Last September, just before the girls' third birthday, we took them to the zoo. It was the first time we'd done so, even though the zoo is just across town. We met up with our friend Tricia and her daughter, Emma and toured the zoo with them.
Megan and Kayla
We'd planned to do it before, but never quite got around to it. We thought it was warmer than it was when we ventured out, so the girls were a tad underdressed for the weather.
Daddy rectified that situation quickly by buying each of them a long sleeved blue Sedgwick County Zoo t-shirt!
Megan and Kayla
First we went to see the giraffes. Grandma Ruth Bingham really likes giraffes, so I'm including lots of giraffe pictures!
Baby giraffe running over to the momma giraffe
Daddy and Megan watching giraffes
yeah, I don't know either. Let's go with Kayla and Megan since Megan had polka dots on her bow earlier.
Kayla
Let's stick with Kayla and Megan.
They had fun getting up close and personal with some of the animals.
We tried to get them to pose with the sculpture, but couldn't get their attention at the same time.
Emma, Megan and Kayla watching a gorilla
Emma, Kayla and Megan with the bear
Megan, Daddy and Kayla, watching penguins
A Peacock -- wandering around near the penguins
While we were at the zoo, we also stopped at the playground area. The girls LOVED climbing and sliding!
Kayla
Megan
Megan
Kayla
Kayla
Megan
We had a great time, and look forward to doing it more this coming spring!
I remember this well. I was taking pictures of the girls, and they started asking me to take pictures of things, like their crackers.
Then Megan stood up.
She looked at me and said:
"Mommy, take a picture of my mouth!"
And she opened her mouth as wide as she could and waited.
So I did.
There are a handful of blogs I like to follow. The handful changes from time to time, although some endure. There's one I follow that posted that she asked her 3 year old 20 questions and saved the answers so she could see how her interests change over the years.
I tried to ask the girls the questions, but they weren't as cooperative. Megan gave me a lot of "I don't know" answers, that I left out, and got tired of my questions quickly. Kayla did better, thinking about them and saying "ummmmmm" before giving an answer. So I didn't get 20 questions asked -- but I thought I should save the answers anyway.
What's your favorite color?
Kayla: Pink and pink. Two pinks. And purple, too.
Megan: Blue. And I like purple.
What's your favorite song?
Kayla: Jesus Loves Me
Megan: Jesus Loves Me [I expected Mary Had a Little Lamb]
What's your favorite TV Show?
Kayla: Movies [I expected Dora]
Megan: Jesus Loves Me show.
That's not a tv show--what do you like to watch on TV?
Megan: Dora the Explorer
Who's your best friend?
Kayla: Megan!
Megan: Kayla and Megan!
What's your favorite fruit?
Kayla: Grapes! and Apple
Megan: Apple
What's your favorite drink?
Kayla: Juice
Megan: Juice
What's your favorite thing to eat?
Kayla: Peanut butter sandwich
Megan: Peanut butter sandwich, too
What's your favorite game?
Kayla: Jesus Loves Me game. [??]
Megan: beans!
How do you play beans?
Megan: You move it with your hands! [??]
What's your favorite animal?
Kayla: Jesus Loves Me.
That's not an animal
Kayla: kitty!
Megan: Monkey
What's your favorite toy?
Kayla: Dolly. And red teddy
Megan: I don't know. I like legos
What's your favorite book? What story?
Kayla: I don't know. Animal Big Words!
Megan: I like princess stories
What's your favorite blanket?
Kayla: my Tinkerbell one
Megan: I don't know. My froggy blanket is my favorite. [I expected pink teddy bear]
What are you going to be when you grow up?
Kayla: A princess pirate piggy! [Pirate Piggies are characters on Dora]
Megan: A Princess! Mommy? what are you going to grow when you be up? [sic]
A mommy!
I guess Megan got tired of the questions. And yes, she did mix up the words...but I knew what she meant.
So the big news that can now (finally) be revealed is Ralph and Cathy's 40th anniversary celebration, which took place this past Saturday. Most of you reading this blog were there, so I won't bother to go into too many details, but we wildly succeeded in keeping the party a surprise, and everyone seemed to have a good time. A special note of thanks to Jeff and Chris, without whose help the party would not have been possible.
More interesting to my topic, in prep for the party I scanned in most of Mom's old photos for use in a slideshow. It's been interesting to me to think about, comparing all of these familiar photos with the ones I now take of my family.
