winter at the zoo

i can't explain my daughter's actions.  no, scratch that.  i can't explain my children's actions.  there are times when they amaze me with their growth and "maturity" and then there are times when i wonder who's children are these?!  dylan can ham it up for the camera, and then, like the photo above and many, many others, lose it completely.  i dunno.  i guess we slowed her down with the photo op.  jb wanted a picture up on the snow, in front of the sign, so that's what we did.  whatev.  she was quickly over it.  thank goodness.    

the kids love the seals.  it's always our first stop.  jb gabbed about them from the backseat, most of the way into town.  and how great that one of the seals was so into having company.  that chubby seal visited with us the entire time, very curious as to who this little human clad in purple could be.  on our way out, we had to swing by one more time to say goodbye and wouldn't you know it - chubbster seal came right back to the glass, happy to see my sweet daughter's face.

we brought the sled along, but dylan was happy to walk.  we must have journeyed half way around the zoo before she just fell into the sled as jack was pulling it.  i was sure i'd have to pull the sled, but jack exclaimed, no, mama, i can do it myself.  of course he can.  it still amazes me that he's 4.  it shouldn't.  i know what year it is.  but damn.  time sure does fly when you're raising hellions children.  

 mama, stop talkin.  dat bear is sweepin.  

to view the trumpeter swans, there's a fun bridge to scamper across.  normally, the swans are in the middle of the pond, but since it's mostly covered in snow, they were right next to the railing.  dylan was poking her arm through the slats and one of the swans kept waddling closer and closer.  eeek!  we had to pull back and give them some room.  but oh, they're so beautiful, so graceful.  

 

 can you see how much she loves her big bro? 

 she cracks me up.

the snow is impressive.  this pathway of the zoo normally widens to about 40 feet, but there was so much snow piled up that the path was about half of that.  jack wanted to climb up every snow bank and take a picture.  there were some banks that i couldn't lift him up on because of their height.  just crazy how much snow has blanketed us this year. 

30-some degrees, happy bubbas and happy mama!  just a perfect day for the zoo.  these kids so needed this jaunt in the fresh air.  thank you, God.