course! They all played through their tokens in record time- no surprise there! Daniel was amazed with all of the games and thought it was cool that Mom got 3 "7"'s on the jackpot game. His eyes were wide with amazement as the tickets just kept coming out of the machine! After games, they got to pick out their prizes...it's amazing that they can get so excited about such... junk :-). So, after a fun few hours, we were headed to our airconditioned cars and on our ways!





Gotta love Texas summers...it should be at least 100 degrees the rest of the week!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to my Father, my Father in-law and to the wonderful Father of my own children! We hope this day is a good day for all of you! Below is a card that Daniel and I made for his Daddy...

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Fun at the Park!

The days quickly get hot here in the summer, so we headed to the park around 8:30 this morning! The kids both had a lot of fun climbing, swinging and sliding! I let Daniel take Arianna down the big slide and she loved it! I think that there will be some good napping going on this afternoon after all the running and playing! :-)

More Disney...

I just realized that I forgot to post this set of pictures from Daniel's actual birthday at Disney! It was a fun and very busy day! This was our first full day at Disney so at least we were rested up and ready to go.

Epcot opened early, so we got up super early and headed there. Daniel and I rode Test Track (love the picture of him on this one) and looked at the Flower & Garden things as we walked through Epcot. We headed over to Hollywood Studios by way of the Boardwalk (walking of course). We hit Hollywood Studios right after opening for Star Wars Weekends! We headed to Toy Story Mania and the wait was already 35 minutes. We went ahead and stood in line because the line to get fastpasses was terribly long. We ran into Princess Leia Minnie and Luke Skywalker Mickey for quick pictures! We grabbed some lunch at Pizza Planet and headed to the Star Wars Weekends Parade. Although it was HOT, Daniel loved the parade. Asoka from the Star Wars Clone Wars Cartoon stopped to tell him happy birthday and he was awestruck (still talking about her)!. After the parade, we headed to the Animation Studios and saw Mr. Incredible and the characters from UP- where Arianna fell in love with the dog Dug. Took a quick picture with Mike Wazowski (boo hoo..no Sulley) and headed back to the boardwalk. We had spent the night before at Hollywood Studios and would be there again the next day for Early Magic Hours so we were headed back to Epcot. Both kids fell asleep in the stroller along the Boardwalk.

At Epcot, we went to the Disney Visa Meet and Greet for some pictures with Minnie and Goofy. We always do this, but sometimes it's hit and miss- more with the photographers than the kids. Not the best pictures, but still a fun time. We made a dash for the Living Seas with Nemo and Friends- both kids loved the aquarium. And then headed to the Character Spot for pictures while we waited out the rained (it poured). Cute pictures from the Character Spot! After the rain, we grabbed our free picture and headed to the monorail. Next stop...Magic Kingdom!

Finally, I got to see my castle!! I love the Magic Kingdom! We headed for Buzz Lightyear and rode that a few times before the guys ventured to Stitch's Great Escape. I was a little leary about him doing this one, but he loved it and did it again with me. We grabbed something to eat...if I had to guess it was probably Cosmic Ray's. We enjoyed watching the Spectro Magic parade and walked through a few stores before watching the Wishes Fireworks. After that, we headed out to the car and hit Downtown Disney. We got some much awaited Earl of Sandwich and hit Goofy's Candy Co.

It was a long and busy day, but it was so fun and everything that Daniel wanted to do! I'm sure I left some things out, but it was all fun anyway! In total, visited 3 parks and walked 11.66 miles this day! It was totally worth it when Daniel said "This was the best day EVER...thank you!"

DISNEY!

Ok...I'm a little behind in posting these pictures and honestly I'm probably the only person who cares to look at them! But they make me smile remembering all of the great memories we created! We had an awesome time at Disney. We celebrated Daniel's 5th (gasp) birthday as well as our Anniversary- I can't think of a better place to celebrate than with my family at Disney!!

There were quite a few new things that Daniel tried this trip and he had an "awesome" time! He rode Test Track with me and wanted to ride again, but the lines were crazy! He also did Stitch's Great Escape TWICE! We thought he would be scared, but he loved it! He also did Star Tours with Tony...at least 10 times during the course of the trip! We made it a few times on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin! We also rode Toy Story "Maniac" 3 times...my advice is to get there on an early open day (for resorts) and go straight to Toy Story. Have one person get in line and the other get fast passes...that ride quickly goes to 120 minute wait!! We saw Indiana Jones and Playhouse Disney (Arianna loved it). One of Daniel's favorite was the Star Wars Weekend Hyper Space Hoopla show...which he will tell you ended because it started raining on us!

