Sunshine, Animals and Snacks

Those three things can keep my kiddos happy all day long. A trip to the zoo is always fun, although sometimes just climbing and eating are more fun than the animals.

Dog Lover

Camden is a big fan of animals, just like his sister. His current favorite word is "gah" which is used for any four legged creature.

This might look familiar

Duck, Duck, Squirrel

Sophie loves feeding the ducks and Camden is obsessed with all animals right now, so an afternoon at the park was the perfect way to pass some time the other day. All we needed was a few loaves of bread and everyone was entertained.

We also made a squirrel friend...

 and trained a few seagulls to catch bread in the air.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Last week, we had an awesome little getaway to Monterey. Chase had back to back meetings and needed to be there overnight so Sophie and I tagged along for a little family fun. We stayed at the Intercontinental which is located right on Cannery Row just about a block from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We could walk everywhere and Sophie and Chase enjoyed the hot tub!

Sophie loved the aquarium and she and I spent about 6 hours total there between the two days. I was too mesmerized to photograph everything and had my phone for pictures on the first day. My favorite displays were all of the jelly fish. Sophie loved the huge deep sea tank where she could like at the turtles, sharks, giant tuna and kept telling the school of fish "come on guys, you can do it!"

Eating Our Way Through the Fair

We hit up the Big, Big, Big Fresno Fair last weekend and as tradition dictates, ate as much as we possibly could while we were there.

First up... cinnamon roll! While wearing a free foam visor, of course.

Greeting the sheep, no babies yet.

A cow named Latisha. La Fawnda was right next to her.

Admiring Shanghai the cow.

Conversation with an elf-eared goat.

Sharing corn on the cob with Mimi.

Strawberries with whipped cream from the agriculture building after admiring giant pumpkins.

French fry. Say cheese!

An assortment of fried stuff.

We finished off the afternoon cheering on the horse races.

One little duck went out to play..

The Petting Zoo

The Petting Zoo at our local zoo has become one of our favorite spots. As Sophie has gotten braver, she loves going in and getting some hands on time with the goats and sheep. We steer clear of the llamas though, they kind of freak us both out. Today we found a calf who was surprisingly calm and friendly and actually very soft to pet!

This carved monkey is still her favorite thing at the zoo and she now asks me to take her picture by him!

A Bit of This and That

For no reason in particular, I have not been using the fancy shmancy camera as much lately. Sometimes I get in a mood where I just want to be more present in what Sophie and I are doing and not worried as much about documenting it. I do always have the iPhone handy though, so here are a few pics of my sweet girl lately.

Exploring the water

Enjoying a picnic lunch from Dusty Buns

Accessorizing her outfits

Feeding the cat, of course

Giddy Up

Enjoying a little time at the playground. Sophie is finally big enough to ride the horsies and bounce them back and forth herself.

Spring Break: Day Four

Day four of our spring break celebration seemed to be all about eating! We enjoyed two meals out today, did a little shopping, played with the pups back at home and were nearly blown away by the crazy wind.

Sophie colored and enjoyed some Artichoke & Broccoli soup and Mac 'n cheese with Mimi and Ammy at CPK.

Mimi taught her to hide things under her shirt. I just hope we don't have any shoplifting situations in our future. That could get embarrassing.

At Vonda's, Sophie made friends with a stuffed rabbit.

And then introduced him to a giraffe.

For dinner we chowed down on Teppanyaki with Papa. Although Sophie normally loves the show, our chef wasn't much of a performer. She was fidgety during most of the meal until he served us our bean sprouts and she sat perfectly still for almost twenty minutes slurping them down.