Move Over Monkeys!

Our August break is always short-lived thanks to Jordan's ambassador duties - he gets Monday and Tuesday off but has to attend a meeting all afternoon on Wednesday and then work new student orientation Thursday and Friday. So while everyone else is still playing, we're basically back to the grind over here! This also means it's kind of pointless to plan any trips during this break. So our time together this week was mostly spent doing fun things like taking Madison to the dentist and McKinley to her 15-month checkup. Although we admittedly spent one whole day in our pajamas watching the second season of 24 while the girls made a glorious mess of the toys all around us :) I promise a good time was had by all!

We did, however, manage to make it out to the zoo on Wednesday before Jordan's meeting! The girls and I go to the zoo all.the.time. but Jordan rarely gets to go with us. It was actually funny as we walked around to hear him point out all the things he'd never seen before - I guess they've made a lot of improvements in the past few months that seem like old news to me! It was fun to get to spend the day together at one of our favorite places! And it made it a lot easier for me to take pictures ... enjoy!!

Playing peek-a-boo through the stroller window

I don't normally take pictures of animals - if you've seen one monkey, you've seen them all. But these guys were CRAZY. They were ridiculously loud and going at each other. They puffed out their necks as they were yelling, which I had never seen before. It was quite a show!

I took a picture of this guy because Madison called it a Grandpa monkey - I'm sure it's not because he reminded her in any way of her Grandpas ;)

Checking out Grandpa

Wait, who's Dad pushing in the stroller?! Maybe I should hop in next time!

Little Miss Independent

Stopping to smell the flowers

Not quite tall enough ...

Good thing Dad was there to help!

Seriously, why did we even bring the stroller?!

 Photo credit Madison Rothlisberger :)

Her idea of fun when it comes to the fountains is climbing on the rocks around the fountains. I didn't even bother with bathing suits this time.

A little splashing fun

Two cute girls

This polar bear always shows off when we see him. He loves to dance back and forth in front of the windows!

Madison was very impressed that the sea lion could do hot dog rolls like she does

Look at those airplane arms ... Coach Doug would be proud!

Madison just looked at this picture and said "I'm Panda Bear Madison"

"And that's Panda Bear McKinley"

 This girl gets so excited about everything! I'm grateful for such a happy baby ... I mean, little girl :)

A flower for you

Kissing the dragon ... not quite a frog, but she's a princess anyway!

What, Mom? I just needed a break.

And of course, if we take McKinley's picture, we have to take Madison's picture too :)

Her stage. She sang "I Am a Child of God". Standing ovation :)