Arianna had a great time and LOVED the characters! She was hugging, kissing and blowing kisses to all of them! She probably would have stayed with them if she could! Daniel got to pick candy from Goofy's candy shop for his birthday (well, ok..more than once) and at least once he picked...ready for it??? M&M's (expensive M&M's at that)! He also got other goodies that he shared with us all. I'll spare you the other details and show you a sampling of pictures...









Now on to planning the next Disney Adventure!

It's Show Week!

Last week, Daniel had "show week" at the Little Gym. It was the last class of the session and the kids get to show their parents what they have learned. For some reason, Daniel was a "little nervous" this time, but he still did great! Awhile back, he fell on the balance beam and has been a little timid about jumping off since then. So, we have been working on him jumping and he did great! He jumped without any assistance and was really proud of himself! Arianna, also known as the "Little Monkey" couldn't wait to get in on the action! Leslie helped her on the bar and balance beam (so Mom could get pictures of course) and she loved it- she beamed from ear to ear! She is certainly my little dare devil...as can be seen by the "rug burn moustache" from diving face first off of the couch earlier in the week (ouch)!

Splash Time!

It is definitely getting hot here in Texas! So, this morning I decided to get out the inflatable "play center" (since it's technically not a pool). I thought airing it up was going to take all morning until I finally got the hang of it! The kids played in it this morning...and then again right before lunch! I have also had to promise that they can go back out there tonight after dinner! They are my little water babies! They had so much fun too! I originally had my Canon DSLR camera out there so I was safe from splashes. But once I took the waterproof camera out, all bets were off and I was definitely splashed!

Zoo Time!

We spent the morning at the FW Zoo with some friends and had a great time! It is definitely getting hotter in Texas! Leslie and I tried to savor the few times we had shade and a breeze, but alas the kids did not slow down! We tried to feed the birds, but apparently they were not hungry! Leslie and I both tried to coax a few birds off the high perches- they would eat from where they were, but weren't budging otherwise! So, off we went to see more animals! The carousel was our finale, which was a good thing because we waited for what seemed like "hours" in the heat! After our trek back to the exit, we put another successful zoo trip under our belts!

Makes my heart melt...

This was a crazy week for me with the zoo and then 5 cakes coming right off of our Disney vacation (yeah, I won't do that again!)! I'm recovering now before jumping into a new week! I am working on lots of pictures to share with you this week! But after having a rather frustrating morning, I wanted to post something very sweet to me... these just make my heart happy! Hope your week starts out great!!

Up, up, up.....

We went to see UP on opening day and thought it was really cute! Arianna slept through the first part of it, but woke up and was happy to see her favorite dog Dug! We actually got to take our picture with the characters at Disney's Hollywood Studios and they both enjoyed that. There was also a talking dog at Disney that Tony showed to the kids. All it took was for Arianna to grab it and give it hugs and kisses...and Daddy bought it :-)

Here are pictures from when we went to see Monsters vs Aliens around Mothers Day and UP on opening day (May 29th). Yes...I do take my camera to the movies...but I only take pictures before or after the show! :-)



Ok...enough procrastinating!! I have 3 cakes and some cookies to get busy with!! Look for Disney pictures early next week!! (I so miss Disney!! :-( )

It's a zoo out there....

As if we didn't do enough walking at Disney last week... I took the kids to the zoo this morning! I'm a gluten for punishment I guess :-). But I am glad that we went because the three of us really had a great time!! We were there for close to 3 hours and did just about everything at the zoo. After the zoo, we picked up their Daddy and had a nice lunch together!

Daniel's favorite this time were the monkeys, while Arianna still has affection for the penguins! I am always fascinated by the gorillas and this trip was no exception! The only disappointment with the penguins is that the area is so small and always so crowded- I'm sure partly because of the air conditioning! Daniel liked looking through the reptile house, but was still a little scared in the bat/ insect house...that's mostly because of the darkness and sounds because we didn't even see the bats this time! He loved the "Texas" area and repeatedly asked if I knew all of those animals were "from Texas"! We ended the trip with a stop at the candy store and a ride on the Carousel- which they both loved! We skipped the train ride and walked back to the entrance as we said goodbye to the flamingos! It was a great trip! I enjoyed taking pictures with the new camera and am ready to go back out and play around some more with the camera so I'm sure we'll do it again really soon!!

Next up should be DisneyWorld and birthday pictures!! I somehow ended up with a crazy week of cakes this week, so I'll try to squeeze in time to post all of our Disney fun very soon! Have a great week!!