Bring It On, Summer 2012!

Daddy’s last day of school was Friday, so it’s OFFICIALLY summertime at the Casa de A&B!

To mark the occasion, we took a trip to the zoo yesterday.  It was going to be a HOT day, so we got an early start…out the door before 8am…which I think has to be a record.  We enjoyed the sunnier side of the zoo first – where the elephants and giraffes are – and then treated the girls to a ride on the carousel.

They were SO excited, and I was SO proud that neither of them was scared this time.  Baby A chose to ride a panda cub, and Baby B chose a Siberian tiger.  They had the biggest smiles on their faces the entire time.

There’s a temporary dinosaur exhibit at the zoo right now.  We didn’t go through it, but we did take time to climb on one exhibit they have in the common area.  Here are A and B, practicing their dentistry skills, I suppose…

We walked a little more before sharing a big soft pretzel, and then we strolled through the shady side of the zoo.  We were excited to finally see the anteater, who has always been off exhibit when we’ve visited.  The girls were anxious to see the flamingos at the end of the zoo, and they sure put on a show…they seemed to be extra “talkative” yesterday (the flamingos, that is...well, and the girls!).

After the zoo, we headed to lunch at Macaroni Grill, per the girls’ suggestion, and then we rounded out our visit to the Big City with a trip to Whole Foods.  We barely got on the interstate for the trip home before the girls were out cold.

It’s so much easier to go and do with the girls these days.  As I think about our “bucket list” for this summer, I expect we’ll have lots of great adventures…

  

·         Hike Mammoth Cave

·         Long weekend in Memphis

·         Visit to North Carolina, making a couple of stops along the way

·         Visit the botanical gardens

·         Visit Dinosaur World

·         Visit Kentucky Down Under

·         Attend “Venus Presenting” to see the eclipse…better catch it now, ‘cause it won’t happen for another 500 YEARS!

·         Visit Chaney’s Dairy Barn

·         Go to the library

·         Visit the indoor play place

·         Take swimming lessons

·         Play in the dancing fountains downtown

·         Have a picnic at the park

And plenty of adventures without leaving our backyard, too…

·         Play with playdough

·         Play in the sprinkler in the yard

·         Make homemade pizza

·         Grill and eat outside

·         Eat a slice of watermelon

·         Get new bikes

·         Help Daddy wash the car

·         Make homemade ice cream

·         Do some messy artwork outside

·         Fly a kite

·         Make our own ice cream sundaes

·         Play in the rain and splash in some puddles

This time of year is definitely a special one for us.  It’s so nice to be able to enjoy so much family time every week.  The summer of 2011 (when the girls were 2 ½) was so much fun…and I’m thinking this one will be even sweeter!