More Zoo Fun

baby panda

Brodie and Sophie

Brodie and Sophie really enjoyed watching the gorillas. The gorillas were wrestling part of the time just like little children do. It was fun watching them.

My Little Buddy

Will & Abbie at the zoo

Abbie likes to make a mess & occasionally help clean it up.

Abbie all dressed up

Now that Sophie's in school, Abbie and I have some days where we just hang out and others where we've had some fun play dates. Last week, we got together with Joshua & Julia one day. Abbie and Julia were crazy about each other. Yesterday, we met Will and his mommy at the zoo while their big sisters were in school. Abbie and Will are in the same class at Mother's Day Out. It was a great day for the zoo! Abbie loves wearing her hair in pigtails but in the bottom picture, you can tell that I had to fix her hair a few times too many because they are totally lopsided. Oh well, she's cute anyway! I can't wait for Halloween! We've got the girls' costumes ready to go!

More Pics from Memphis

farm train

farm train

Sophie and Matt with the Pink Palace Museum

Abbie on the run

Here are a couple more pictures from the zoo. They have a farm area that was fine but what the girls really liked was the farm train! On Saturday morning, Sophie wasn't quite ready to come home. Matt let her choose between going to the Firehouse Museum or the Pink Palace Museum. I think the name "Pink Palace" really got her attention and sounded more girly so she wanted to go there. (we explained beforehand that there were no princesses there, etc. ) These pictures were taken in front of it. Abbie just wanted to run around a little before we went in. This mansion was built by the owner of Piggly Wiggly as his private residence but he declared bankruptcy. The city ended up purchasing it and turning it into a museum. It has many exhibits in it so we visited a few-the miniature circus exhibit, their grocery store exhibit, some of the history of medicine section and a couple more. Then, we headed for home.

Spring Break Trip

Sophie signing the wall at Graceland

the girls waiting for the Memphis Zoo to open

Abbie's checking out the panda

a silly pose in front of one of the pandas

Sophie is ready to get on a trolley.

This past week was Sophie's Spring Break and the week before Aunt Martha was also on Spring Break. We were able to do some fun things with Aunt Martha during the 1st week of her Spring Break. One day, we went out to lunch with her, my mom, and several other female relatives for a late birthday lunch. We also painted pottery. Another day, Martha just came to hang out with us for a while. The week before Spring Break, Sophie also enjoyed being able to take her friend, Lauren, to ballet class with her.

During the week of Spring Break, we were able to get together with a couple of my friends from college, Jamie and Andrea, alongwith Jamie's children, Aaron and Abbie. My girls enjoyed playing with Abbie C. Then, on Thursday, our family headed to Memphis for a little getaway. We tried to work it out where we could go with Matt on a work-related trip but that fell through so he just took Friday off and we were able to go to Memphis Thursday afternoon. We took the girls by Graceland on Thursday evening so that we could show them where Elvis lived. Sophie's familiar with Elvis. Then, on Friday, the girls were up ready to go very early so we got there before it opened and literally, were the first guests in the gate once it opened! (our girls had trouble sleeping at the hotel and started waking up at 3:15 or so!) Abbie did go back to sleep for a while, but Sophie did not.

We had a wonderful time at the zoo though. We saw the pandas first. I love pandas, and Sophie seems to share my love. We had the panda exhibit to ourselves so it worked out great! We were also able to see grizzly bears about one foot away playing in water behind glass. We saw polar bears, penguins, a baby giraffe, cheetahs, lions, flamingoes, and many more animals that we don't have at our Nashville Zoo. We were able to see a sea lion show too. It was funny because Sophie kept wanting to take pictures of all the animals. Matt & I were impressed with all that the Memphis Zoo had added since we had been there about 8-9 years ago. The girls hung in there but did get a little tired from their rough night. That afternoon, when we left the zoo, there were very long lines to get in so we were glad that we went first thing in the morning. The girls took long naps at the hotel that afternoon and Matt & I both rested.

Friday night, we tried a local BBQ restaurant that Matt had heard about on TV. It was pretty good. Then, we headed downtown and rode the trolley around. Sophie loved seeing all of the carriages (and horses) downtown.

Fun with Friends

Sophie and Meredith are so silly!

the girls eating their picnic lunch

Matt and the girls getting ready to go through the maze up to the slide!

Earlier this past week, Meredith was able to come over for a play date. She and the girls had a great time! Sophie & Meredith enjoyed modeling the Potato Head glasses! They were both sweet about being quiet for a little bit so that I could get Abbie down for her nap.

Then, on Saturday, it finally started to warm up outside! It was pretty cool in the morning but we decided to head to the zoo anyway. We all enjoyed being outside and it had been a few months since we had been able to go to the zoo. The girls enjoyed seeing all of the indoor exhibit with the turtles, fish, snakes, etc. We also saw a few other animals, enjoyed a picnic lunch and then had a great time on the playground. Both of the girls went through the maze and down the slide with their Daddy. We ran into Meredith and Luke at the zoo too!

