Mommy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow....

Okay, maybe you don't know that song, but the girls like it and I think of it every time we talk about the zoo.  I think it's Raffi, at least it's on one of his CD's.
Anyhow, we had told Anna back in may we would go to the zoo(Fort Wayne Children's) at some point for her birthday, and have her cousins go with us.  So, it finally worked out for our schedule and they were able to meet us.  We had a fun, hot, day!

 driving the jeep on a safari!

Anna actually did touch the black rat snake, Maria not so much!

 camping cousins!

 I love the giraffes

 Gotta have a picture with little poof!  That thing has been there forever.

 Anna and Everly playing peek-a-boo!

 crazy cousins!

 ah, relaxing on the log ride

 such a sweetheart!

 They had to climb on every statue in the zoo!

 Riding the train!

We also made sure to stop and meet our newest nephew/cousin.  My brother and his wife have been trying to adopt for over a year now and we are elated to welcome Winston into the family!

We have plenty to praise God for; new and not so new cousins!

Grandma’s Birthday

 

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Oh so excited about her gifts!

Our sweetheart!

Reading with grandparents…nothing better.

The best things to play with aren’t toys…notice the “town” of recycling items, plus the picnic in the background.  Maria and Joshua had a nice time playing with the train, where she had set up a town, complete with a zoo.

We have plenty to praise God for; family celebrations.

Date night and cousins

 Thanks to my mom and grandma, Larry and I were able to head out for a date night.  We went out for dinner, and took a lovely walk down by the lake.  We had reservations for the Black Horse B&B just outside of town here, so we headed back to watch a movie as Final Destination 5 didn't appeal to us(it's some horror movie I heard!)  So, we were able to relax, watch the movie, sleep in late, enjoy a truly wonderful breakfast, and then spend some time walking around the property there.  It was nice not having to worry about the girls, and enjoy our time away, it was LONG overdue!  Thanks mom and grandma!

 Saturday, Larry's sister came into town to check out, and eventually purchase a new bike!  Yippee for her.  So the cousins got to spend some more time together.

 It's too bad they have absolutely NO fun when they are together!

 Love the staggered look here.

buddies
We have plenty to praise God for; amazing family.

Family and fruit snacks

 Larry had a meeting in Ft. Wayne, so we spent several days at my parents house last weekend.

 Can you tell it was hot?  Hence Anna in only her pull-up!  I think she had already used up at least one set of clothes for the day through an accident, so it was straight to the bedtime pull-up for her.

 Push us Grandpa!

 Do you think that they had a fun time with Grandpa pushing them on the swing?

 Our adorable niece Everly...moving and trying to crawl.

 Uncle Ryan had to lay with them to watch the movie...Cinderella of all things too!

yummy fruit snacks
We have plenty to praise God for; family, fun and fruit snacks! ;)

fun with cousins!

grandparents, cousins and singing

 Last weekend the girls and I headed to my parents.  We spent some time with cousin Trey.  Maria has been asking, "when am I going to see Trey?"  I got to hang out with one of my bestest girlfriends and help her do prep for her son's birthday.  We spent time with GG, at her house, per request from Maria, who said "we never go to GG's house."  Mainly because when we go home, she comes to mom and dad's house.  SO we spent several hours at her house, most of the time which she spent reading to Maria, she was in heaven! 

 Anna seriously contemplated checking out the depth of the landscape pond...the girl keeps us on our toes!

 Checking out a bird nest.

 enjoying some time on the swing.

 

Sunday we attended the baptism of this beautiful niece, Everly.  And we had a lovely lunch afterward, yum.

Aunt Michele knew how to keep her happy!

 Cousins having fun and making LOTS of noise.

 After lunch, we had to jet down to the Follinger theater in to hear my dad sing in the Summit City Barbershop Chorus.  We had yet to be able to make it to one of his concerts and he has been in the group about a year now, I believe.  He is there in the back row, third from the right.  How appropriate that they had a naval theme, since he served in the Navy himself.

Maria enjoyed listening to grandpa, even though it was quite toasty in the outdoor theater, at least it had a roof!

We have plenty to praise God for; grandparents, cousins and singing.