Father's Day Zoo Trip

We made two trips to the zoo this weekend. Saturday, I had a work party so we suffered through the hot weather and enjoyed a quick trip. We stopped by the picnic, ate, checked out the animal encounters they had (lizards and pancake turtles), and rode the carousel. Ida tried out the carousel again and loved it. She rode an animal that doesn't move up and down and Ben was right by her side cheering her on.

Ida did the painting a couple weeks ago and Cora drew a picture on top of it to make the perfect present for my dad. She drew a picture of "Poppy, me, and Ida swimming". 

Sunday, my dad wanted to celebrate Father's Day with a family trip to the zoo followed by a brunch. We saw some animals, rode the train, and enjoyed running around with the family. 

Ida Rue was loving running around with Poppy. The girls are so lucky to have him as a grandpa. 

The zoo trip was followed by late brunch at my sister's house. The kids played outside in their water table and baby pool and they had the best time. It was the perfect weekend with our family celebrating some of the dads in our life. 

Birthday Zoo Trip

It's basically a tradition of ours to make a trip to the zoo on or around Cora's birthday to enjoy the zoo blooms (see last year here). Monday, I took a half day so I could spend some extra time with the girls and we could enjoy the nice weather on a small trip to the zoo. Cora has been asking to go for a couple days, but we wanted to avoid the weekend zoo rush so Monday was the perfect day.

We immediately found some good blooms to take a picture in front of so we could get that out of the way... and I knew they'd probably get grumpy as the afternoon goes on. I asked the girls to just smile at the camera real quick while I took a couple pictures (by a couple, I mean 50), but instead she gave her sister a hug and I got these sweet photos of my girlies doing what they always do.

Ida hasn't really been to the zoo since last summer when she was not even one, so everything was new to her. She was loving all of the activity around the zoo and couldn't stop pointing at the flowers and people.

Cora was tired from school, so she ended up riding along in the stroller for most of the time. Ida had no problem giving up the stroller so she could stretch her legs and lead the way . We stopped by the kids area and spent a lot of time watching the penguins run around. Cora seemed so big when she climbed up to peek over the railing, but so tiny when she needed to ride in the stroller. A contrast that has been popping up more and more as my little baby gets older.

We decided we didn't want to stay too long. We planned to ride the train then maybe start to head towards the exit as we visit a couple more animals. Ida loooved the train ride. She couldn't stop looking around and loved to wave and say hi to everyone as we rode by . Cora loved to make sure her sister was following the rules and watch Ida excitedly wave.

Outings by myself with both girls are pretty exhausting, but totally worth it! All three of us had a great time, but we were definitely ready to get home and spend the rest of the evening resting.

Ida's 1st Birthday Festivities

We had a fun weekend filled with celebrating Ida's birthday along with some of our other family members.  Friday, I took off work so that I could hang out with my girls. We did a quick grocery shopping trip for cake and icing...and when I say quick, I mean I stood in front of world's tiniest cake mix and icing section and took 15 minutes to decide what exactly I wanted to buy.

After the grocery, we met up with my mom, sister, and nephew for a trip to the zoo. My parents get us zoo passes for Christmas, so we love to take quick trips when we can fit them in. One of my daughters was not in the social mood (not naming names), so we didn't stay too long at the zoo.

We headed home and both my girls took long long naps... which never happens on my watch. I was able to work on some cupcakes and chores while they slept. 

When they woke up, they (of course) had to taste-test the cupcakes. I was a little distracted icing the other cupcakes and suddenly I look up to realize a cupcake bomb went off covering my entire kitchen floor. Cora makes the comment that they were 'washing their hands with frosting'... So needless to say, the cupcake taste test was followed by sink baths and naps.

Friday evening, we had a birthday dinner for my brother and Ida. My brother chose 'Thanksgiving dinner' as the menu and we all enjoyed some turkey (chicken according to Cora), stuffing, corn pudding, green beans, and mashed potatoes. It really did feel like a mini Thanksgiving dinner as we stayed at the table chatting and laughing.

The adults had pumpkin pie, while the children chowed down on Ida's smash cake. Ida wasn't really interested in the cake until we gave her a fork. She had some tastes, but also really wanted to share and make sure that her cousin and sister got some cake as well.  Cora encouraged the kids to try and smash the cake and was most excited that she was "eating cake standing up!"

Saturday I woke up around 4 in the morning.  I couldn't get back to sleep, so I just went ahead and started my day. I took a nice relaxing bath, baked a cake, and finished all the chores before the kids woke up. Ben made us all breakfast then I got the girls ready for a trip to the SAMple store.... our favorite outing.

Around lunch, we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house to celebrate all of the August and September birthdays. Ida was pretty mellow the whole party (exhausted from all the sugar from the day before) and nearly started crying when we did all of the singing. She loved her new toys... especially this little puppy. She fell asleep at the end of the party.

It was a great couple of days celebrating our sweet Ida's first birthday. I loved reflecting on her birth story and sharing with Cora our past birthday parties and my favorite birthday growing up. My family also all enjoyed sleeping in (I woke up early to mow the lawn) and having a lazy day Sunday.