WE LOVE THE ZOO!! :)

This morning Miss M and I went to the zoo with my brother Ben and my sister Laura's girls. Miss M was as uncooperative in front of a camera as ever (I really need a faster camera to get better shots at a smile from her :), Ben was cooperative on his own terms (he refused to take a group picture), and as always, my sister's girls were very fun to shoot (with a camera of course!!). We had a great time feeding Budgies today. Mckenna was content to watch everyone else feed them. She would not go near the birds for a picture.

We went early, well, I think 10 a.m. is early, just so we could try to catch the polar bears in action, but alas, the polar bears are active at 9-9:30ish a.m. The only one on exhibit today was sleeping on a rock when we got there. Next time!! We did catch the walruses while they were being fed! Besides the Budgies, I think that was the animal highlight of our trip. I love having a zoo membership - no pressure to do/see it all in one day!! :)

We came home for lunch and now the girls are playing happily upstairs in Miss M's room. Ben wanted to go home right after the trip - He ended up not being very happy with me at the end of our trip; true signs we are siblings despite our age difference!

SHOPPING TRIP WITH NEICES

Char and I went shopping with our neices today and these girls are super fun to shop for! We had fun dressing them up like rock stars; aren't they cute?! Girls are way too much fun to shop for!! :)

Who is this girl related to?

You know, they say looking at your child is like looking in a mirror ... :)

About this point, my husband told me that he knows exactly whose daughter this is and he is not sure it is his. I have completely embraced my insanity and their names are Mr. C and Miss M. :)

Monkey See, Monkey Do :)

Miss M saw a video of her cousin Audrey doing this and wanted to do one of her own. This is something I say to her when she whines. :)

Boom Boom Pow

Miss M watch music videos of her cousin Audrey and decided she wanted make one of her own. She loves this song and makes me turn it up when it comes on in the car. :) So, here you go Audrey! This one's for you!

We just enjoyed another fun summer day at the zoo with cousins! My sister Laura's girls were striking poses for me all over the place, but Miss M would only pause for the camera to give me her "stink face." She is not very cooperative in front of a camera so I was loving my well-trained neices! We had a great time! My husband is even featured in this collage. He was not at the zoo with us, but ... if you look to the right you will see a pink starfish, which the girls said was Patrick Star, one of Miss M's nicknames for her daddy (we like to watch Spongebob :). Don't you think the resemblance is amazing?! Just kidding! :)

...and the living is easy :)

Here is Miss M relaxing in her little pool in our "needs a lot of work" backyard. We have been enjoying lovely weather! :)

Puppy Fun!

We went to Seaside, OR again this year for the 4th of July with our friends. Mckenna stayed with her cousins (pictured in the zoo trip) because we thought we'd spare her the extra 3 1/2 hour car ride to Cottage Grove, OR, where we purchased the most recent member of our family, Bianca - our cute Bichon Frise puppy.

Char and Ry couldn't resist purchasing one of their own while we were there so we walked away from Ry's great aunt and uncle's home with two puppies! :) They named their dog Cooper. Pictured to the far left are Ry's great aunt and uncle; they breed Bichons. His aunt is holding Bianca and Cooper's parents.

Other notes about our trip: I finished a book called The Historian (my sister Bonnie gave it to me for my b-day; great book!), I also read the first book and started the second of the Mortal Instruments trilogy, learned how to knit a cell phone sock, and relaxed on the beach. Side note: I am now finished with the trilogy and have a lot of housework, etc. to catch up on as a result. :)

Zoo Trip

I recently took Miss M and her cousins to the zoo. They weren't sure how they felt about being eaten by a shark (see shark teeth background), but they sure enjoyed pretending to be otters on the slide, spiders on a web (I thought they more closely ressembled spider monkeys:), and even a snail! The zoo is so much fun! Tip: Click on the collage to make it bigger!