Breakfast with Santa - 354/365

This morning we were up and out early to the Akron Zoo to have breakfast with Santa and the Animals! 

We have gone the last two years and just love going. The zoo is closed until 11, except to the people who are there for the event. It's so nice! 

The have a huge buffet, visits with Santa, cookie decorating, and a craft. As a bonus, you get to feed the penguins. When you are all done with that, you are free to walk around the zoo. It's so nice!

We started with pictures with Santa. There was no line, so it was nice. Santa really took his time with Reagan. It was so sweet! Each child gets a little gift. There was a little stuffed elf in there, and some candy and pretzels. She was so excited. 

After Santa, we went and had our breakfast. The buffet was great! There were scrambled eggs, vegetable scrambled eggs, pancakes, hash browns, sausage, bacon and muffins. YUM! Reagan was loving the hot chocolate to drink, too. When we were all done, we were cleaning off our table and taking our garbage over to the trash. Their was a man, separating the garbage into three categories. Reagan had her cup of hot chocolate she was finishing and handed it to the man. He didn't quite grab it all the way and it fell right onto his shoe. There was still a bit still in there and it dumped right on his shoe. We felt so bad! He was a really good sport about it though and just said, "accidents happen!"

After that, we decided to take a walk around the zoo, while it was still technically closed.  We went up around Grizzly Ridge to check out the otters and bears. On the way up, there was a little gray cat that started following us everywhere. He was so cute and I thought for a second, we would have to take him home. When we got over to the coyotes, they went nuts trying to get the cat. It was crazy! They were pouncing and banging on the glass! We got a pretty cool video of the whole thing.
By this time, Reagan was crying that she was cold, so we went back down to the aquarium part for a little bit. She loved that and we couldn't get her out of there!
It was a great day!
Reagan and Santa

 The pouncing coyotes.

 Our traditional Akron Zoo picture with the sign.

Boo at the Zoo and Casino - 297/365

Busy day today!

We were going to be heading up to Akron Zoo for Boo at the Zoo. While Jim and I were getting ready to go, Reagan fell asleep watching TV on our bed. She never does that, so it was quite cute.

Boo at the Zoo was a great time. We were a little disappointed this year, since it was only during the day. We really like it in the evening, when it's all lit up with spooky lights. You can't see as many animals, but that never bothered us.

We were meeting Ron, Rachel, Adrienne, Jake and all the kids. It was so cute to see all the kids in their costumes. We spent a good chunk of the day out there. It was a gorgeous day. It actually got kind of hot. We were all stripping off our coats!

The kids got lots of yummy treats!

When we left there, we dropped Reagan off at Nana and Papa's, so that we could meet Amy and Mike for an adult night out. We were going to have dinner with them at the Phoenix, then check out the new casino. It was a fun night catching up with them. The casino is a lot smaller than we thought it would be. But it's still nice to have in the area. It will be neat to check out the horses when they start.

Sleeping beauty

 Our little tootsie roll ready to trick or treat

Cousins

Parker and I feeding goats

Tootsie and Tinker

 

Siblings!

Adult night out! Love them!

Akron Zoo - 168/365

Today we were meeting, Deanna and Violet at the Akron Zoo. Deanna's mom and baby Mike were supposed to come, too, but the baby got sick, so they stayed home. 

We got there right at 10:00. It was nice because it didn't seem like it was going to be that crowded. There was one smaller school group, so we just passed them up at the penguins and headed further in. We had the place pretty much to ourselves.

We checked out the bat house and the lemur house, then hit the carousel. 

The girls were so funny, they held hands almost the entire day. They were loving just walking along hand in hand. 

They loved checking out all the animals, but I think their favorites were the little activity centers. They stopped and went down the otter slide, and dug the stones in the grizzly ridge area. There is a little stationary canoe in the digging area, so they were filling that up with the stones. 

Next, we made our way up to the back. They fed the goats and Nana took them on the train. Too funny! They loved it!

After the train, we walked over to the garden and they played in one of the fountains for about 10 minutes. I think this was their favorite! They didn't even get that wet!

We finally stopped for a little lunch in the main building. By this time the kids were pretty hungry!

We had a super fun day! 

The first picture is how the girls spent most of the day...holding hands.

They loved sticking their heads in this little bubble. 

Filling the canoe with rocks.....

 

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny - 103/365

This morning we were up early to head up to the Akron Zoo! 

We were having breakfast with the Easter Bunny! The weather was even more beautiful than yesterday, nearly 80 degrees. YAY! They always do such a great job with their events, too! They have a wonderful buffet with eggs, pancakes, potatoes, bacon, sausage, pastries and juices. YUM! 

After breakfast we visited with the bunny and did some crafts. They got to make an Easter bunny mask and a lamb with paper plates and cotton balls. Too cute! 

