Baby Pool!

Among many other things in her life, Audrey LOVES the baby pool. She is very curious about water and must have her hands in it whenever possible, splashing it absolutely EVERYWHERE. I found this out by trying to water some plants out back. I filled up a pitcher of water in the kitchen sink while holding Audrey in one arm, balancing on my hip. She saw the water and it was all I could do to keep her from jumping straight into the sink so she could splash in the pitcher. In the end I couldn't hold her and the pitcher at the same time because she kept leaning over to splash in it, so I put them both on the floor and let Audrey make a big mess. It's not fun if there isn't a huge puddle on the floor and your clothes aren't soaked, am I right? :) She's shy of large amounts of water right now... i.e. pools, but loves the baby pool, as you can see.

Zoorific!

Today the Columbus Zoo welcomed us with open arms. Er, Paws. Wings. Claws? Audrey and I went with Laura & Ava, and Abby & Nolan. Audrey was fascinated with most of the animals, except a few of them that decided they didn't want to move around much.

This guy was snoozing right near the glass:

Just some neat looking foliage.

We got the stare down from this gorilla:

One of Audrey's favorite books is called Goodnight Gorilla. It's about this cuddly little gorilla who steals the zoo keeper's keys and lets all the animals out of their pens, only to lead them to the zoo keeper's house so they can sleep in his bedroom.


Anyway, I have no idea if she could tell that these animals were gorillas but I kept telling her that they were. My hope is that after 47 times saying "gorilla!" she would make the connection.

This guy was having lip issues.

The Okapis are very neat animals. They are part zebra, part giraffe. I kept asking this one to turn around so I could take a nice picture, but it was too busy munching on something.


At one point, a duck came to visit the girls. It got pretty close and they were both pretty excited about it. Naturally I didn't snap the picture while it was nearer to Audrey... I was too amused watching her flail her arms at it.

Nolan being adorable!!

Audrey LOVED the aquarium. The brightly colored fish absolutely fascinated her.

The lions were a bit disappointing. Audrey recognizes lions in books and elsewhere, and roars fiercely as only adorable little girls can! These guys were napping, and hard to see from our vantage point.

The tiger was very cool though:

Mountain goats:

Bodie the Elephant was bobbing for apples. It was a lot of fun to watch! Audrey quite enjoyed it.

Laura and Ava being entertained:

Starting to get sleepy.

Last but not least, we visited the petting zoo. I thought for sure Audrey would want to pet the goats and try to ride them or something (she loves animals!), but seemed scared of them instead. This little guy was snuggling up to us and enjoyed being scratched behind the ears. Audrey didn't want anything to do with him.

Pygmy goat anarchy!

Ava has no goat phobias. :)

Nolan was the self proclaimed groomer of goats.
He made sure to comb each one.

Thanks Abby & Nolan, Laura & Ava for a wonderful time!

My husband, the carpenter!

Eric made this toy chest for Audrey. She loves it! We plan to decorate it a bit, perhaps by adding a large letter A to the top. We'll see. I just wanted to show it off!

Toothy grin = cutest thing ever.

Such a ham. She loves to smile for the camera!

Strawberry Fields Forever

Audrey and I joined our good friends for a morning of Strawberry picking! It was great fun. We hitched a ride with Abby & Nolan, and met Laura & Ava and some other ladies from New Life and their kids. I carried her around in the backpack as I picked, while she watched and commented on what I was doing. We picked quite a few!

Abby and Nolan

Laura and Ava

Nolan isn't sure he likes this whole strawberry picking thing.

It was quite pretty out there.
The pictures don't do the landscape any justice.

Stupid telephone poles. That was a picturesque little lake,
but I couldn't get close enough to avoid the poles.

Group shot of all the kids that came! Unforunately I can't remember all of their names. Audrey and Ava are on the left, Nolan on the far right, and the little girl in the middle with the pink shoes is Emma. Her mom is Leslie.

Discussing the rise and fall of strawberry sales in the stock market.

What a patient girl!

We stopped to get icecream on the way home. Velvet ice cream is actually made in Utica where the strawberry farm/orchard was.

Sweet Ava!

What a great day overall! We may go for a day of peach or apple picking this summer. Looking forward to it!