The Zoo!

Last Friday we spent a fabulous day in western Washington. First thing on our busy agenda was to stop at UW hospital to visit my friend Crissy who was there on bed rest and to see some of the nurses I had while I spent 4 weeks there. After being there so long it was pretty easy to run into nurses that I knew. In the picture is Lorraine and Robin. We also saw Nancy on our way out the door. They were a few of my favorites!

 It was wonderful to see them and show off our little angel, especially since they didn't get to see the end result after the 4 weeks of hard work they put in. I was especially happy to see Robin, she was my nurse for all of her shifts she worked, every week I was there! For me, that morning was really reflective on everything that happened. On our way over snoqualmie pass I realized the last time that I was heading to the west side, I was 29 weeks pregnant, lying absolutely terrified in an ambulance. When I realized that, I of course started to cry and immediately count my blessings that things turned out so well. When we got to the hospital, I could see a little bit of apprehension in Makenna's eyes. When we got to the escalator in the parking lot she started yelling "No stay here Mommy! No stay here!" and repeated that phrase several times during our visit. She was afraid that I was going to stay there again. I had to reassure her many times that we were only there for a visit and we'd all be leaving together. She was SO happy when I left with her. It was great to see Crissy and know that she was doing so well also, she even got to come back home to Ellensburg last weekend. 

After we left the hospital we headed to the woodland park zoo for the afternoon. Here is Mailey when we first got there. Snug as a bug in the stroller. 

When we got there Makenna was SO excited! She kept asking "see amals? (animals)" When I answered  yes, she asked what kind and I told her we'd see giraffes, monkeys, lions and elephants. After hearing about the Elephants she then asked "like pumbo? (dumbo)"  She loves that movie and it made her even more excited to go see the animals!

When Mailey woke up we stopped for a picnic lunch break so I could nurse her and everyone else could eat also. It was really fun to have a picnic there. We've always purchased lunch at the zoo, but we thought we would save some money by packing a lunch and we found out it is a lot more fun to have a picnic. 

Little miss with her shades. If Nick or I are wearing sunglasses, she wants to where hers too. Makes us giggle. 

Every time we've previously been to the zoo the hippos have been sleeping/catching rays up on the rocks and they were actually playing and swimming around this time. They were pretty awesome!

Watching the "pippos."

Here is a video of Makenna watching the hippos, before you watch scroll to the very bottom of the page, press pause on the music, turn up the volume, and then press play on the video. 

At the zoo through out specific times in the day you can feed some of the animals. We just happened to be to the giraffes (my favorite) at the perfect time so we hopped in line and Makenna and I got to feed them. She thought it was AWESOME and so did I! She would giggle when they stuck their tongues out and kept saying they were cute. The zoo keeper also makes it an educational experience as well. Did you know that giraffes only have 7 vertebrae in their necks like humans? Theirs are MUCH bigger than humans of course. They are each about a foot tall. A female giraffe is pregnant for 15 months (no thank you!) and a newborn giraffe is about 6 feet tall, which sounds even worse than being pregnant for 15 months if you ask me!

  

Makenna held out her hand to feed them too and thought it was pretty cool. We just didn't get a picture of it. 

Here are a few pictures I took with my phone up on the platform.

Another video!

Warthogs! 

The lions have also been duds the previous visits we've had to the zoo but two of them were awake and RIGHT next to the glass. It was really cool! 

"Dare's a wion (there's the lion)"

"Where he go?"

These next two pictures crack me up! Makenna and Nick have the exact stride in both pictures. She is very much so a daddy's girl for sure!

This picture was taken a little over a year ago when we took Makenna to the zoo for the very first time. She had just mastered walking, didn't talk yet, and had maybe 10 hairs on her whole head. Now she runs pretty much everywhere she wants to go, doesn't stop talking and has a full head of hair! We thought she was so big then, and we had no idea! It is so fun to watch her grow up and change. 

Elephant! 

"It's pumbo! (dumbo)"

Mailey's still sleeping. She was an absolute angel the whole day. She did fantastic on the long drives and was content sleeping all day in the stroller, woke up only once to eat while we were at the zoo. Quite opposite of Makenna at the age! 

Run Kenna, Run!

She loved her horsey ride on the carousal

  

She loves the monkey statues! She's talking to them like they are her best friends. Very cute!

She even gave this little guy a kiss! 

After the zoo we went up to Gig Harbor to see Nick's family for the evening. They are moving into their new beautiful house this weekend. We can't wait to go visit for a few days when they get settled in. It was all and all a fantastic day! We'll have to go again soon!