Sacramento Zoo

I was lucky enough to have today off so the boys and I went on a little adventure to the Sacramento Zoo!  James has really been enjoying learning about animals lately, especially reptiles and amphibians (Grandma: have someone help you through this post please), so off we went...  A few cute pictures from the day!  

If you look closely, you can see Jack's arm around the monkey's arm.  He was saying, "This my buddy!"  

And James photo bombed him!  :-)

James' turn to drive the safari jeep.

This was too cute to pass up.  Jack wasn't nearly as excited as I was as you can see!  :-)

Mommy and her boys sitting on the back of an alligator - statue of course!  :-)

A close up picture of the lion.  We tried to get there early in the morning so the larger animals were still out and about.

My wonderful little cutie ba tootie!  This little man slept for 10 minutes in the car on the way there then woke up and was a happy camper for the whole zoo visit.  :-)

The boys (especially James) really enjoyed learning more about the animals from the docents around the zoo.  Here they are learning a little more about giraffes.

A close up picture of a zebra.

A tortoise.

James checking out the tortoise.

Jack checking out the tortoise.

The boys posing in front of the giraffes for G.G. 

G.G.: I asked for smiles and this is what I got... sorry, I tried!  :-)

Great Grandma Whichard: Stop here.

Towards the end of our trip (as we were coming out of the reptile and amphibian house for the 3rd time) the boys found these lovely docents.  This woman was holding a Rubber Python which the boys loved touching and learning more about.

And this woman was holding a Spiky Tail Lizard (or something like that).  I had to practically drag the boys away from these ladies and their animals.

Thanks for the great picture boys!  :-)

Our silly faces!  

And some smiles (kind of!).  One last quick train ride around the zoo before hopping in the car for naps.  (This Mommy just couldn't say no to Jack's adorable requests to ride the train!)

My cutie pies!  

Even this little one was excited about riding the train!  After a 10 minute morning nap, he was still going strong 4 hours later!  

We had a wonderful day!!!  All the boys fell asleep in the car on the way home (surprise, surprise), now the Mommy challenge comes in how to transfer them all to their beds without them waking up (hopefully!)  Jack went first because he wakes up and screams as soon as the car stops. 1 down, 2 to go... Jonathan was fully awake from Jack screaming so he was potentially going to take a while to rock back to sleep so James went next.  2 down, 1 to go... No problem getting Jonathan back to bed after a 10 minute morning nap, 4 hours outdoors at the zoo, and a 30 minute nap in the car, right?  WRONG!  He played in the crib for 20 minutes, I rocked him for 10 minutes, and he played for another 20 minutes before it was time to nurse and go to soccer practice.  Somehow, after all that, he was still a happy camper, and as mischievous as ever!  

I swear Jonathan has go-go gadget arms while at the table!  This is not the first thing he has pulled off the table.  He was starting dinner earlier than everyone else (because he eats a ton!) while I was still making dinner.  I look over to find this!  I guess keeping all the little Legos on the table so Jonathan doesn't get them isn't a fool-proof method!  He's so proud of himself!  

A quick note on Jonathan... Now that he is eating, watch out, this boy can EAT!!!  Dinner tonight was 2 small meatballs, a string cheese, and 4 ice cube size pieces of pureed carrots and green beans.  And he's using all that energy to MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!!!  Within the past 1-2 weeks, Jonathan has learned to go from belly to sitting, pull to stand, switch from standing at one toy to another, crawl (sometimes on his head) from one room to another, put his hands up onto a step, and pull a huge tub of Legos onto his seat!  :-)  Life is going to get a lot more fun soon!  :-)  Josh is still rooting for a walker by 9 1/2 months (no thanks!)  

I just downloaded all the pictures from my camera (and need to download from my phone tomorrow night) so I will try to share more pictures soon.  Love to all!