Ft. Wayne Zoo

It has become a tradition for Vicki and I to take the kids to the Ft. Wayne Zoo every summer. My Grandma Rose has a grandparents season pass so we all get in free, which is a nice bonus! Last year the African branch of the zoo was closed for remodeling which was a bummer because that is my personal favorite part of the zoo. We made our annual trip last week and the African part of the zoo was reopened and boy was it AWESOME! It was by far the best zoo experience I have ever had. Our Uncle Mark was here from Thiland when we went so he came too and took some awesome pictures!

It was a cool day so we actually got to see the animals that are typically hiding in the shade. We got to see the lions. The male was just on the other side of the glass. I couldn't believe my luck!

The kids got to feed the giraffes and play drums. We finished up the day with the usual ride on the carousal. It was a great day!

New Dress For Em!

I had found a lady on Etsy who took old adult t-shirts and made them into dresses for little girls. I loved this idea since I have so many shirts that I have been hanging onto because I can't bring myself to part with them. So I mentioned this to my Mom and she said to order one so she could see how they were made and maybe she could replicate it. So I sent off an old Lucky shirt and waited. In the meantime I mentioned it to Katie too and she has since tried her hand at making Em some "pillowcase" dresses with success. I love this style of dress for Em because they look to be really comfortable. I received the one I ordered in the mail last week and Em looks so cute in it. I am excited to see what Katie comes up with as well, the trial dresses were great!

Bugg Books

Recently my Mom brought over a series of books that she had found when cleaning out her house, The Bugg Books, by Stephen Cosgrove. I had forgotten about these books until she brought them over. I enjoyed them so much as a child! The first night Mom brought them over I read a couple to Ari before bed. These books have great stories and they teach basic human values. So many children books today are plain and pointless it was nice to read stories to Ari that teach something... anything. My personal favorite is Jitterbugg. It is a story about a bugg, Jitterburg, who loves to dance but because of a series of events has to take his sister to a dance he is attending. He pouts and is mean to his sister all day and when they get to the dance she showed him she really could boogie.

Our other favorite books to read are Dr. Seuss, of course, and The Berenstain Bears.

Louisville

We went t0 Louisville over the weekend and went to eat at a restaurant on the Ohio River. It was a very kid friendly place. They had a playground complete with swings and a slide.

There was a large hill and we thought the Ohio River was on the other side, but when we got to the top all we saw were railroad tracks! The kids thought they were pretty neat so it all worked out. We opted to not walk through the woods to the river because the trail was very narrow and we didn't want anyone to get poison ivy.

After lunch we went back to Jeff and Mary Lee's and played crochet and the kids had their first encounter with the ice cream man. Ari had a Tweety Bird ice cream bar, Piper had Sponge Bob ice cream bar and Em and I shared a chocolate eclair bar. I hope they don't realize the ice cream man drives around Kokomo too!

All in all, it was another great Louisville Trip!