Day Trip: Blank Park Zoo

Our second day trip was to Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines.  This time we went with Nana and Papa, and there was some concern that it was going to be another roasting hot day like Adventureland but it turned out to be beautiful and perfect for visiting a zoo.  Must have been because I told the weather to stay cool and the clouds to stay near ;)

The first thing we got to do was feed parakeets.  I didn't expect this to be so much fun.  An entire room was dedicated to free flying parakeets and sticks with bird seed could be purchased for $1 each to feed the birds.  The birds certainly knew what to do, they instantly hopped right onto our sticks and started pecking away.

Next was a bird show (Adi was in bird heaven) called Birds Down Under.  Here is the bird trainer and one of the many stars of the show.

Feeding the giraffes was a fun thing to do, too.  I had no idea how long their tongues were, this one was pretty shy and stood back but it had rained the night before so the ground was muddy and they apparently don't like standing in mud.  Can't blame them.

We saw several kids with very cool face paintings so it was easy to say yes to Adilyn having hers done.  She, of course, became a beautiful butterfly.  Amazing how much it changed her facial features.

We were so proud that Adi chose to ride the camel by herself.  There was, of course, a zoo employee leading the camel but she went without an adult.  She's growing up!

Feeding the koi lasted far longer than we expected.  Adi was giving them one piece of fish food at a time.  She really enjoyed it, crazy and weird as it is to see so many fish flopping all over each other!

One of Adi's favorite creatures was this guy.  I can't remember what it's called but it was very cool looking.

We also love frogs and this blue guy was very cool.  We really enjoyed our time at the zoo and I'm so grateful that we went when we did.  It was a fun and blessed day indeed.

Day Trip: Adventureland

We've been planning our short day trips for July so that we don't have to be too far from home in August in case baby decides to come early.  Instead of a vacation we're doing day trips, really only a couple but getaways just the same.

We started with a sleepover on Friday evening at Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Mike's in Newton.  A familiar love of Adilyn's is Bunny the bird.  How can she resist, it's so beautiful any kind of animal should be held as far as Adi is concerned.

On Saturday we rode off to Adventureland with our threesome, Grandma and Grandpa, Keelan, Larry's family, Carisa and her sister in-law with her 3 year old twins.  Bless that woman for having the strength and endurance to raise twin boys on her own!  We had quite a crew and needless to say, keeping track of everyone was quite a challenge.

Adi enjoyed some rides while we were there.  Daddy is particularly proud of Adi the pilot.

Adilyn's favorite was the Frog Hopper.  It's the kids version of the space shot which was Cam's favorite. I think Adi went on this thing 4 or 5 times, and watching her face and the huge smile each time was so much fun for me, I didn't even mind not being able to go on any of the rides.

It felt like it could have been one of the hottest days of the year so we spent a good amount of time at the new water park which was jam packed full of people.  Afterward, Adi and Keely rode the Chuck Wagon.  I think the guy running the ride was named Chuck which made it all the more interesting.

The Puff Dragons were a cute ride that Adi and Elleh went on together.  It was fun for Adi to have her cousins there to go on the kiddy rides with her.

After Adventureland we got to hang out at Carisa and Jeff's place for a while and Adi especially loved the above ground pool.  She's done so great in her swim lessons over the past several weeks and I know swimming in the pool with the brave and rambunctious twins definitely gave her more confidence to try new things and have fun at her lessons.  It's been fun to see the progress.

Birthmarks and Tattoos

Adilyn got a new Barbie movie called Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper.  In the movie, the princess has a royal birthmark which looks like a crown on her shoulder.  Adi decided that she should have a birthmark too.  Convinced that she must also be royalty, she found a marker (luckily washable) and drew  a crown on her shoulder.  But it didn't stop there.

Somewhere along the line she shifted from birthmarks to tattoos.  She put fruit on her other shoulder and on her chest was something that looked like a little lamb to me.  I asked what it was and she said it was Jesus' hand.

I was surprised that she did this all on her own, proud and so impressed that she would even think of having Jesus' hand on her heart.  She then drew a little dude next to the hand and said that was Jesus.

Her final tattoo was one that I see often.  The cross.  The symbol of what Jesus did for us.  I used to wear a cross necklace when I was a teen and knew it was special, that it meant something but I honestly didn't know the depth of it all.  I'm not sure how much Adi knows or understands but I do know that she thinks about God and Jesus on her own, without as much of a mention of their names from me and I know she's on a path to knowing them well.

That makes my heart happy.