Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

I need to start off by saying that this is, hands down, my favorite post ever (mostly because of the slide show)!  We had the most amazing weekend in Columbus with my family.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Todd could have been there with us (he had to work Friday night so he stayed home).

The zoo was incredible!  I had heard that it was one of the best in the country, and I'll have to agree with my sister when she said it is THE best.  There were so many different kinds of animals, and a lot that we don't have at the Toledo Zoo.  Most of them were very active - the only animal we weren't really able to see because it was sleeping was the red panda.  There was a boat ride, a train ride, and a petting zoo.  The aquarium had a touch tank, and the boys even got to touch a snake in the reptile house!  They have everything divided up by continent, which gives the park more of a "theme park" feeling than our zoo, but I liked being able to orient myself with where everything was and what I was seeing.  We skipped out on the African Congo for time's sake, but also because we do have a pretty big African section at our zoo.  We also skipped Zoombezi Bay (the waterpark attached to the zoo) and Jungle Jack's Landing (which is mostly just rides), but we saw pretty much everything else.  We had to take a little break in the middle of the day to head back to my parents' for lunch and the boys' naps, and even the adults needed a rest!  My sister and her husband joined us for the afternoon, and then we finished up with dinner at my parents' that night.

I took a LOT of pictures, and I knew that it would be a chore to load them all in to this post.  I have stopped using my actual camera completely, and I rely now only on my iPhone.  I like to click, click, click away when I'm taking pictures of the boys.  They are so active that it usually takes me a couple (or more) tries to get a decent picture from them, and I like seeing the variety and different facial expressions that I get when I look at all of them later.  I love the goofy ones that don't turn out well, and I can't wait to show them to the boys when they are older.  Lots of photos equals lots of memories, right?  Anyway, I came up with the idea of a slideshow, googled it, and realized that I could put one together using iPhoto.  Since I use this to upload photos to my computer anyway, I figured it would be really easy.  It was, and I am SO pleased with the result.  It takes a little while to watch the whole thing, but it is totally worth it.  I will definitely be making more of these!

Enjoy!

Zooin' It

We've been to the zoo a lot lately.  I try to take the boys at least once a week, but it's been so hot lately that we've only been able to go about once every other week.  We only stay for about an hour and a half in the morning before lunch and naps, so we try to see different parts of the zoo each time we go.  I take random pictures here and there, so I've compiled our last few trips into one post.

After about 15 photos, this was the best I could get.  Stinkers.

Penguin pelt

Polar bear foot

Tortoise shell

Giraffe pelt

Another penguin pelt

Peeking through the wall in Tembo Trail to see the hippos

This duck was so close to the wagon we could have touched it!

This time we just happened to venture into parts of the zoo we'd never been to before, beginning with the aviary.  I am not the biggest fan of birds, but I did think it was neat, and the boys loved the way some of the birds just flew around inside.

Inside a giant egg in the aviary.

A piano that played bird sounds

Phones that gave fun bird facts

We also went in the old Museum of Science, which now houses an amphibian exhibit and an insect exhibit.  The boys weren't crazy about the amphibians because most of the frogs were really small and hard to see, but they did love the giant salamander, and they got a kick out of all the spiders and bugs in the insect exhibit.

I believe there were giant spiders in this cage.

Look at the scorpion!

 Then we headed into Nature's Neighborhood.  We usually stay outside in this area, but on this day I decided to head inside.  There were lots of fun activities inside including face paint, a secret passageway, a giant beehive, and a spider web to climb!

Brushing a guinea pig

Again, about 15 attempts, and this is all I got.

On Saturday we will be visiting the Columbus Zoo for the first time, and I've heard really good things about it.  Can't wait to post lots of pictures!

Fourth of July Weekend

This year, the Fourth of July weekend wasn't too eventful for us.  We kept it kind of low key for a variety of reasons.  On Friday, my sister came to visit.  She had a bridal shower in town Saturday morning, so she came up Friday around lunchtime.  After lunch and naps, we went to the zoo.  I was afraid it was going to be super crowded with it being a holiday weekend.  Surprisingly, it was not crowded at all.  We got there around 3:00, and since the zoo closes at 5:00, we didn't have a ton of time to walk around.  But since there were hardly any people there we got to see quite a bit.  Our big disappointment was not being able to see Lucas, the new baby elephant.  I didn't realize he was only out for certain hours of the day (which totally makes sense considering he's a newborn).  We got to the elephants about 4:15, only to find out that he goes in at 4:00.  Oh well, next time we will know.  Unfortunately my camera batteries died while we were there.  I have some pictures we took with my camera, and my sister took a few more - I just don't have hers yet.  She took one at the end of all three of us, so I'll have to make sure to get those from her ASAP.

 

Logan and Jenn Jenn on the train

 Brayden and me on the train

 We thought it was cute that he was holding on

Nature's Neighborhood

Jenn left on Saturday morning for the shower and then home.  The plan was to try to get a bunch of work done around the house.  We're still prepping to get our house back on the market, and we have a list that we're slowly checking items off of.  Todd's parents had said they were going to come over to swim that afternoon, so we thought we could have them take the boys for an hour or so while Todd and I got some work done.  It was super hot that day, so our work day ended up turning into an entire afternoon in the pool.  We swam from 2:30 until about 5, and then it was time to make dinner.  Needless to say, we didn't get much checked off the list that day, but we had a blast anyway.

On Sunday morning we headed up to the lake.  Troy and Stacey were there, but Todd's parents were staying home because they were leaving for Las Vegas on Monday.  It was the first time that we were up there by ourselves.  We were excited to test out the feeling of having our own place.  We took a walk, ate lunch, napped, and then spent the rest of the day by the beach.  This was the first time we really spent an extended amount of time at the beach.  Todd's mom doesn't like the heat, so I always feel guilty going up to the lake and spending the majority of our day away from the cottage.  But this was so much better!  The boys had so much fun, I got some sun, and we had a great time!  We will definitely be spending more time at the beach the next time we go up to the lake...and I won't let myself feel guilty!  

 Brayden and Lilly - She will make the best babysitter in a few years!

 We kept trying to get him to jump, but he wouldn't unless someone was in to catch him.

Logan and Lilly

We ran out of time for a boat ride, which was a little disappointing, especially for Logan.  But Todd took him out on the jetski instead.  I was a nervous wreck, especially since Todd totally fibbed about how far he would take Logan out and how fast he would go.  Nothing bad happened, and Logan loved it, but I still can't help but think about what could have happened.

 
The fireworks at the lake were Saturday night, so we missed them.  I was bummed that Logan didn't get to see them but glad that I didn't have to worry about Brayden waking up during them.  We came home early Monday morning and just relaxed at home.  Nothing super patriotic, though I am disappointed I didn't get a picture of the boys in their cute outfits (thanks to Grammy and Papa).  

I hate to wish my boys' childhood away, but we kept saying that we couldn't wait until next summer.  Todd and I both remember how much fun Logan had at the lake last year, and that's the age Brayden will be next year.  We won't have to deal with nursing schedules, sleep issues, or a baby that can't walk yet.  I'm crossing my fingers that next year can be worry and issue-free.  And Todd and I decided that we really liked being on our own at the lake.  We're making plans to save some money so that we will be able to get our own place in a few years.