Fun Times in Charleston

Sophie at Folly Beach

Sophie's happy-Abbie not so much!

the girls playing in the fountains

Sophie digs in to some chocolate ice cream

On Saturday, we made it to Charleston. It's a LONG road trip and Abbie hardly slept at all. Then, that afternoon, we settled in to stay with some of our friends and Abbie wouldn't settle down and take a nap there either. We decided to head to Folly Beach and she was so tired. She HATED the beach. (It was Abbie's first time at the beach.) Sophie loved it and I kept having to try to console Abbie. It was sunny but a little windy. She didn't appreciate the cold ocean water but didn't mind the sand too much. I think if she hadn't been so tired and could have gotten used to the cold water, she would have been OK. Every few minutes, she would start crying again. Then, after about 45 minutes, I was trying to get Abbie a snack when a big wave came in so that all of our stuff was WET. I told Matt it was time to go. Sophie really enjoyed the beach but NOT Abbie. Maybe her next experience will be better.

Two days later, we took the girls to one of our favorite places-Splash Zone, the water park that we used to visit frequently when we were in Charleston. I wish that we had something comparable to it here. Well, Abbie HATED it too for the first 45 minutes. Then, Matt helped her get used to the water and she was fine with it. It's a great place for little kids with all of the spray play areas, fountains, lazy river, big pools, shallow wading areas, slides, etc. Overall, it was a lot of fun and it didn't rain on us that day.

While in Charleston, we also briefly took the girls downtown, saw some of our old friends and got together, went to one of the parks, took the girls by the Angel Oak Tree, and checked on our house. Overall, we had a good trip. We'll have to go back when the girls are older. There's so much fun stuff to do in Charleston that you just can't fit it all in. On this trip, Abbie visited 2 new states-South Carolina and Georgia. =)

By the way, we are going to put our house in Charleston up for sale. Please pray that it sells.

The Riverbanks Zoo

Abbie & Matt with the flamingoes

Sophie wanted to "take pictures" with her play cell phone as she saw others doing.

the elephants

me & the girls on a lion statue

For Memorial Day weekend, we headed southeast to Charleston, SC so that we could have a fun vacation. We also needed to check on our house that we are currently renting. We left on Friday and spent the night in Columbia, SC. Since we were so close to the zoo and we could get in free with our Nashville Zoo membership, we decided to go to the zoo for a little bit before heading on to Charleston. Sophie's favorite exhibit was the penguins. She enjoyed "snapping pictures" with her play cell phone. This was pretty funny! We also enjoyed seeing the lions, flamingoes, lots of monkeys, a grizzly bear, giraffes, and many other animals. The girls did great riding in a double stroller. We decided that we'll have to remember that for our Disney trip in the fall.

Ice Day at the Zoo

Sophie & Matt with elephants

one of the tigers with his ice treat

This past Saturday, we decided to head to the zoo for Ice Day. They were giving out free Blue Bell ice cream, they had ice sculptures, special ice treats for the animals, and more. We really enjoyed it! Nana ended up keeping Abbie so we didn't have to get her out in all the heat. There was a big crowd there but we got to see a lot of the animals. We watched as the tigers got their special 5 pound buckets of frozen turkey broth (hope I didn't make anyone sick). Anyways, we had a nice time and definitely enjoyed the free ice cream with the humidity we had on Saturday.

The End

Highlights from the Richmond Zoo

Sophie & Paw-paw Tom with the giraffes as Matt feeds them

Tom, Sophie & Leia on the skyride at the zoo

Abbie & Paw-paw Tom

Sophie poses for a picture

We love visiting the Richmond Zoo when we are in the area. The giraffes there are our favorite exhibit because you can feed them right out of your hand. It's a great zoo for little kids because it has tons of animals but it's not too spread out. This time, most of us rode the skyride and that was neat because you had a great view of the animals. It was Sophie's first time on a skyride and she enjoyed it! We saw lots of cool animals but we were all worn out after a while and Sophie was ready to go! We had a great time on our trip to Richmond. Thanks for everything, Mimi, Paw-paw Tom & Aunt Leia! It was a lot of fun!!

Venturing Out

Sophie on her tricycle

Sophie & Matt riding the carousel

Sophie poses in front of the meerkats

Sophie & Matt

Over the weekend and on Monday, we had beautiful weather and we tried to get out and enjoy it while it lasted. On Saturday, we took Sophie over to one of our neighborhood parks (even Abbie went). Sophie can now climb the little climbing wall pretty well and she will go down even the biggest slide (a big improvement from last summer when she had to be coaxed to go down almost any slide)! We all had fun! Sunday, we just hung out on our street and Sophie tried to practice learning to pedal on her tricycle. Matt helped her but she prefers not to use the pedals.

