Zoo Day - 104/365

It was going to be a beautiful day today.

We wanted to get one more girl's day in before Myrtle. With the weather so nice, we decided try the zoo! It was a perfect day! Not too hot or cold.

Ally and Reagan were so excited to see one another. Us adults had a good time catching up, too.

Ally was so cute, she would pick up Reagan if there was something that she couldn't see. It was so sweet.

Every once in awhile as they were walking along, they would steal flowers out of the planters. We tried to stop them, but they were pretty stealthy. Plus, it was pretty cute.

One new thing for the zoo was a penguin exhibit. It was up in the back by the Grizzly Bears. It was pretty small, but there was probably 10 or 15 penguins in there. The girls seemed to like it. They had a cool photo op board with penguins that they loved posing by.

I think their favorite thing of the day was the Rainforest. They loved the fog and rain over by the porcupines.

It was a really great day to be out and about.

Three little monkeys!

 Penguin exhibit!

 Beautiful girls, beautiful flowers.

 

Bye Santa & Zoo Day! - 3/365

Today was kick Santa out day! FINALLY!

Jim and Reagan decided to hit the Cleveland Zoo, while I worked around the house. 

Jim never gets too many one on one days with her, so he was pretty excited. They decided to do Cleveland since they have more indoor stuff, than Akron. 

They started their day in the rain forest. Reagan was really getting into learning about the animals. She made Jim read all the informational signs around the zoo. 

After the rain forest, they decided to have a little lunch, before they started their journey around the zoo. They had some pizza at the little cafe in the rain forest. Jim said his favorite part of the day was when Reagan leaned over at lunch and said "Hey dad, I love going to the zoo with you." She is such a little sweetie!

After lunch they hit some outdoor stuff. They saw the elephants and the flamingos in their "indoor" but outdoor habitat. 

Next, they took the tram up to the primate building and aquarium. She loved that and they had the place all to themselves! She loved this little squirrel up there. 

Finally, Reagan made Jim go over and see the sealions. They took the tram over, but then it left them there. It happened to start raining, so Jim had to carry her all the way down the hill in the rain. Luckily they did take an umbrella, so they didn't get too wet!

They had a great day together!

Meanwhile, I was on a roll and got all of Christmas put away and sprinkled some Valentine's Day stuff. It's so nice to have the house back to normal! The Christmas stuff was starting to make me feel like I was drowning!

The living room was in need of a little organization, too. Reagan has her awesome playroom, but we like to have a few toys in the living room for her, also. The living room toys were starting to take over, so I got a little cube system at Target to try to help organize them. It looks fantastic and I feel like our living room is twice the size now! YAY!

Productive day for all!

Reagan ready to head off to the zoo!

 They made it!

 Reagan's favorite, the flamingos!

 Our new toy corner for Reagan!

 Christmas out, Valentine's day in!

Cleveland Zoo - 177/365

Today, Nana, Reagan and I met Nikki, Ally and Andrew at the Cleveland Zoo. 

It was going to be a gorgeous day, so we were excited!

We got there, and it was a total madhouse, there were people everywhere! Once we got in, it was much better. Thankfully the Cleveland Zoo is so big that it swallows the crowds pretty well. 

We made our way over to the giraffes. Reagan loves to feed them the lettuce! They come right over and gobble it right up! 

Next, we headed up to the bears. We got there right as the grizzly bears were playing. They were standing up on two legs and wrestling away. They looked like they were hugging! It was too funny!

After the zoo, we were going to head over to Champps, to have some lunch. We got there to find that they were closed down. BOO! We loved it there.
We ended up going over to a new place called the Oak Barrel. The place was gorgeous, but there was no one in there. We got seated right away and the menu looked great. They had a little bit of everything. 

We got a few burgers and some buttered noodles for the kids. We were waiting and waiting and waiting. It took us nearly an hour to get our food! Once it finally came, it really was fantastic! 

This evening, Jim headed off to Doc Group for work. He said it went really well!

The kiddos at the zoo.

Reagan feeding the giraffe.

Bear HUGS!

Cops, Zoo & a Rose - 205/365

Today started out interesting. 

