A Day at the Zoo

It's been feeling like winter here in the mountains - it's snowed a few times and been in the 20s at night.  This meant it was finally time to officially say goodbye to summer and clean up and put away all the outdoor toys and deck furniture.  I was very sad to put the inflatable pool away, stack the water table up, and put the outdoor table and chairs away.  We had such a lovely summer - swimming at the pool, hanging out at the beach and playing in the park.  I'm excited that ski season looks to be getting off to a good start (opening day for the resort we have season passes to is November 20th!), but besides that the winter is looming long in front of us.  Anyways, the girls thought it was great fun "helping" us clean up the backyard.  Here's a picture of Kate in her cute hat and sweater.  (Grammy - those are the pants you gave them for their first birthday!  They finally fit into them!)

We woke up today feeling to 20 degree weather and overcast skies and nothing much planned.  I checked the weather and saw that it was supposed to be 75 and sunny in the valley, so we packed everyone up and headed down the mountain to the zoo.  It's a two hour drive to the zoo, but time flies when you have a DVD player in the car (whoever invented in car DVD players is a genius!).  After a Wiggles and Curious George DVD, we arrived at the zoo and parked next to an amusement park that seemed to be designed for two year olds!  Maya was a little apprehensive  until she saw the teacups - she knew right away that was the ride for her.  Kate remembered the Merry-Go-Round from the County Fair we went to in August, so ran up to that and had a grand time.  After the toddler amusement park, we hit the zoo where things went pretty well considering we were chasing two two year olds who were missing their naps.  

This trip to the zoo was more successful than our last trip.  The girls were more engaged and interested in the animals.  It was kind of funny, though, because they were fascinated by the turtles and ducks and didn't seem to care too much about the exotic animals like the orangutans or giraffes.  All in all it was a beautiful day and the girls did great.  Josh and I were seemed much more tired at the end of the day than they were.