Zoo Daze!

We have had a beautiful spring, so we decided to renew our family membership to the zoo and enjoy an afternoon with all the animals.  The Great Plains Zoo also added a dinosaur exhibit, so we wanted to get our dinosaur lover, Josh, in to see it before it left!

I was amazed at how life-like the Dino's looked...Josh was not so sure about the T-Rex!  He eventually did touch him too!

We  dug for a few fossils and then we were off to the zoo...  

 

 Caleb prepared a list of "must see" animals and places the night before...so proud of his creativity!

Caleb was our "official" navigator at the zoo.  The boys mapped out where they wanted to go and we were off!

We saw lions and tigers and bears...oh my!  Well, close, they don't have lions at this zoo (although Josh wished they did REALLY, REALLY BAD)! 

We visited a favorite of both boys...the meerkats!  Although now, we have to say meerkat, I think his little buddies died or something...he is all alone now!  Sad.

Josh loved the turtle tunnel!

We stopped for a quick picnic lunch in the shade.  It was a really warm day!  I am not complaining though!

We left the face to face farm area after our turtle visit and we were off to a favorite...feeding the ducks & geese!

We had a great time at the zoo.  They both wanted to go back the next day.  I think it was a smart idea to wait a few years to renew our family pass.  It is all brand-new and exciting again,,,yeah!

Happy Birthday to ME!

 I got the best gift ever on my birthday...a beautiful, sunny day :)  So, we decided to go downtown for the St. Patrick's Day parade.  I think the rest of Sioux Falls had the same idea!! 

We went back home after the parade and did a little celebrating with gifts and yummy cake!

 Thanks for a great day with the three special guys in my life!!

 On a side note, Josh has been really motivated to try riding his bike WITHOUT training wheels...so Jon has been busy showing him the ropes!  He is doing great!

Caleb has been busy...

Caleb has been a very busy little guy lately! The PTA at Rosa Parks Elementary has found a fun and creative way to raise funds for a few new things for the kids. His class is one of the classes raising funds for a new rock wall for the gym with the Mindcore Marathon. He has 50 trivia questions and is studying away for a 100% score! Thanks to everyone who donated to his cause:)

He also had career day at school for Dr. Seuss week in honor of the book "Oh the Places You'll Go." Some of you may know that for now (I am sure it will change many times) he dreams of being an artist & writer at Pixar Studios. So, I did my best to make an official looking badge with the title of Story Author! He thought that was pretty cool and so did his friends! They all asked him if he really got that from Pixar...thank goodness for "copy & paste"!!

Caleb made another original production last weekend. His version of Swan Lake...I know...where does he come up with these things?! Anyway, Josh was thrilled to have the job of throwing packing peanuts (snow) from the top bunk! Caleb danced and played music off his piano. Pretty fun to watch!

He has also taken on the challenge of mastering the hula hoop...crazy! We were at Toys-r-us the other day and he thought one of these might be fun. His first attempt was about 1 1/2 minutes. By the next day he was up to about 11 1/2 minutes (and could have gone longer if Jessie hadn't mess him up)!

His school put on a 2nd grade Spring Concert complete with singing, dancing and musical instruments. Their inspiration was the book "One Snowy Day." I thought they did a great job and it was lots of fun to watch. Caleb has been full of anticipation and could not wait for us to see what they have been working on all winter!

I have a video clip at the bottom of the post of their final song...so cute!

We celebrated afterwards at Cherry Berry and were thrilled that Denise could stop in Sioux Falls on her way back home from out east...perfect timing to catch his concert!

Mute the music on the bottom of the blog and enjoy the video...