Next up was the egg hunt! They escorted the little ones to an area in the zoo and set them loose. They collected their eggs, then got to turn them in for prizes. Reagan was thrilled about getting some "yummy yummies!" 

Once the event was over, regular admission to the zoo opened, so we just stayed and checked everything out. We had a great afternoon. It was just beautiful!

First Reagan and her crafts...

Next, Reagan checking out the Flamingos!

Finally, Reagan is Twitter famous! 

She made it onto their Twitter account. 

Too cool! 

 

Zoo Breakfast and Cookie Baking - 355/365

Today, we had an early wake up call! 

 We had reservations for breakfast with Santa and the Animals at Akron Zoo! We had to be there at 9:00, so we left home right at 8:00. We got there and were escorted to the big cafeteria. There, they had a huge breakfast buffet, cookie decorating, a craft, and of course, a visit with Santa! We decided to head straight for Santa, since we knew the line would get pretty long. We were some of his first visitors. It was cool, because he had Mrs. Claus with him! You don't get to see her very much! Reagan was a little bit shy, but warmed up after a few minutes. 

After she talked with him and we took our picture, he had a little gift bag for each kid. The bags had lots of snacks and a little stuffed Christmas Owl. It was so nice of Santa! 

We decided to eat next. The buffet was great! They had, cinnamon rolls, fruit, scrambled eggs, pancakes, hash browns, bacon and sausage. It was delicious! While we were eating, there was a little elf named, Ellie, walking around talking with the kids. She did a little magic trick and took their "picture" with a HUGE foam camera! 

While we were waiting for our group to be called for the rest of the activities, we went and decorated a cookie and did the craft. The craft was pretty cool. They glued a piece of paper to a plastic spoon. The paper had a little hole in the top half. The kids glued cotton balls all over it. When they were done, they could hold it up and it looked like they had a Santa beard. It was too funny! 

 In the basement of the building we were in, they had a HUGE model train set up. The kids were in awe of this. Reagan could have watched the trains go around and around all day. In fact, when we had to go upstairs to meet our group, she put up a fuss because she didn't want to leave! 

We finally had to go out to the carousel and find our group. We were then led over to the lion exhibit. The staff had put a Christmas tree in their pen with treats and stuff in it. It was neat to see them going at it trying to get their treats. 

Next, we took a short walk around the zoo while we waited for our turn to feed the penguins. When we got to the penguins, Reagan was so excited and not even grossed out by the dead fish in her hand. The penguins were just swimming round and round the platform waiting for the fish. She loved feeding them and asked to do it again, when we were out of fish. 

 When the event was over, the zoo opened to the public. We were allowed to stay, since our program included zoo admission. Even though it was raining, we decided to walk around a little more. We were already in our ponchos and it wasn't overly cold. It was actually really fun, because we were the only ones in the zoo. We only saw two other groups of three people. It was so funny. It was deserted! 

We had the best time playing with the Otters. They followed us to all the different windows in their tank. It was hilarious! Reagan would run to one window and they would follow, so she would run back the other way, and away they went. We spent about a half hour playing with them. 

We finally decided to call it a day and head home. 

 When we got home, Reagan and I decided we would roll and bake our cookies before her nap. Then, when she got up we could frost them. We had the best time cutting them out. She was an amazing helper! Our dough made MANY more cookies than we thought, so it was quite the task! LOL! 

 After nap, we had even more fun decorating them. Reagan actually hummed Rudolph and Jingle Bells to herself the WHOLE time she was doing it. It was the SWEETEST thing! She absolutely loved decorating and did almost every single one herself! 

 What a perfect family fun day we had!

The photo of the day is Reagan and her fish for the penguins.

And, our little cookie cutter....

Finally, us and our finished product!

Eppie Adventure - he took a trip to the zoo, too!

 

Harvest Festival & Boo at the Zoo - 300/365

We had a super fall fun day planned! 

We started our day at the Tippy Harvest Festival with Nana and Papa. They did a fantastic job with the party! 

When you first walked in, they had the lobby all decorated with spider webs, spiders and spooky candles. Rapunzel and Prince Flynn were there, too! They were telling stories to the kids by the fireplace all afternoon. 

When you went in the main ballroom, they had the tables decorated in the typical Halloween colors. They had a pumpkin painting station, photo booth, face painting and a clown who was making balloon animals! Reagan loved getting her face painted. She asked for an orange cat. She was more excited by the dust of glitter on him at the end. 

Next, we moved on to the clown. Orange cats must have been the theme of the day, because that's what she picked him to make her, too! 

After we finished inside, we set off to the side yard. They had a bounce house, petting zoo, wagon rides, and a bonfire. We started at the petting zoo. They had a couple adorable FLUFFY bunnies, two turtles, a couple guinea pigs and even a Lemur. It was so cute! Reagan went to pet the turtle and he turned the other way. She cried out, "He doesn't like me." It was pitiful. LOL!

