Welcome to the Zoo

Teething has been fun at our house this past week. We took a little break from the festivities of keeping a toddler happy to explore the zoo and meet the new baby giraffe Zoey.

love her new smile

As cute as the new giraffes were, the squirrel who joined us for lunch was the highlight of our trip.

A few more pictures to enjoy...

Her new smile cracks me up!

Festival of Lights 2015

The unseasonably warm weather made for a perfect evening to head to the Festival of Lights at the zoo. We arrived early and were able to park close and check out a few of the characters before it got too crowded. Highlights were visiting with Santa, riding the carousel, the MadCap Puppet show, Anna & Elsa, and of course, checking out all of the light displays. 

We wandered over and stood in line to meet with Santa. I think the zoo Santa is our Cincinnati favorite. They take the picture package images and then they let you take as many pictures as you want. The pictures they took turned out so good, but we will stick with the free pictures that we captured. Our girls love Santa. I am hoping that Dave was able to get both girls looking at the camera since I missed it on the fancy camera.

We skipped the line for the train and headed over to the carousel and then checked out the reindeer and Gingerbread Village. Each little house had a mouse hidden inside along with all of the decorations that Dave and Sophia enjoyed looking for.

New this year were Anna and Elsa. I would have to say that this was one of Sophia's favorite moments. She was beaming after meeting the real Anna and Elsa. "Mama, I know they are the real Anna and Elsa because they are not a cartoon."

We were out past bed time and paid the price for it, but I am hoping to make another trip before the lights are done for the season. Hopefully the weather (and the girls) cooperate.

HallZOOween 2015

One of our favorite October activities is visiting the zoo on the weekends leading up to Halloween. The zoo has treat stations and special activities set up on the paths. Sophia loves getting the treats and visiting with the animals. We made several trips this year, but only caught a few of the times the animals got their pumpkin treats.

Emma dressed like a pumpkin each time we visited thanks to a dog costume.

Sophia had a little more variety in her attire. She dressed as Alice and Kello Kitty from last year. Abby Cadabby and her 'Ghost Butterfly with Crystals' were new this year.

Her costume of choice this year!

Visiting with our favorite gorillas.

Read about one of our HallZOOween trips last year here.

F-A-M-I-L-Y

We had the best time with family in April. My brother flew in from the West Coast and my parents flew in from the East Coast for a mini family reunion.

My brother arrived first and we picked up our swagger wagon and headed to Newport on the Levee to eat lunch at one of our favorite spots - Tom and Chee. Rain changed our group plans, but Dave and Bryan headed to Over-the-Rhine and checked out a few of the local restaurants (Sophia threw an epic meltdown because Uncle Buy-in went without her).

The next day we headed over to Findlay Market and had Eli's BBQ for lunch followed by my favorite - Dojo Gelato. 

We stopped at a playground and then headed to the airport to pick up my parents. Sophia and Emma got treated to a little shopping spree and then we spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the house.

Saturday we spent the morning at the zoo. It was quite crowded, but Sophia loved getting her face painted and showing everyone around.

After the zoo Sophia got lessons on how to ride a bike, spent some time at our neighborhood playground and ended the day with some ice cream.

Stay tuned for a more of our adventures...