Zooropa (Better by Design)

To help make this Memorial Day weekend--well--memorable, we took the girls to the Caldwell Zoo. We took Alyse back in September but, as her knowledge base of the animalia kingdom has erstwhile exploded, this trip was much more fun to watch her run around and taunt the various animals by name.

Alyse watches a penguin.

Though Alex is a great deal younger than Alyse was on her first zoo safari, she--Alex--very much enjoyed herself, pointing and yipping at various animals that attracted her fancy as small children are wont to do.

Alex watches a Longhorn graze.

Despite the humid, ninety-five degree weather, an enjoyable time was had by all. Fortunately, we happened to be down by the elephant walk just as they were starting the elephant demonstration. Here is a picture of what the elephant was doing and subsequently the girls' reaction:

Elephant catching treats.



Alex, Alyse watching the elephants.

Now, as official Caldwell ZooMembers, we are entitled to discounted tickets for friends and family. So if you come to visit, we'll go see some animals together!

For more zoo pictures, please visit Alex's First Zoo Visit set on Flickr (click the link).

Carseat Graduations

A couple of days ago the girls both graduated into carseats more befitting of their every-maturing physical stature. In fact, I'm still a little perplexed how we were managing to still carry Alexa around in the infant carrier--talk about a bicep workout! So Alex made the jump to a larger, more comfortable seat, and also now faces forward for the first time:



We purchased this car booster seat for Alyse which does away with the independent harness and uses the car's own seatbelt system for safety restraint. This, obviously, has presented its own set of challenges (e.g., keeping the shoulder strap across her), but has made her car-riding experience much more enjoyable and has bolstered her confidence, as it has been dubbed the "big girl seat."


I've also included this video as Alyse expresses her feelings about the seat. It sounds like I'm prodding her to give a positive endorsement, but I was merely coaxing her to repeat what she had already said (except for the "sweet" part--that, we'd never heard before):

More Video!

In case you haven't seen them on Flickr or YouTube, here are a few other random, albeit hilarious videos of the girls:

Stuff and Such...

Just a brief video of Alex walking around. I realized haven't posted much, if at all, documenting her new skill: