Family Fun Day 2008

We decided we were way over due for some family fun! Although HC, JB and I have seen many different fun spots around town, Daddy is always left out. He has to work. We decided that since Daddy's schedule could now allow for some fun - we should take the kids to the zoo. It is half price on Tuesday's so that is what led our plans! (The zoo is WAY more expensive here than it is in BR!)

We've never made it to the sea lion show and we finally had that first with Daddy! It was fun watching all of the tricks this sea lion could do! Here are JB and Daddy near the sleeping crock... SHHH. Be very quiet! No sudden movements!
A look at JB now and then - he slept through his first trip to the zoo with Daddy. We saw a spotted owl.
A resting Rhino, the kids were disappointed that the Elephants were not around. They were renovating their home.
Can you guess what HC and I are doing?? I will give you a hint - we are riding something...
It is this cool Camel - DUDE. Yep, we were told his name is Dude.
JB and Dad with the giraffes.
HC and Daddy 3 years ago at the zoo - giraffes must be our family animal! :) HC and I re-creating a pose we took when she was not even 2 years old. Here we are yesterday:

And here we are 3 years ago! Not an exact reproduction - but it seems to be a silly tradition we now have. I believe this was Daddy's last zoo trip with us too. Butterflies everywhere!!
HC asked if she could bring her baby stroller and Sydney along and we obliged. The only rule was she could not complain about having to push the stroller.
Ducks and ducklings resting in the shade!! It was such a beautiful day! The highs were in the upper 60's - perfect zoo weather.
HC and JB HAD to splash their feet in the water. We've been to the zoo on scorching hot days and have had to leave, due to tantrums/general meltdowns, before they've gotten their tootsie's wet. So they ran and played without getting soaked! Quite an accomplishment!
Turtle swimming!
As many times as we've been to this zoo, I never went past the food court to this other area. I never found the petting zoo - not that I'm complaining. But this part was fun to see! The kids loved posing with this ginormous tractor!!
JB didn't want to get down!
At some point HC could not bear to push Sydney another minute. I was proud of her, she made it the whole day - until the last 10 minutes without a bit of complaining. JB was glad to help her. He was pretending to be daddy for a little bit. He had fun crashing Sydney into many things.
Here is HC explaining to me that we should spend $100 by eating at the zoo rather than the $20 outside of the zoo (Of course my sarcasm is inserting the $ figures. HC just wanted to eat!). She was TOO tired to go any further and we needed to listen to her. She was quite convincing. :) But not enough!
We left and Daddy and I came up with a better idea!
Chuck E Cheese anyone?? We never do things like this. If we go to Chuck E Cheese, it is usually with a birthday party and Daddy is at work. The kids wanted pizza and we were passing Chuck's and we decided to make today the most super family fun day ever! I must say that when Daddy's along for the fun we collect WAY more tickets with our tokens! Another rare event was that Chuck E Cheese was there in person. Usually he is not seen walking around, so I took a shot of him with some random people I do not know.
Here is Daddy winning some tickets and having some fun too! :)
HC and JB didn't do too bad collecting tickets on this machine themselves.
All in all, I think our day was a blast! The kids traded their 100 tickets in for 2 fun dips and 2 tootsie roll suckers. I would say this was the best family fun day ever, and the first of many more to come I hope!