Loving this weather!

We are loving the weather here in Indiana!!  We have broken records for high temperatures the last four days.  Saturday morning the girls got up earlier than normal, so I decided to take them for an impromptu trip to the zoo.  This was the first time I had taken them to the zoo by myself.  I take them alone all the time, but for some reason I was a little apprehensive of the zoo.  We had a blast!  We got to the zoo just a few minutes after it opened.  The girls absolutely loved watching the animals being fed their breakfast.  We also watched the dolphin show, which prompted some very wide eyes from the girls.  They were super intrigued by the dolphins.  All weekend they both kept saying "remember when the dolphin jumped really high out of the water" or "remember when the dolphins jumped through the big hoop".  Love it!!  And what trip to the Indy zoo is complete without taking a ride on the animal carrousel?

The minute we saw it Alexis declared she wanted to "sit on" the big blue fish.  Addison wanted the tiger but I convinced her to ride the hummingbird by her sister. 

Can you tell it was a little humid out?  Those curls are back!

Love that smile!

Everytime we passed by a little stand with either facepainting or tattoos, the girls kept asking to do it.  I have a seriously hard time paying $20 for something that is going to be gone a few hours later.  But the girls did sucker me into doing a "handimal".  I don't think they new what it was at the time, but I love them.  I don't have an actual picture of the ones we did, but this was the photo on the stand....

We made butterflies.  I'm currently looking for frames for them so I can put them in their room.  Just having trouble finding a 7x7 frame???  After thinking about it a little, this is probably something we could of made on our own at home, but it's still a neat little souvenir.  We are definitely going to try making more!

After a few hours the girls were ready to go.  Oh, I forgot to mention this was also our first "real" excursion without the stroller, so their little legs were getting tired of walking.  I had to take one last photo to text to Daddy to show him how much fun he was missing!  It's always difficult to get them both looking at the camera (or my cell phone camera) at the same time.

If you look closely, you can see the flamingos (or Mingos as Addison says) in the background.

Pretend....

One of my favorite things right now is watching the girls play together.  They are doing a lot of make believe and pretend play....like feeding and dressing their baby dolls, rocking them and telling them not to cry, pretending to make dinner like Mommy in their play kitchen....the list is endless. 

Last night while we were playing outside, the girls were pretending to be Jimbo (our neighbor's dog).  They would take turns petting each other, and putting each other in the "pretend" dog cage.  Terry and I were cracking up just listening to them.  Alexis would yell, "Jimbo stop barking so loud" or Addison would say "Jimbo roll over and you will get a treat", then she would give her a treat (which were actually grapes).  Here are a few pictures of their make shift dog crate:

Addison wouldn't stop "barking" long enough for me to take her picture.  You can almost hear her screaming Arfff Arfff Arff.

A Three Ring Circus....

I'm forever telling Terry that our life is like a three-ringed circus.  This weekend we decided to actually attend one!  After doing some research online to find out what we could and could not take into the arena....I found out that the girls did not actually need a ticket.  We invited Terry's parents to join us and use their tickets.

I think the girls had a great time.  The circus lasted two and a half hours and they started to get bored during the last 45 minutes or so.  But in all honesty, so was I.   My personal opinion...It was about an hour too long!

The girls are still talking about the following things that happened at the circus....

The elephant(s) pooped.....  Not once, but a bunch of times.  A man with a "shobel" (shovel) has to come clean up everytime it poops.

They saw clowns named Yo-Yo, Stinky and Donald.  (Donald is actually Ronald McDonald).  Alexis gave Donald a high five.  Addison talked to Stinky and he told her she was pretty.

They got to sit on a camel and an elephant.  The camel did not poop like the elephant did.  Sitting on the elephant was bumpy when he walked around.

A girl with a shiney dress did flips on a big swing.

HERE ARE A FEW PICTURES OF OUR TIME AT THE CIRCUS.....I'm so bummed that they didn't turn out better.  The lighting in the area was really poor, making my pictures not so great.

Our elephant ride....I'm in the back with the girls in front of me.  You can barely see Addison squished in the middle of us.

Again...us on the elephant. 

Alexis telling Daddy all about getting to "sit on the elephant".

Pony rides...Alexis in the orange....you can kind of see Addison in the upper left hand corner in the green.

Talking to the clowns.  They were scared at first.

The famous "Donald"....AKA Ronald McDonald.

Tigers!

Eating animal crackers and watching the tigers with Daddy.

Watching the girls on the trapeze with Pop Pop.

Waiting for their camel ride!

I love this picture of Addison's face.  She was a little hestitant at first.

They loved the camel ride by the end.

Addison thought she could push/play with the ball that the elephant played with. 

Addison thought it was really neat that she touched the same ball that the elephant played with.

Happy "LEAP" Day!

We are LOVING the crazy temperatures here in Indiana.  Yesterday topped out at nearly 70 degrees, which is almost unheard of for February.  As soon as I got home from work yesterday, I grabbed the girls, and we played outside until dark.  We rode bikes, went for a walk, blew bubbles and played with sidewalk chalk.  Chalk is one of the girls favorites!  In an attempt to help them release some pent up energy, I drew a hopscotch like design and tried to get them to "leap" and jump until they were worn out.  Here are a few pictures.  I apologize for the quality....they were taken on my phone.

Alexis drew about 2000 different lines on the driveway.  She said she was drawing snakes and caterpillars.

At times, Addison was more interested in watching the neighbor boys who were rough housing and making lots of noise. 

Teamwork?  I love watching them play together!

Above two:  Addison leaping away.  I kept trying to capture her "mid jump" but I couldn't get it.

Above two:  My little peanut, Alexis.  She didn't want to go inside.