I was getting ready for the day when I got a text from Rachel saying there were numerous cops and unmarked police cars at a house up the street. We were both thinking WTF!?! I hurried up and finished getting ready, so I could be a nosy neighbor and drive up around the bend, to see for myself! She said there were a ton and she wasn't kidding! It was kind of spooky. 

By this time, they were just standing in the driveway and some were laughing, so I figured the main part of whatever they were doing, was over. One officer happened to be digging in the trunk of his car, so I stopped and I asked, "May I ask you what is going on here?" He just smiled and replied, "Oh, we were just assisting the federal government with a search warrant." Alrighty then! I then asked, "so no one is dead or anything?" He just laughed and said "no, nothing like that." I still don't know what they did or what they were into, but it's not something you like to see in your neighborhood. They just moved in not too long ago. Oh well! 

 Once all the excitement was over, Nana, Reagan and I were off to the Cleveland Zoo to meet Adrienne, Nikki and the kids. We had a great time and the kids were well behaved. The girls all had on blending outfits from Gymboree's latest safari line. They looked adorable! 

We even took a little ride on the train! I had never done before, it was cute! 

After the zoo, we went over to the rainforest to have some lunch. We were all starving by this time. After lunch, Adrienne headed home and the rest of us just hung around chatting for a little bit. While us adults were chatting, we noticed that Ally and Reagan found Nikki's lip gloss and were giving each other "makeovers." It was too funny! They looked beautiful! 

Eventually, mom and I had to get on the road so we could get stuff ready for our dinner tonight. My mom and dad decided that they wanted to get Aunt Rose's, Youngstown family together for a Celebration of Life dinner. Aunt Rose lived in Florida and didn't want a big "to do". 

We had it at Tippy and had nearly 30 people. It was wonderful to see everyone and everyone was excited to be there! 

Everyone brought old pictures of Rose. We passed them around and shared our favorite stories. It was so fun to hear stories that we hadn't heard before. 

For the decorations, we did everything with Roses. The centerpieces were roses and then we attached a picture of Rose to a stick and popped them down in the center. 

Rose always had the perfect manicure, so we found nail polish called "Vintage Rose" and tied a small picture of her that showed off her nails, to the polish. We gave one to all the women. She loved playing cards, too, so everyone got a deck of cards. My mom even found tiny chocolates that were in tiny playing card card boxes. They were so cute! Reagan passed out all the goodies to everyone and did a great job! It was such a nice way for us all to take some time to honor our beloved Aunt Rose! 

 I have three photos for today, shown in order of the day... 

The first is the Federal Agent Raid

 The next is the kids at the zoo...

And finally,  a family photo at Rose's Celebration of Life Dinner...

Animals, Rides & Lunch - 178/365

It was family fun at the Cleveland Zoo today! 

A bunch of us were supposed to go, but with the iffy forcast, they backed out. 

Nana, Reagan and I decided we still wanted to go and headed on up to the zoo. The drive up was pretty rainy, but as we got to Cleveland, it got brighter and brighter. It ended up being a perfect day! It wasn't too hot and no sun beating down on you! 

We started at the elephants. Reagan LOVES the elephants! They walked right in front of us and were eating some hay. She was thrilled! 

We then headed over to monkey island. They were all sound asleep, so we just visited her little monkey statue friend on the bench. LOL! 

 There was a giraffe feeding at 11:00, so we booked it over there to get in line. Today, they were giving them lettuce. We bought our lettuce and gave it a whirl! Reagan was really into it after feeding the giraffes Sunday at Living Treasures. She was even more excited because the giraffe's name was "Jasmine, like my princess." as she told daddy when he got home. It was fun watching Jasmine eat. She just devoured that lettuce in one swoop of the tongue. We had so much fun we got in line a second time...LOL! 

 Next, we headed over to the wolf house. She was pretty disappointed that we couldn't see them, but the turtles on the way out made up for that. She loved seeing the bald eagle, too! There was a zoo employee wandering around the wolf house talking about the animals and was carrying a wolf pelt. She was fascinated by that and was looking for his eyes and nose. She poked her little finger right where the eye would have been...yuck! She didn't quite get it.