On Monday, we had a big day! Paula & Abbie dropped Sophie off at school and then went for Paula's 6 week check-up. Overall, Abbie did pretty well (we really haven't gotten her out much up until this point because of all the sickness going around). The weather was gorgeous that day!! So, after we came home from the doctor, Matt suggested that we all pick Sophie up from school that afternoon and head to the zoo for a little bit. It closes early right now anyway but it wasn't crowded and all in all we had a good time. Sophie's legs got tired of walking but it wasn't crowded and we were able to see some of the animals. I think Sophie's going for a record on how many carousels she rides! Some of the animals she most enjoyed were the lorikeets and meerkats.

Fall Happenings

This week, we've done a couple of fun things but I've either forgotten to take my camera or the pictures didn't turn out well. On Wednesday, Sophie and I met my friend Stephanie and her boys at the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro. It is a children's museum with lots of different things for them to play with and explore. They have a water play area, a big playhouse area (Sophie's favorite) with baby dolls, play kitchens, etc., a fire truck that kids can play on, tables with trains, and lots more. Sophie and Will both had a lot of fun! Jackson observed a lot from his stroller but had fun too. If you get a chance to go out there, it's a lot of fun! They also have some walking trails, a playgrounds and some other outdoor activities! We were able to go and see Stephanie's new home and have lunch with them too.

Then, on Friday, Matt & I picked Sophie up from Mother's Day Out and headed to the zoo for a little bit since we had only been once since moving back. The last time we visited there was a lot that we didn't see. There were very few people there since it was getting close to closing time. We had a good visit even though it was just a short time. We particularly enjoyed seeing the tigers. Sophie was disappointed that there were no pandas like the Atlanta zoo had.

This weekend, Paula's Aunt Mary is visiting from Arkansas so we have been able to visit with her some. It has been nice to see her and she was able to come out and see our house.

Atlanta Zoo/Aquarium

Paula & Sophie on carousel at zoo

Sophie in tunnel at aquarium playground

our family at the aquarium

After going to the zoo on Saturday morning, we came back and took naps that afternoon. Then, we took the subway out to the Ikea store to look around. Sophie had been on the subway in DC, but she was a baby and didn't remember it. She was really excited about it this time. Anyway, after going to Ikea, we headed over to Atlantic Station (an area with lots of stores and restaurants) and we had dinner. Then, we headed back to the hotel. Since we took the subway to Ikea, it reall limited what we could take home with us.

On Sunday morning, we visited the aquarium. It was really nice, but it got really crowded around 11:00. They have some huge whales and sharks there and lots of other fish and sea creatures. Sophie went right up to the glass and would say, "hi, fish". She wanted to know what the otters and other animals names were. One of the workers at the aquarium asked Sophie what her name was. Sophie said "Sophie. My Mommy has a baby girl in her tummy but I not know her name." The lady didn't hear what Sophie said so she asked Matt. Matt explained and they got a laugh out of that. =) For lunch, we were able to see Sophie's great-uncle Bobby's house and go to lunch with him. Then, we headed back to Nash Vegas. We were all totally exhausted that night but we had a wonderful trip!

Weekend Getaway

While in Atlanta, we went to the zoo. This family of apes and the panda bear exhibit were the highlights of our visit.

Zoo Atlanta has a giant panda exhibit. This picture shows the 14-month old Baby Panda "Mei Lan", which in Chinese means "Lazy" and the Mama Panda "Lun Lun" which means "Too Lazy to move Bamboo off belly"

baby panda-14 months old and about 65 lbs

Sophie pats the gorilla statue

Sophie hanging out

This past weekend, we decided to take a last minute trip to Atlanta. We figured that it might be our last chance to get away just for a fun trip before our baby comes in January. We had a great trip! We drove down on Friday afternoon and stayed in a nice hotel downtown. It had a really cool glass elevator that Sophie loved where you could see out over the whole hotel atrium as you rode it (it was a very large, fancy hotel) which Matt booked on Priceline. =) Every time Sophie talked about riding the elevator it sounded like she was asking to go on the alligator.

Anyways, on Saturday, we woke up to a cold morning in Atlanta and headed to the zoo. We were excited to beat the crowds to the panda bears there so that we could really watch them. They have a mom, dad, and baby panda. The baby was fun to watch because she had slid down a rocky hill and then she had to figure out how to climb back up. Seeing the panda bears made the whole morning worthwhile for us. We also got to see tons of other animals. Sophie enjoyed seeing the gorillas. They had some babies too. Sophie went up to the statue of a mom and baby gorilla and said, "it's OK" just like she does with her dolls at home. Sophie surprised us by willingly touching many of the animals in the petting zoo. Usually she is very skittish when she's up close to animals, but she didn't mind petting some of the animals this time.

Sophie also enjoyed riding the carousel at the zoo and jumping in a big pumpkin jump castle they had for Halloween. I'll include a picture from the carousel in the next post.