Zoo

Today we met Christina and Jackson at the zoo. The kiddos had a blast. There are lots of "extras" at our zoo that we don't normally do...really because Emmie hasn't been at a stage where she enjoys them (2 traumatic rides on the carousel cured her of wanting to do that for quite awhile!) and Ellie was too small. Today we went all out and did the extras and the girls and Jackson had a blast!

Ellie enjoyed being able to get out the stroller and look at the parrots.

Trying to get 3 children to sit together and all look the same direction at the same time so this was the best we could do!

Emmie and Jackson on the elephant statue.

They had the BEST time feeding the giraffes. This was the first time that Emmie would REALLY feed them. I think it's because Jackson was doing it too. Usually she very hesitantly gives the giraffe a piece of lettuce and then she's done but today she kept coming back for more.

This is quite the fascinating process apparently!

My brave little Ellie! When I was giving the other kids their lettuce Ellie held her hand out. I thought she would try and eat it but she watched the big kids and realized that she needed to give the giraffe her lettuce too. She was done after getting slobbered on once though!

Feeding the giraffes is SO funny!

Apparently there was something fascinating on the ground!

Ellie loved getting to look over the fence like the big kids.

Checking out the ostrich.

Slide!

I love this picture of Emmie on the slide!

Ellie checking out the rabbits. They're one of her favorite animals at the zoo!

Train ride! Emmie was SOOOO excited.

Riding the carousel. This was the first time in a long time that Emmie has ridden on one of the animals. Usually she rides on the bench which still freaks her out a little but she was being brave today! She even was on an animal that went up and down. She had a few moments where she started to freak out but the older girl beside her kept saying how much fun it was so I think that helped keep Emmie calm.

Ellie did such a good job sitting on her animal! She was a little bummed that her animal didn't go up and down! She's my child that loves a wild ride!

Christina and Jackson

Worn out after a long morning at the zoo!

Emmie came home and took a nap and then we had lunch when everyone woke up. Ellie and I had to wake Emmie up (mostly Ellie...she loves to wake Emmie up!) and this is what she did when I put her sandwich in front of her!

Just a side note about Emmie. Tonight when Paul got home I told her to tell him what she did today (ie we went to the zoo). She told him she went to Chick-fil-a (we got it for dinner after My Gym).  Then when I said tell Daddy what you did with Jackson she told him that she went to the zoo...when he asked her what she did at the zoo she said she ate a snack! HA! Can you tell my little girl loves to eat!

Also, I have to brag on Ellie. She comprehends soooo much! She doesn't say a ton of words and she's a little behind on her gross motor skills (but she's got some excellent fine motor skills and little girl can rock a fork!) but there is a big ol' brain in that girl (I'm probably a little biased though!). Tonight Emmie wanted Ellie's grapes out of her fruit cup and of course she just wanted to reach her hand in and take them. I made her ask Ellie for the grapes and Ellie picked one out and gave it to her and then proceeded to take out all the grapes and hand them to Emmie. This is just one example of her comprehension. She does things like this all the time and it just amazes me that this tiny person can understand so much. What a brainiac :)