Uncle Adam had a special treat planned for the kids. He was going to give them a backstage pass style visit at the zoo. He had a friend that worked there that offered to take us to meet a few animals personally.
We started at the polar bear exhibit.
Tundra, our nice polar bear friend, performed a few tricks for some tenderloin.
Here's her best trick, the wave! It ended up being pretty much her only trick that day. She refused to get in the water or do anything else. I got an email shortly after our visit that said that Tundra was moving to a new zoo. I think as a 'senior bear', she has just had enough. Good for her. I hope she likes her new home in Detroit. The Zoo has made a very difficult decision to permanently close its polar bear exhibit. For Tundra,
our 29-year-old polar bear, that means a relocation. The Zoo's
veterinary staff carefully reviewed all of the options and agree that
the Detroit Zoo is the perfect facility for Tundra's
needs as a senior bear. Considered one of the leading polar bear
facilities in the world, the Detroit Zoo offers large spaces and pools
with easy slopes for Tundra to enter and exit the water, especially as she gets older. Tundra
arrived at the Indianapolis Zoo in 1988 and has been a significant part
of our community. She has helped educate millions of guests over the
years as an ambassador for her endangered species and her counterparts
in the wild. Please join us on Facebook and Twitter to share your
memories of Tundra and wish her well on the journey to her new home in Michigan. She will be greatly missed.
We spotted Flotsam and Jetsam in the tank!
Next stop was the walrus exhibit.
We got to go in the back and feed the walruses. This was Aurora! Charlotte was so excited! She was also terrified because these guys are HUGE. I believe she said Aurora was 2000 pounds and her mate was going to be 3000+.
Aurora gave us kisses on our hands which felt like a wet clammy vacuum. It freaked us all out (in a good way).
She let us feel her whiskers which felt like a bunch of pointy glow sticks. I never imagined they would feel like that. We fed her so many fish. They told us she ate 5 coolers full of fish a day. Hungry princess! ;-)
We were able to walk around to the backside of the aquariums. It really is just like they show in Finding Dory, by the way! Concrete block rooms filled with tanks of fish ready to be moved to other zoos if needed. I'm sure there was a Hank trying to escape to Cleveland, just like in the movie.
It was really cool to see the tanks from the backside and looking down at the people looking in.
Next we met the ever so adorable senior rockhopper penguin couple, 157 and 198. They were by far my favorite.
Group picture with the little feller. ;-)
An up close and personal shot with the little lady.
They were so sweet. They just wanted to cuddle in your hands and lean up against you. They were so soft too. I didn't realize that penguins actually had feathers! They look like they would feel like seals but they definitely have feathers and even molt! Whaaaaa?
It was a little rainy the day we visited but we are pros when it comes to traveling in the rain!
The next stop was the seal exhibit! Charlotte is not a fan of loud noises and most large animals are loud. Not a good combo but she made it through. You can see in the video at the bottom of this post, we saw another seal who was being trained. This poor seal had been shot once, rehabilitated and released but then was shot again and became blind. He only had one eye so they were trying to rehabilitate him to be able to get around (seriously, there were so many similarities to Finding Dory). It was very interesting. I had no idea that these animals were rescues.
Seals are just like puppies. Tail wagging, always looking to please you, fast moving, and hyper. So much fun! Our seal's name was Holly. She was laser focused on Jenny most of the time. But Tommy started to say something at one point and Holly lost focus and lasered in on Tommy and started moving toward him. Talk about a freak out. He just repeated NO NO NO NO NO until Jenny got Holly's attention again. For a moment it was questionable but Holly was more than happy to get back to her fish.
We each got a picture being kissed by Holly. Adam's kiss ended up in his eye the first time. Ha!
We got a group selfie in the seal backroom! Thanks Emily! It's a keeper!
After our meet n greets with the animals, we spent some time visiting other exhibits. The orangutan exhibit is just crazy. They just come up to the windows and stare at you. For a moment, you're not sure who is studying who! This orangutan ate his greens and then spit them out and smooshed them against the window. He also picked his nose and ate it several times. Orangutans, they're just like us! ;-)
We rode Charlotte's favorite ride, the carousel.
Tommy and Andrew were just waiting for the ride to be over so they could get on the roller coaster.
We checked out the giraffes...
and the cheetahs.
Then we headed home.
Charlotte and Tommy both fell asleep so we decided to keep driving and we went all the way to Grandma and Grandpa's new house.
Charlotte was excited about the playhouse!!
Tommy was excited about the floor space for playing.
What a day we had a the zoo.
