Zoo Day!

Jeff finally got a day off of work! He has been working so much lately so this was a cherished day to get to go on an outing together. We both needed NUCCA adjustments so we picked Diana up in the morning and took her to the chiropractor with us. I told Lily that this doctor is the kind of doctor that Uncle Darin is going to be, and maybe we will call him Dr. Darin, or Dr. DeVore. When we were leaving she said, "I want to see Darin!" I told her we'd have to take an airplane to see him and she was very upset and then kept saying, "but I want to see Dr. Darin!" It was very cute, but I felt bad for not explaining clearly that Darin wasn't going to be there.

We then went to the zoo and funnily enough I have been there lots of times with the kids and Jeff has been with the kids, but we have never been there together with the kids, so it was our first family zoo outing. It has been so cold lately that we were happy to get out of the house, though it was still a bit chilly. Diana was of course a wonderful helper as always and was the photographer of the day, so we appreciated her a lot. The kids loved the animals, and it's so fun because Ryan is now at an age where he can see them and get excited about them. He walked so much that day, we were very proud of his now excellent walking skills.

 Neither of them spent too much time in this stroller.

A happy family looking at wolves together. 

The baby leopard, "Sochi," was so cute and the mom was very playful. Though we noticed she tended to get bitten a lot by Sochi, the life of a mother. 

The highlight for Ryan of any exhibit was the climbing potential. He loved hanging on the rail in front of the tigers. 

This tiger seems a bit bored of the zoo if you ask me.  

 Nana and Ryan taking a stroll by the giraffes.

See, he's climbing again. 

Tropical Discovery is a favorite place for the kids, especially for Ryan because all the fish were at his eye level.

Tropical Discovery also means a lot of back pictures of us. 

The male shows off for the female and the other male nips at him. Jeff enjoyed watching this encounter, it's a guy thing I guess.

The other highlight for Jeff was the sea lions. I think he could have stayed there all day watching them play underwater. It really is pretty cool to watch animals do their thing. 

Lily was having a tea party inside this little house. She wouldn't leave because she was waiting for her friends to come to the party. There was a steady flow of kids for a bit, but even after they all left she wanted to be vigilant and wait for any new friends to come. Always the hostess.

Ryan leaving the tea party. 

Once he started pushing that stroller, he didn't want to stop.

Once Lily started driving, she didn't want to stop. I sense a theme with these two, they like to be in control and they like to drive. 

He was one tired little boy...every body part was limp when you lifted it up. 

After the zoo Ryan napped and Lily stayed with Diana and Jeff and I went to a movie. We saw, "The Lego Movie." If anyone who reads this actually liked that movie, we'd love to talk with you. We just couldn't quite understand how it got such high ratings, so we are very curious to hear what we missed. We assumed it was a generational thing, meaning that we are very old. 

And after the movie it was a Baer family Costco night. Sarah and Lily read Princess books the whole time on the patio furniture, 

and Lily was very opinionated about her fashion choices.

Ryan was just happy to ride on and push Mama Baer's cart.

It was very sweet when Ryan's eyes lit up when he saw Papa come in the store. Nothing makes you feel better than a child being excited to see you. And at the end of the night Jeff picked Ryan up to hold him and Ryan just wanted to be held. He never cuddles for a long time but it was such a sweet thing to witness and Jeff loved it, a precious moment to cap off a great day!

Ryan loves walking with a friend in each hand.