July 7, 2014

My baby girl is now 7 years old!

To celebrate her birthday, she asked if she could have an animal-themed party with her beloved cousins. Natalie looooooooooves animals and she loooooooooooooves her cousins! Every stuffed animal of hers made its way out of her bedroom and into the dining room, to greet her cheerfully as she and her cousins awoke from their backyard camping sleepover. A birthday breakfast of french toast and bacon awaited them all.

Yesterday, the cousins joined us and we made a trip out to the Moor Park Teaching Zoo. Aunt Kerry, myself and the 3 girls were all in one vehicle. Steve and the 3 boys were in another vehicle. The girls were so sweet together- giggling and singing “Magical Me” over and over again (a two-word line they made up to a tune they created). I wish I could bottle up their joy and their sweet, sugary cuteness. When we arrived at the Zoo, there was lots of excitement of what animals we might be able to see!

And boy were we in for a treat! We saw all kinds of beautiful, exotic animals!

                           A Tegu from Argentina (a species of lizard)

                       A female Lion                                                      A Blynx (a mix between a bobcat and lynx)

A Water Buffalo, that each kid was able to hose down with cool water. Our national bird- the American Eagle. Pictured here down below: an Emu, a 93-year old Galapagos Tortoise and so much more!

The students of the college ran a 45-minute show, displaying and teaching us about many animals. I loved how they would call up different children from the audience, have them turn their back to the main stage area to wait with eager anticipation of which animal was going to be brought out next. The audience would then start shouting out descriptive words, upon sight of the animal, to give clues to the guessing child. That was very fun!