I didn't scan every picture, but got most of them, the total ending up somewhere north of 1,100 (not counting the digital pictures Mom and Dad have taken themselves the past few years). By comparison, I've collected over 7.700 pictures of the girls in three years.
And why wouldn't I? Digital cameras are essentially free once you make the original purchase, the only surprising thing is that the total isn't higher.
Yet another example of how technology changes our lives I suppose. I recognize a lot of these pictures from growing up, we'd occasionally look through the photo albums, but certainly not on a regular basis. Kayla and Megan see our family pictures on the TV screen saver; they're pretty decent at recognizing themselves as well. When they get a bit older they'll be able to pull them up on any one of a half dozen devices in the house. They'll find this blog, look through my Facebook, etc. How will this affect how they remember/view their childhood? Will their memories be more vivid? Will pictures lose some of their inherit value to them?
Sometimes it's a challenge to convince the girls to go to bed. Sometimes, they have different ideas of what they want to do at bedtime. Like going to bed on the kitchen floor. Or in a laundry basket.
This summer, the girls started going over to Grandma's house to play. From our deck, I can see them in her front side yard.
Occasionally, she lets them play on the neighbor's swing set. They love climbing and sliding! The doctor's office has a slide and climbing tower, so they enjoy going there. I'm sure that will change some day, but it's nice for now!
And when it's time to come home, they can come through the yard back to our house. They like to stand on our deck and wave to Grandma on her deck, or look out the kitchen window and wave to Grandma.
Grandma and Mommy took the girls to a craft show. They had a great time - - especially when the nice clown made them balloon flowers! Although getting them to stand still for a picture was a challenge:
Kayla
Megan, Kayla
Megan -- playing with her balloon??
After the craft show, we went out to lunch at T G I Fridays. They ate chips and salsa, but Grandma told them not to take too much, or it would burn their mouths. That began the still-repeated phrase, "too much burns my mouth" about any dip/sauce they encounter.
Kayla, Megan, sharing with Grandma
Kayla, Megan, showing their coloring-page menu to Grandma
The girls do very well at restaurants. They even will express their preference on what they want to eat. Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll want it when it reaches the table.
Yes, it's the Big 3-0, minus 27. We had a nice party at the house here with Grandma, Granny and Grandpa, Linda, Jalen, Jordan, and Karen, Carl, and Nathan. The day was exciting enough that the girls were in bed and asleep by 6:30, which around here might as well be Halley's Comet.
To say Oct 9 snuck up on us this year is an understatement. Literally, the phrase "Huh, guess we ought to plan a party?" was uttered between Jenn and I less than 2 weeks ago. Meanwhile the girls continue to evolve at an almost frightening pace, identifying letters on site (particularly "M" and "K"), talking more and better, and just generally continuing to amaze.
We've had many adventures in the four months since I last posted, amazing tales of wonder and discovery. If only I had some means to convey them to you! Yes, I have slacked greatly. Some highlights:
- We had a trip to the zoo, meeting Tricia and Emma there on a Sunday morning. It was a cooler day, right after the heat wave broke; too cool (and windy) for little girls as it turned out, who showed up in sleeveless shirts and skirts thanks to our poor planning. A couple of quick purchases of long sleeved shirts from the gift shop helped solve the problem. One of the first things we saw were the giraffes, and when asked the girls will be happy to tell you about the lions, elephants, bears, penguins, gorilla, and the peacock.
- Several times the past few weeks Daddy - and this weekend, Mommy and Grandma - have taken the girls to a park on Central here in Andover, which is pretty nice as far as parks in mid-major city suburbs go. It also gives the girls a chance to demonstrate a level of agility and bravery that Daddy did not know they have and, quite frankly, I'm not quite sure I'm ready for. Oh look, there's my daughter climbing a pole 9 feet off the ground, that's something I'm totally not worried about!
- Big girls acting their age (for the most part) also get to go over to Grandma's to play after daycare/work a lot lately, while Daddy mows the lawn or whatever. We still haven't quite got that whole potty training thing down yet, but the work continues.
- As demonstrated above, the Moon is a constant source of fascination; we almost always look for it going to Miss Kelli's in the mornings. Venus was visible in the sky the other morning as well, and they seemed interested when I pointed out that it wasn't actually a star, but a planet. Yes, I am blatantly trying to turn my daughters in to astronomers, but I'm being realistic. One of them may choose theoretical physics.