Next, it was time for the wagon ride. We ended up getting the whole wagon to ourselves. It was fun because, they had Snow White on the wagon telling the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Reagan listened quite intently. She just loved sitting with Snow White. 

After the wagon ride, we bounced in the bounce house and got some hot chocolate. 

Finally, we headed over to the bonfire to make some s'mores. Reagan was interested in roasting them, but she kept covering her eyes. It was so funny. This was the biggest bonfire she has been around, so I think the heat was really bothering her. We got a kick out of Papa, because he had marshmallow goop all over his hands...LOL! 

Finally, we hit the buffet. They had tons of yummy food, we were stuffed by the end!

It was a great afternoon and we were so happy we went!

 Even though we felt ready for a nap after stuffing ourselves, we were now off to the Akron Zoo for Boo at the Zoo. This is our third year and just love it. They do a great job and give out the best treats! Each station is really decorated well. They had construction workers, soap box derby, candy store, trains, farm theme and lots more. The stations are worth it to go, just to check them out. They are that well done.

We were meeting Adrienne, Jake, Jillian, Evan, Matt, Nikki, Andrew and Ally. Ron, Rachel and Parker were supposed to come, too, but Parker was feeling a little off, so they stayed back. 

We met at five and had a great time. The weather ended up being great. A little cool, but not horrible. The kids all got along great and just had a ball. 

We had got them little glow bracelets, wands and glasses, so we had some fun with those. 

We had a good laugh at the goat petting area. We got the kids crackers to feed the goats and they were having a good time. There was one that kept getting real close to the adults. I decided to give him a hug and get my picture taken with him. Next up, was Nikki. She moved in and put her arm around him. All of a sudden, he had a hold of her turtle neck! It was hilarious! I distracted him and set her free. We were howling! 

Next up was the little train. Jim was nice enough to be the adult to ride with the kids! They all piled in the caboose and went round and round. He said they all just giggled the whole time. 

We finished up the night with the carousel. The kids talked about it all night and were excited to finally ride it! 

We ended up closing the place down. 

Jim and I ended up driving Matt, Nikki and the kids back to their car at the end of the night. Unfortunately, they had to park way down the street and had to ride a shuttle to get there. We piled them in so they didn't have to walk all that way, late at night. 

We had a great time as always! Super fun day all around!

The first photo is Reagan at the fire...

 Next, is all the kids at Boo...

Also, the adults at Boo at the Zoo...

 

Princess & Pirate Night - 208/365

Today started off on a sad note. 

My mom, dad, Jim and I attended a memorial service in New Castle, for a longtime co-worker, Linda. Linda was a wonderful, kind person that everyone loved. All four of us were lucky to have worked with her at Butler Wick, and through the change over to Stifel Nicolas. She had suffered for a long time with illness, but was one of those people that you would have never known it. She was always smiling and always had kind words. We will all miss her very much. Rest in Peace, Linda. :(

 We got home from the service and waited for Reagan to get home from grandma's. When they got here, we rushed out to see her, but she started crying at the sight of us. She said she wanted to go back to grandma's. Geez, guess that means she had fun! LOL!

 After she was settled, we decided to try to go on a walk around the neighborhood. We got down the street and it started raining. When we got back, we were giving Brinkley some treats. Reagan loves his, put a treat on his nose and tell him "take it" trick. She went through the motions and when he caught the treat, she started clapping and said, "Congratulations, Buddy! You did it!" SOOO cute!

This evening, we were going to the Pirate and Princess Party at the Akron Zoo. We went last year and it was so cute! Reagan wore her Sofia the First dress and looked ADORABLE! She got so many compliments on it. Everywhere we went someone said something to her. 

The new Grizzly Ridge is amazing! They did such a nice job and it really adds to the zoo. You get to be so close to the bears. We had fun watching the one play with some balled up brush. He was flinging it around and playing in the water with it. At one point, he even looked like he was using it as a loofa!

Reagan got her face painted and got to color her very own crown. She had a ball! 

We were walking down to the base of the zoo, when Reagan turned around and started going the other way. We said, "Come on honey, the fish are this way!" Daddy started playfully chasing her, she went the other way laughing and shouted, "I'm being a pistol!" We were dying laughing! 

The party seemed to go too quick. We were bummed when it was over, but we had to head home. We got back around 10:30. Reagan just loves walking through the door to see Brinkley. Of course, he's always waiting for us. We opened the door and she ran to him and said, "I love you stink bomb!" It was hilarious! Sometimes we call Brinkley, Stinky Brinky, so she must have gotten it from that. She is too funny! 

The photo of the day is Reagan at the zoo...