Back to the Zoo

In an effort to make the most of our zoo membership and the gorgeous weather (that surely will not last), I took the girls to the zoo on Tuesday. We arrived right around the time it opened and stayed until about 2:30 in the afternoon. We were able to check out all the zoo exhibits and even the White River Gardens. There are beautiful orchids on display right now. We had a wonderful time! The weather was perfect and the girls were so well behaved. It was a great day for all of us!

Chloe, Sophie and Charlotte at the start of the day

Red ruffed lemurs

Ring-tailed lemurs: These are one of my favorites. This time of year the babies are always out playing. They're so cute!

Zebra

Greater Kudu

Baby giraffe

White rhino

Elephants

Charlotte

Gibbons (another favorite of mine)

Shark! I think touching the sharks is the girls' favorite part of the zoo... well, at least Chloe and Sophie. Charlotte just likes to watch them.

Chloe, Charlotte and Sophie at the end of the day

A stranger was kind enough to offer to take a picture for us. I was having a hard time getting all of us in on my own!

Family Photo

My sister, Anna, married Tom McCollister on a beach in Florida at the end of May. Since they had a destination wedding, they hosted a wedding reception/open house at their home on Saturday afternoon. My Aunt Chris likes to take a family photo whenever possible, so here is our picture from that day:

Anna, Tom, Dad, Mom, Ruby, Audrey, Aunt Chris, Grant, Chloe, Betsy holding Charlotte, Sophie, me and Jason

Pool Time

Saturday we slept in (recovering from our late night drive home), ate lunch out, and headed to the pool for some sun and swim time. Saturday was a perfect day to spend in the water! I took a few photos because I haven't yet this year. Chloe and Sophie have benefited from swimming lessons and also summers spent at the pool. They are like fish! Charlotte has made HUGE strides already this year. She went from playing on the steps to swimming around with her water wings in the past five weeks. Here are my bathing beauties:

Holiday World and Splashin' Safari

Jason, the girls and I spent all day Friday at Holiday World and Splashin' Safari with Christy, Lincoln, Nate and Noah and Rich, Caleb, Josh and Luke. We arrived around 11:30 our time (10:30 CDT, Santa Claus, IN is not in our time zone). We had beautiful weather and a wonderful time! There is plenty for all of our kids to enjoy in Holiday World despite their age difference. I really enjoyed sitting in the cool water at Splashin' Safari in the afternoon, and the kids had a blast in the water park. We ate and played our way through both parks, and left about thirty minutes after closing... That put us back here a little after 1:00AM. The kids were pretty tired after such a full day and slept on the ride home. Here are some photos (I didn't take any in the water park):

Sophie, Charlotte and Chloe (must have been a little bright for Soph)

Me and Jay

Charlotte riding the fish on Salmon Run

Charlotte enjoyed the Magic Waters in Holidog's Funtown (the little kids area)

Nate even got in on the fun!

Jason and Charlotte riding the carousel (she rode many, many times)

Uncle Rich rode the Liberty Launch while everyone else was on the carousel.

This is one ride that I would have avoided even if I wasn't pregnant!

BRCC Vacation Bible School

Chloe and Sophie went to Brookville Road Community Church's VBS again this year. They also took along their cousin Nate. The theme was PandaMania, and all the kids seemed to have a great time. Thursday evening we went to the closing program where we got to hear the kids sing some of the songs they learned during VBS, watch a video of all the fun they had, and enjoy some root beer floats.

All the elementary age kids singing their songs

Chaney and Tucker Brown, Charlotte, Chloe, Nate and Sophie

God is watching over you!

32 Week Appointment

Total weight gain: 23 lbs
Blood pressure: 104/60
Fundal height: 33 cm
Baby's heart rate: 135 bpm

Father's Day at The Children's Museum

My mom wanted to try to do something different for Father's Day this year, so we looked at a few options and landed on The Children's Museum. We met Mom and Dad, Anna, Tom, Audrey and Ruby for a quick lunch at McD's before heading downtown to the museum. We started off in the new National Geographic: Treasures of the Earth exhibit. It was pretty neat and very interactive for the kids. There is a dig site (like the one in Dinosphere), a shipwreck to analyze, and an Egyptian tomb to excavate. I'm sure we'll have to go back soon to explore some more. We also stopped by the carousel, Dora & Diego, All Aboard! (Dad loves trains), and Dinosphere (Mom, Anna, Tom, Audie and Ruby also went to see Barbie). There are also these cool replicas of famous works of art made out of jelly beans on display right now. We had a good time and I know the kids did... hopefully Dad did as well! (I realize there are no pictures of Ruby on here, but she was asleep in her stroller for about half the time we were there. She really was with us though!)

Jason and the girls with Bumblebee

Doing a little digging...

...and diving.

Audrey, Charlotte and Sophie on the carousel

Audie looking so pretty!

Chloe and Audrey as Chinese statues

Sophie and (a not so cooperative) Charlotte as statues

Brad Paisley Concert

On Saturday evening Jason and I met up with our friends, Robert and Amy, to have dinner at Puccini's and attend the Brad Paisley concert. When we woke up Saturday morning, I was afraid that the whole day was going to be a wash out! However, we really only dealt with a little rain during the opening acts and none during Brad. Jarrod Neimann and Blake Shelton opened the concert. It happened to be Blake's birthday, and his new wife, Miranda Lambert, had come into town to surprise him (and us). It was a nice bonus for the evening. I really like Brad Paisley, and the music was as good as ever... but that might have been my last concert experience. Part of the problem was that I'm seven months pregnant and standing on a hill for hours was not comfortable (my back, knees, hips, and feet were all aching by the end). But truly, if at any time you are doubting the depravity of mankind, just go to a concert!! As Robert said on the way home, "I realized tonight that I really don't like people." :-) Thank God that He loves us as much as He does because it really is difficult to love humanity as a whole! It was still nice to hang out with our friends for the night despite the ridiculously drunk people around us.

Me and Jay

Robert and Amy

Amy (due 9/10/11) and me (due 8/14/11)

Wild About Animals!

Thursday afternoon, we went to a summer program at the library called Wild About Animals! It is put on by an organization called Animalia. Their mission "is to engage and educate the public to further the appreciation, conservation and responsible care for all animals, exotic and domestic." The girls enjoyed being able to learn about each animal. They were able to see and touch an Umbrella Cockatoo, a Blue-tongued Skink, a ball python, a ferret, and a skunk (I got to touch them too). The people presenting the information were very good with the kids (and the room was quite full).

Umbrella Cockatoo

Charlotte and Sophie touching the skink

Chloe petting the ferret

Charlotte and Sophie with the ferret

Charlotte and Sophie touching the ball python

Chloe and the ball python

Chloe and Charlotte were getting ready to pet the skunk. This one was grey and white and came from a breeder. Skunks this color do not survive for long in the wild.

My Daddy Dressed Me

Charlotte wanted to wear a skirt last night after she got out of the bathtub. I assumed that she had put the outfit together herself, but Jason actually did it... And of course she wanted to put it on again this morning. She is pretty cute though. :-)