Anniversary and Zoo class

I have every intention of doing an Anniversary post.  But in case I don't, Tyler and I went on a date for our 7th anniversary.  It was fun. I love him. Yay!

 Our 7th anniversary also marked the last day of Alex's Zoo class.  I think It was also the last nice semi-warm day of the year.

 Heidi had declared it shark day, so our first stop after dropping Alex off at class was the aquarium.

Quinn is voracious and so we decided to stop at the picnic tables and enjoy some Kix, Pommelos and oranges. 

 Heidi loves to peel oranges.  She takes her time and gets all the pith off, takes one bite and 9 times out of 10 exclaims "Yuck, too sour!" I roll my eyes, this coming from the little girl who sucks on limes for fun. Having free orange peeling labor works out well for me though.

 Quinn will eat anything.  She gets a thrill from catching and consuming her prey and so far Kix hold the biggest challenge and thus, reward.  She gets so intense about it.  It's hilarious.

 Being a fairly windy and chilly day at the Zoo we had the place to ourselves so we spent some quality time with the sharks.

 I have a pretty irrational fear of sharks, so I like to linger in the shark tunnel and study them in hopes of overcoming said fear.

 Heidi is the best lingerer ever.

 This day we focused on the teeth and eyes.  It totally creeped me out.

 Heidi insisted I document how tall she was.  And then had me stand on the scale to see how tall I was.

 Our friend bear may be pregnant.  They have sent some of her poop to a beagle in Kansas who will smell it and then tell whether she is or not!  So there you go, learn something new everyday.

 The Zoo used to have these massive sting rays that you could pet.  Then one day they were gone and there were just a bunch of tiny ones.  Heidi inevitably soaks her sleeve every time trying to touch one.

 Here is the little princess picking her nose inside the sting ray tunnel.

 We spent a lot of time observing the fish that day.  We got lucky and happened to be in the right place at the right time to see some feedings.  Watching the Piranhas eat was crazy fascinating!

 I think next time we go I'm going to document the Zoo from Heidi's perspective.  It's a lot different than mine.  We were in the elevator at the aquarium (instead of taking the ramp down because Heidi begged to ride the elevator) I told Heidi not to wake up Quinn who was sleeping in the stroller or I'd tickle her until she turned blue.  At that moment Quinn woke up on her own.  Heidi looked at me and teasingly I said "You'd better run!"

 Well the elevator doors opened and she did run.  All the way across the building and then up the ramp to the second floor again.  Somehow that was the moment that everyone at the Zoo was in that building and she was able to gain quit the lead.  She had nearly escaped the building when I finally caught her just as she was trying to follow a lady into a secure staff only room.
   I'm embarrassed to say this was the second time she had evaded me that day and also the second time I had been told of her location by the same lady, with 3 small kids.  I can only imagine her thinking "Lady, if you can't keep control over that one and a baby in a stroller, you better quit now!"  Heidi and I had a long talk in which we concluded that I would never tickle her again, and she wouldn't ever run away or break her promise.
  That marked the time to go back and get Alex and on the way we discovered the WORST job at the Zoo.

 Shark feeder.  I can now add it to my list of jobs to rattle off to Alex when she complains about school "If you don't learn how to read then you will have to be a ___________"  Garbage man, box lifter, shark feeder.

 It must have been feeding time because we got to see the polar bear, sharks, sea lion and fish being fed. Awesome!

 Alex on the other hand got to pet a macaroni penguin.  Bit of jealously on our part.

 After class we looped back to Kids Kingdom to freeze ourselves and play a bit more.

 Heidi got to see the Kangaroo jump.  This was very exciting.  We had just watched a Wild Kratts on Kangaroos and Heidi was spouting off facts.  Alex LOVES the Wild Kratts show.  She told me that she had prayed that they would come visit her at our house, which prompted me to suggest we write to them (she had so much faith that God would tell them where we lived and that they would come.  I figured we should put in a little food work just in case.)  So she drew this great picture and we wrote a letter and then I couldn't find their address anywhere.  So I wrote to their company and got an e-mail back with the address!  I was really excited.  I also wrote the Zoo and told them to hire the Kratts for a event.  These guys have gotten Alex off of princesses and now she wants to be a Biologist instead of a cashier when she grows up!!!!!

 The day ended with the most glorious sight!  Our dear friend cutsy pie who has NEVER been awake during one of our visits was pacing around.  We were thrilled.

 Alex is in Girl Scouts and just got her vest and first patch!  She sold some magazines and earned another one that she is really excited about.  Thanks to all those who helped out!

 We decided to do a homemade Christmas this year, and Alex wanted to make Quinn a mermaid.  So we worked on it together for a week and here it is! I am a very proud Mom!

 Saturday we had Tyler to ourselves for the WHOLE DAY!!!!!  It was the first time in a long time and so we did a bit of spontaneousness and celebrating.  First was the library (after 2 hours spent looking for an overdue video that was eventually found in an underwear drawer. Seriously kids?!), then the girls were reminiscing over Utah and brought up how we used to always go get doughnuts and take them to the shop.  So we tried to track down a bakery.  An hour and a few forays through scary neighborhoods and we found a Dunkin Doughnuts.  We each had a few bites of each one and for some reason the box full of bitten doughnuts and dough scraps made me really happy.  We got home just in time for a temperature drop and some snow!

The girls were very excited and ran outside.  I took a picture and then made them return for coats and mittens.
   It's cold here.  Right now I think it's  17 degrees, but it feels like -20 and our room is the coldest in the house.  Luckily the kids is the warmest and they don't seem to be bothered by it.  I don't plan on leaving the house until spring.  I wasn't planning on buying curtains, but if there is any chance they can help keep out the cold then YES.  That or I'll just cover every window and door with a blanket.
   I remember this summer when the electricity went out, I thought I was going to die- it was so hot and miserable.  I thought "I can see how people could die in this humid heat."  Now it's cold, and I can totally see how people could die if the electricity went out.  I hear February is the worst.  Believe it or not, I wore socks around the house for perhaps the first time in 5 years today.  It's that bad.