Baby Leopards

The Leopards at our zoo had two cubs last week.  So we had to go check them out.  Thanks Sara and Ben for coming with us.  It was so much fun.

And of course a trip to the zoo isn't complete without a Carousel ride.

Living for the weekends

We love life but there is nothing better then a family filled weekend.

On Friday night James got home early from work.  It was a pleasant surprise.  He took a nap with Gwenevere while I got ready for our DATE.  Oh how I love date nights.  Thank you Tanya for being willing to watch Gwenevere for us.  I took a shower, I got dressed up(meaning I got out of my PJs), put on makeup and even brushed my teeth.  I felt like a beautiful woman.  hehehehehe

For our date we went out to eat at Joeseppi's Italian Restaurant

YUMMY

Our host was a very cheerful older man.  He asked about the baby and suggested we name her Emily.  After we sat down at our seats and took a look at the menu 

We realized our host was the owner.

 Pretty cool.

The food was delicous

I ended up eating what James ordered because it looked soooooo good.

Thankfully he didn't mind eating what I ordered either.  

I love my husband.

After dinner we took a walk around the neighborhoods close to James' school.  His school is located in an older part of town and the houses there have so much character.  We had fun walking and talking and dreaming about the future.

After a good walk, James took me to Jo-Ann fabrics so I could pick up some ribbon for a baby blanket I want to make for the new baby.  

I'm so excited about this project, I spent the entire morning Friday patching together the quilt part of the blanket.  On Monday I'll go back to Jo-ann fabrics to pick up some fabric for the back of the blanket and then sometime in June my dear friend Rachel is going to help me make the blanket.  I'm so excited.

But back to the date.

After JoAnn's we went back home and took pictures.

 

On Saturday, James went on a bike ride and Alisha, Gwenevere and I walked to the park.  I called my parents and had a good chat with them.  After an hour at the park, James came to pick us up and we went over to our friends house to help them move.  :(  We will miss you Day family. 

By the time we got there they were mostly packed.  I was even sadder that we didn't get to help them that much.  

But since they lived close to Jo-Ann fabrics guess where we went after leaving our friends house.  Yep.  Back to Jo-ann.  I had several coupons I wanted to use but each one started on a different day.  Go figures.  So while I was at Jo-Ann fabric buying another spoil of ribbon James and Gwenevere went to the Pet store.  Jo-Ann was also having a sale where all their simplic patterns were only a 1.00.  AWESOME!  When I checked out.  My total came to 5.98 and my total savings was $45.75.  And now I have some cute dress patterns for Gwenevere.  I'm so excited.

After jo-ann's we drove to James' school so we could print out directions to the Day's new home.  We wanted to help them unpack since we weren't much help in packing up.  But the school was closed and we couldn't find a library close by.  I guess that's why people have GPSs and Iphones and stuff.  Oh well.  

We said sorry and than decided to go to the Zoo instead,  Gwenevere's suggestion.  

 Gwenevere loves the shirt that she is wearing in these pictures.  She put it on Friday Morning and I couldn't get her to take it off.  At bedtime, we put her pjs on and then she put her shirt on top, so on Saturday when it looked very very dirty, I figured it wouldn't hurt to let her wear it a few more hours.  Thanks Marly for sharing your cute clothes with Gwenevere. 

Look at the walruses. I just love the sunglasses.

 When looking at the Meerkats, Gwenevere told us "Look, they're Praying"

And of course we couldn't leave the zoo till we played at the playground.

 Gwenevere suggested Daddy play too.

What a good sport

Outside their shells

And a little bit of digging.

You would think by now we had enough fun for one weekend but oh no we party still more.

After the zoo we went to Kevin and Tanya's house for a BBQ and games.  It was so much fun.  Gwenevere had been talking about Aliya all day long.  She was so excited to go play.

We got home about 11pm and we were all super tired.  

Sunday, we partied reverently by eating breakfast and watching the Prince of Egypt.  We went to Church, and ate nachos for dinner.  This evening we took a walk around the neighborhood and Gwenevere fell asleep.  Right now, James is making Coffee cake and I am happily blogging.  

I would say we live for the weekends, but to be honest, we just love to live. 

Mini Adventures

This past week while James was on Spring Break, we watched a PBS mini series about the US National parks.  Learning about all the national parks really gave us a desire to go on more adventures.  We hope to someday take the kids to see many of the national parks, but since we're still in grad school and we won't be traveling far for a few more years we have found ourselves having many mini adventures to enjoy along the way.

We recently purchased a family zoo pass for the year and are loving the adventures that come with going to the zoo.

Saying hi to the tired old Papa Tiger before going to see the Mama tiger and her cubs

Watching the porcupines chase each other

 Having a staring contest with the clouded leopard.  He won

Eating a picnic in the aquarium

 This is the male cub looking at James and thinking "He looks tasty"

You may ask yourself, and how do they know the Cub was thinking James looked tasty?

Because he started licking the window right where James' hand was placed.

We watched polar bears eat their lunch

And watched seals play

Gwenevere did most of the walking, getting her prepared for our first family back packing trip next summer

And by the end we where all pooped.

I must mention,  Gwenevere has been asking to feed the giraffes at Jace's Zoo, so we just might need to take another trip to Colorado Springs sometime.  Good memories. 


On top of the Zoo fun we've been having, we also took Gwenevere to the movies for the first time.  We saw Tangled. 

We even got Papa to agree to go to the mall to buy Sees candies.

At home, our adventures have been.....

"making a belt" (as Gwenevere calls it) with an old Valentine balloon 

A photo shoot with Papa

Look at that poser

making "baby snakes" out of play dough

"aaahhhh Baby snake in my eyes"

Water coloring with Katie

Making a birthday cape for "Benjamin friend"

 And testing it out to see if it makes you fly high

Playing with papa and the "pliers"

"No more pliers daddy"

and on special occasions falling asleep in the parents bed.

Poor James, I think we kicked him out.

Someday we'll own a queen size bed. 

And although we didn't take any pictures of it, James biked a 100 miles in preparation for his 100 mile bike race in April.

I love the adventures we take each day.

Today Gwenevere and I walked to the store.

We didn't take the bike and bike trailer,

We didn't take the stroller,

We just walked.

Gwenevere found a stick, a rock and grass.

It took a long time but the walk was worth it.