Adirondack Animal Land

Last year was our first experience with Adirondack Animal Land.  We were impressed last year and this year definitely lived up to it.

MiniM.E. remembered everything about last year, down to the last detail, and had the whole visit planned out in her head before we even got there.

First stop, feed the giraffes:

However, on our way down to the rest of the animals, MiniM.E. saw an area of mechanical ride-on toys and claimed that the only reason she wanted to come to the zoo in the first place was to play there.  NOT, as she previously told us, to see the animals.  Which is interesting as I'm not sure we even looked at those last year.

I dragged her away, insisting that we were here only to see the animals, but to prevent a melt down told her we could come back later if she still wanted.

Next stop for Daddy, feed the monkeys.  This one took the cereal right out of your hand.  MiniM.E. was definitely too timid to want to try it out.

dino break

 The zoo has lots of interesting animals like this really hairy cow:

alpaca

As soon as we got to the deer enclosure, MiniM.E. forgot all about the ride-on toys and anything else she might have been thinking of and fell head over heels in love with the deer.

it started with simply feeding them

then hugging

She would have been happy to stay with the deer the rest of the day she loved them so much.  But we had to make a safari before we left, so we headed back.

Again, this was a highlight of the trip.  This time the ride was more crowded and we had a hard time seeing some of the animals.  Most of the babies weren't born yet so I guess we'll just have to go back in July!

Daddy coaxing a camel

LittleL.G. loved watching the animals

Camel on board!

We were thinking one more giraffe visit and then head out...

not impressed.

 But then we realized we missed a section and Daddy wanted to feed the monkeys again.

We saw this enclosure of capybaras.  Now, MiniM.E. didn't really want to feed any of the other animals except her deer.  But for some reason she took a liking to these giant rodents.

She said they were so cute and liked their whiskers and wanted to feed them.  They seemed to like her too.

Glad they were friendly enough, because these are their teeth! Yikes!!

I guess after feeding the capybaras, she felt like going on a feeding frenzy because then we fed these goats for a while:

 And somehow we ended up back at the deer enclosure and stayed until the zoo closed!

Beach Afternoon

Wednesday morning we went to the sprayground to play.  Unfortunately, despite abundant sunshine, it was nowhere near warm enough to use the sprinklers.  And then there was the ridiculous number of elementary school kids that walked over from the school down the street.  So we just played a little at the playground.  Then later in the day, MiniM.E. was so upset that we didn't get to go in the sprinklers, that we decided to go back.  So we spent the afternoon with MiniM.E. playing in the sprinklers and LittleL.G. playing in a bucket of water.  I took zero photos of these two trips to the sprayground.  Maybe I'm slipping... Or it could be lack of sleep...

Because...

LittleL.G. has a double ear infection.  Which is extremely frustrating because she's had a low grade fever and her fingers in her ears for two weeks but when I took her to the doctor last Friday, they concluded "just teething".  Yesterday when I took her back (to another doctor in our practice) she definitely had a raging ear infection in one ear and the other not far behind- likely from teething.  So frustrating.  At least she is on the mend now and I can look forward to nights with more than two hour blocks of sleep in the near future.

Since the doctor's appointment took up our morning activity block, I took the girls to the beach in the afternoon because MiniM.E. has been dying to go.

It was definitely NOT a beach afternoon.  The plus side: we had the beach to ourselves.  The downsides: too cold to swim, too windy to play much in the sand, and it started raining an hour in.

Both the girls had fun playing in the sand, and MiniM.E. even went all the way in the water.  I thought it was a pretty decent, though short lived, beach afternoon.  As we were driving back in the drizzzle, however, MiniM.E. sternly stated, "I didn't have ANY fun at the beach today."  *sigh* Oh well.  Better luck next time.

Just Playing

climbing

tasting clover

playing zoo

Downtown Puddle Jumping With Best Friends

Tuesday we went downtown in the semi-tropical weather (SO humid) to meet our friends for a snack and to do some puddle jumping.

post-snack bench photo op

first to conquer the puddle

might have gotten stuck in this tree...

The girls had a blast jumping in the puddles together.  It was so adorable.  We've been seeing these friends since the girls were babies and they are finally playing together and ask about each other and miss each other when we don't have a playdate for a while.

Nice Days: Ice Cream, Backyard Pools, Playgrounds and Congress Park

LittleL.G.'s First REAL Trip to the Mall Playground

 Friday was a hot day, too hot to play outside, so we went to the mall playground.  We have been a bunch of times since LittleL.G. but this was my first experience with a mobile baby.  (The first time I brought MiniM.E. she was just days from walking and mostly cruised around.)  LittleL.G. wasn't sure at first, but soon was mesmerized by the colorful carpet, quickly moved onto the smushy flowers and ladybug and was braving the binocular tunnels after only 10 minutes or so.  MiniM.E. was delighted to have LittleL.G. watch her play and chase her around.

And Swimming

Jumping

Swinging