We continued on to the Norther Trek, to check out the bears and seals. Reagan LOVED the seals. She liked watching them swim all around. One was sleeping and another tried to get it's attention. The sleeping one, kinda made a noise like, "get away!" She had a good laugh at that. She said, "that seal say, go away!" Another kept dipping his head in the water and that was pretty funny for her, too. 

The polar bear was right front and center today.  He is one of my favorites in the zoo. I love visiting him! He's just fascinating!

Next to the polar bear, is the grizzly bear. He is really cool, too! He was also all over the place today. He was hanging on a log, walking all around. Reagan thought he was stuck and said a couple times, "Oh no, he can't get down!" 

We headed back down and went through the dinosaur exhibit. She wasn't thrilled with them at all. She did a little crying, but not much. She just really, gently expressed her displeasure with the roaring. There was one, that was kind of making a burping sound, so we told her, "Oh listen, they aren't scary, they're just burping!" After that, she seemed a bit better...LOL! 

It was on to Australia after that. We had a good time feeding the lorikeets. They were a little more quiet than usual, but we still got a few customers. 

We made another stop at the elephants, then went over to the gift shop on the way out. We got Reagan a little shirt for next summer and I did purchase one Christmas present! Go ME! 

After we left the zoo, we went to a little Place called Memphis Kiddie Park. It's only 3 miles from the zoo. My mom heard about it last summer, so we thought we'd give it a try! It was such a cute little place. It's mostly just for toddlers. They have probably 10-15 rides, a putt putt course and a little concession stand. Reagan absolutely loved it. She would ride a ride, the attendant would get her out and she would walk to the next car to try to ride again. She did it all, and all on her own, too! I was so proud of her! She did ride her first roller coaster and Nana got to enjoy that with her! Reagan was just a pro and even had her hands up during the ride! I can tell she'll just love Cedar Point someday! 

 By this time, we were all starving, so we stopped and had a late lunch at Champps in Independence. It was really yummy! 

When we got home, Reagan and I were on our own, because Jimmy had a late meeting in Vienna. Reagan and I just watched a little TV. It was the first time she really lounged and watched TV, like really VEGGED out! She usually is too busy running around playing to watch TV. After her "time out", we headed outside. We did the play set, sandbox, chalk, bubble mower and scooter. What a busy day! 

 Jim had a good meeting and got home just in time to do bath, so he was happy! 

It was a great day! 

 The photo of the day is Nana, Reagan and I at the zoo. 

 The next is Reagan on her first roller coaster!

And finally, Jim and I were flipping through the channels tonight, doing our own vegging. Anyway, he stopped on a football game and noticed a player had our name. You don't see that EVER! 

 

Paid Admission! - 69/365

What an absolutely GORGEOUS day! 

I think Spring fever has officially hit! I know I'm ready! 

We decided to take advantage of this beautiful weather with a trip to the Cleveland Zoo! 

 We got to the zoo and hit the ticket booth. Reagan is a bit over two, and most places and/or events we have taken her that require admission, she has been free. Today was a big milestone for her, the Cleveland Zoo requires admission for anyone 2 and over! She is finally old enough to need her own ticket! She's a "junior"! Our little baby is all grown up! LOL! 

All Reagan talked about on the way up was seeing the Giraffe, so we hit them up first. She was just in awe and luckily they were quite active for her. We got to see pretty much all the animals, which was nice.

Reagan's question of the day was "What that (insert animal name) doin?" She said it for EVERY animal we encountered...LOL! Sometimes she would even answer her own question by saying, "That (insert animal name) is 'sweepin'" or "That (insert animal name) eatin." The funniest thing was when we went to the elephants and she said, "Elephant need baff (bath)." She truly had a ball! 

After seeing all of the main zoo, we headed over to the rainforest to have lunch, then took a spin through the rainforest itself. We had a super fun, family fun day! 

It's so fun to see how Reagan changes visit to visit. I remember one of our first outings, just the three of us, was to the Cleveland Zoo. I think she was only four months old or so. To imagine her being a "lump", to now practically running through the zoo, is amazing! We just love her! 

The photo of the day is Reagan and her first PAID TICKET!