Our Zoo Adventures with Grandma and Aunt Emily

The Detroit Zoo has a cool butterfly/bird house with many beautiful specimens.

One thing about zoos, they always have large, metallic replicas of animals for people to climb on--lest one be overcome by the urge to climb on one of the live animals and go for a ride.

An incredible tank houses seals and polar bears, though they are separated by a transparent wall, obviously for the safety of the seals.  If one looks closely enough, however, you can see the scratches and claw marks on the glass where the polar bears have tried to get to their natural prey.  Does that seem like cruel and unusual punishment to anyone else?

Myriam condescends to hold hands with adults only rarely.  Grandma had no idea how lucky she was at this moment in time.

Auntie Em treated a tired Hayes to a shoulder ride.  We were afraid he might fall asleep and topple off, he looked so droopy-eyed.

Through this tunnel the seals swim right over and around you.

Our local petting zoo provided a slightly different experience with a different cadre of animals.  Lolee loved petting these little kids.

If Grandma was a horse, she would measure 16 1/2 hands.

Myriam was very sleepy for missing her nap this particular afternoon.

Penguins 8 and under Swim Meet

Emily came with us to deck register and watch warm-ups, as well as calm all of our nerves.  Elyzabeth said she didn't feel well, and we thought she was just nervous, but we found out she had strep throat the next day, so she really wasn't feeling well.  We were very proud of how well she did.

The Penguins on the bench.

Coach Mark instructing Elyzabeth in warm-ups.

Hayes and Auntie Em watching our little swimmer in the blistering heat of the observation deck.

It was very special to have Grandma and Emily there with the rest of the family to mark the occasion of her first meet.

It greatly excited all of us to see her name on the huge scoreboard.

Hugs were definitely in order following Elyzabeth's 4 races.

Our little Macaroni Penguin holding her ribbon.

Grandma Teeples and Auntie Em's Visit

We visited our almost Doctor at his hospital.  It's fun to see him in his element.

Grandma brought some wonderful books and everyone enjoyed reading them with her.  Isn't this a cute picture!

Grandma brought a bag to rival Mary Poppins'.  She pulled a remarkable number of things from it,  all meant to delight and entertain.

Hayes loved it whenever he could get Grandma's undivided attention.

We enjoyed a fun St. Patrick's Day lunch at a little bakery in Milford.  It was a nice day, though a little on the cool side.  Yummy cabbage soup.

This 3-car train passed by us twice on the tracks just next to the bakery.  The man in the caboose waved heartily both times.  Hayes was in heaven.

Myriam loves the little lamb Grandma brought for her.  It's so soft and snuggly.

Random selections from January, February and March

Hayes is my awesome little helper.  He knows how to do laundry better than anyone else in the family.  He knows exactly where to put the fabric softener vs the detergent.  Won't that come in handy on his mission=)

My matching boys at the giant indoor play place Castaway Cafe.  It's nice to have somewhere to run around crazy-like when it's crazy cold outside!

Our little Myrsi-doats is a hat girl.  From gansta in the hood (albeit pink) to cowboy hats and hard hats, she loves them all.  Having a life-size doll that walks and talks is great for her sisters to dress up, too.

So this is the one and only snowman we have built since moving to Michigan.  We get mountains of snow regularly, but we have yet to see good, Utah packing snow that will just roll into a snowball yet.  Hence the quasi-snowman=)

Lolee is our costume and quick-change artist.  She can be, and is often, a fairy princess, shortly after to turn up as an army cowgirl.  We have been blessed greatly with large personalities in our home, and Lolee's is not the least of these.

Elyzabeth joined the Penguins swim team in January and is doing great.  She's already a better swimmer than anyone else in the family--parents included.

Yes, she is doing exactly what it looks like she is doing--drinking the milk out of the bottom of her bowl.  How does one know how to do that at just 18 month old, I ask?

Another gem!  New days bring so many new skills, not the least of which involves fingers, holes, and noses.

Elyzabeth has given us some parental proud moments in the last couple of months.  She and her best friend Brooke both had pieces of pottery selected to be displayed in the Huron Valley Arts Council Art Show.  They were the only three selected from their school!

If we can't find Myriam, it's because we haven't looked at the bottom of the stairs yet.  That bottom step is just the right size chair for her little legs.  She hauls toys over and will sit and jabber to herself and her toys for long periods of time.

Our Hayes-boy needs a haircut.  It's still so cold outside that I keep putting it off, afraid he might freeze to death if he loses the thick coat on top of his head.

We were so lucky to have Grandma visit us for a few days.  She helped us with umpteen projects and even sat and watched a movie with us one afternoon.  (That's was the hardest thing we could have required of her=)

The kids painted their first initials to hang in their rooms by their pictures.  I will just say that we have some creative juices always waiting to surface.

We can always count on Grandma for some good, wholesome interactive entertainment!

Here is Hayes modeling his "H" above his bed.

Valentine's Day would just not be complete without a heart on your head.  (This was not my creative idea, but I cannot remember whose blog I found it on to give them the credit they deserve.  My apologies to the viewing universe.)

Elyzabeth was so excited to make her very first Valentine's box for school.  She created quite a work of art.

This is my work of art.  My Day would just not be complete without heart sugar cookies.  These looked so artistic on the cooling rack that I decided to take a photo.  Now I think I might have to use it as the background for a scrapbook page, given it is probably the yummiest picture I have ever taken!

Hayes and Myriam enjoyed the frosting for the cookies most of all.

Elyzabeth is developing an eye for nature photography.  She wants to turn them in to her Ranger Rick magazine photo contest.  

Christmas Vacation

  Four kids on a couch.  Christmas vacation means movies, right?  And lots of them.  It's taken Hayes a couple of week to come down off of his movie high.  

 Angel Lolee somehow convinced Hayes to be her dance partner.  Hayes didn't seem to mind--he even serenaded her as they danced.

 We're so glad to see Elyzabeth so happy.

 Christmas with the cousins is a little different in Michigan.  It means webcamming to span the distance.

 Christmas morning before opening presents.  Is anybody excited?!

 Our friends the Chapman's invited us to spend Christmas afternoon with them, four-wheeling and enjoying good food and great company.  I could almost pretend we were at Island Park, but quads are much more squirly in the snow.  At least they have the same smell.

 Lolee and Hayes riding on a sled behind the four wheeler.

 Our Christmas morning ritual of sorting the presents into piles.  This gives the anticipation time to build=)

 David got pushup thingies from Elyzabeth that we all had to try out.  Of course, Mom down low enough on her stomach is an open invitation for a dog-pile.  

 Even Myriam wanted in on the action.

 I made it look easy, but the expression on David's face shows how hard this really was.

Lolee spent the day after Christmas on the couch nibbling crackers and sipping water after throwing up all night.  Thus begins our winter season-of-sickness.