ZOO DAY!

Nevermind that Grambot and Pawpaw just arrived late yesterday afternoon, or that Grambot just had surgery about a week ago, they were ready (and willing) to go brave the zoo today. On ZOO DAY. You know, when it's free and everyone and their brother goes?

(Cora got the most AWESOME pair of Tom's from her grands. She loves them. LOVES them! Me too - 'cause you just can't beat sparkles on little girls! And yes, she IS actually outgrowing her 18-month pants finally. Lengthwise, anyway.)

Our first stop at the zoo today was the Creepers and Crawlers toddler class. We've been interested in doing it for months, but the dates have never worked out for us until now. Bummer too, because the kids really enjoyed themselves! The lesson was on textures, so they got to touch soft (a ferret) and smooth (an African bullfrog) animals, sort toys by texture, sing a song about textures, sort pictures of animals by texture, and make an animal craft (frog faces). I was impressed with how well the kids did (BOTH of them) at participating and sitting still. It was a pretty cute group:

Being Zoo Day, they had their usual carnival-type games set up. James did some bean-bag tossing. And some bowling. Poor kid has his Mama's lack of skills though. 3 tosses and not a pin down. Not even close.

Cora, on the other hand... 3 tosses and 3 successes. Only 1 pin left standing. She sure doesn't get that from me!

Other carnival-type attractions included bounce houses. James was WAY excited when he spotted the first one:

(Yes, he had his hand in his pocket. He's kinda pocket-obsessed these days. Pockets are good for keeping hands warm AND for storing little toys. Or random trash... He gets THAT from his Daddy!)

(Cora went right along with her big bro, but got stuck in the middle for FOREVER because she couldn't reach the spaced "steps" to climb out the other side. She tried. And tried. But once enough kids piled up in there, she got nervous and scared and I had to go rescue her. It's hard being little sometimes.)

Cora was such a lover today. She walked a LOT, but also wanted lots of hugs and kisses from her grands (and her Mama, of course). Full to the brim with sweetness, she is.

(Dude. Please note the clip in Cora's hair. WITHOUT a headband. Yup, just enough wispy locks to hold a tiny snap clip in for an hour or so. Sweeeeet.)

The kids rode the Merry-Go-Round (Cora rode the frog with Pawpaw holding her in place, and James sat in front of me on the leopard) AND the train. They crawled through a tunnel, talked to the monkeys, and played in the dome at the beaver pond. By the time we left the zoo, it was 1:00pm and the place was so packed that folks were parking out on the main street outside. The kids barely stayed awake until we got to Broadstreet for a late lunch, were WILD (AKA overtired) the whole time we were there, but loved going up to the bookstore to pick out a book from their grands. Then, predictably, they crashed in the car once we were finally on our way back to the 'Burg. A quick nap later, James joined his Mama and Grambot at the grocery store while Pawpaw stayed in the car with a sleeping Cora. Little sweetie slept until 4:30pm. Which means she was up late, of course. But oh well. They only get so many nights for snuggling and stories on the couch with Grambot.

Well worth a late bedtime, if you ask me!