Here's a recap of some quick videos that I took that day. Charlotte did not like the loud noises but she certainly liked the carousel. What a cool day!
Yeah my posts will need to be much simpler in the future. I can't keep up! I'm 6 weeks behind at least. Prepare for lots of catch up and one picture posts. :-)
Tommy's preschool does graduation right. Caps and gowns and all!
It was quite an occasion because Grandma, Gaga, and Pop came to watch too. He loved that part the most I think. :)
Charlotte was ready to see her brudder graduate!
Oh wait, no she wasn't. The music was too loud and it scared her tummy. Ha!
Everyone did the graduation walk by themselves except for the twins in the class. They got to walk together. So cute.
It was Tommy's turn! I love this picture. I wish I had a better quality version of the picture because I just love how she's looking at him. We LOVE his preschool teacher. We are going to miss her so much. I really hope she sticks around long enough to have Charlotte in preschool too.
I got a video of his walk down the aisle. Seriously, what is it about that song that makes me tear up?? Sorry for the shaky video. I was wrestling Charlotte in my lap while taking a video.
Tommy and his buddy Cooper got to sit together.
Here are the preschool and kindergarten classes performing their songs.
Tommy was waiting to hear his name called. I was so mad. They showed baby pictures while they were walking across the stage and right when I had the perfect shot of Tommy getting his "diploma" with his baby picture in the background, my phone froze and I didn't get the picture. Waaaahhhhh. I was so sad. I think it has something to do with dropping it in the toilet and not bringing my real camera as a backup. Ugh.
Lucky for me, Gaga was able to document the baby picture memory. Thank goodness!! :) Look at little baby Tommy. Awwwwwwww. Where did those cheeks go?
The whole class in their cleaned up classroom with Mrs. A!
Tommy was exhausted after the ceremony. I got this picture and then it was OFF. He refused to take anymore pictures. I pushed him to his limit.....
As you can see in the rest of the pictures.
Charlotte was fine with posing for pictures though.
Even though it was late, we had to celebrate. DQ blizzards and Starkist bars! I finally got the red stain out of the curtains about a month later. ;-)
We were all very sad that Andrew had a very important work week out of town during graduation week. It was a very long week without him. We missed him terribly but it was really big time stuff with his new job so we had to forgive his new company. :-)
Both Andrew and I wished we could have been in two places at one time, that week especially. Charlotte had her Field Day the same day Tommy had his field trip. I had to make a decision as to which I was going to attend so I chose the preschool field trip. Soon I will be going on Charlotte's preschool field trip. It'll be here before I know it, I'm sure. I did snap a quick pic of Charlotte's field day from far away because I didn't want her to see me and get upset that I wasn't with her. Their tie-dyed shirts were super cute.
So off we went on our field trip! Bus selfie as per usual.
Tommy worked on his film noir cinematography style on the way to the zoo.
We got the zoo and it was crazy. We moved from exhibit to exhibit. Each exhibit was Cooper wanting to be FIRST and Tommy wanting to be King the Hill/Rock/Turtle/whatever. Oh boys. I love the competitiveness. I think. ;-)
Tommy got close to a Wallaby.
Tommy and Cooper just chillin' on the playground!
Chillin' on the sidewalk.
Two peas in a pod!
Then it was time for chaos, I mean lunch. I found out Tommy is NOT the slowest eater due to his ability to chat. It was his buddy Anvith. Constant reminders to eat from the chaperones. Ha!
Tommy and Anvith chillin' on the playground. He was so sad to see his two bestest friends leave for the summer.
One more bus selfie on the way home. What an awesome year of preschool Tommy had. I loved experiencing it vicariously through his descriptions. He learned so much this year and I'm so proud of the person he's becoming. Happy Preschool Graduation, Tommy!
I don't know. Do you think our kid is trying to tell us he doesn't want the monitor in his room anymore? Looks like he pointed his camera at a Mr. James P Sullivan from Monsters Inc.
Yes it freaked me out when I first looked at it. Terrifying. We get the hint, Tommy. :-)
We have heard throughout the year that Charlotte has a best friend. She talks about her a little but I had no idea how intense this friendship really was until she was invited to her birthday party.
Charlotte's best friend, Lakynn, turned 3 and had a party at My Gym. It was the cutest thing ever! Charlotte was a little shy at first because she didn't know 70% of the people at the party but once she saw her bestie, the party was a GO!
It was a perfect party for 2 or 3 year olds. Look at that trampoline action! Can you imagine all the giggling that was happening here?
They had this funky swing that they rode on together.
They also had this funky swing that they rode on together too. They couldn't be separated!
I promise there were other kids at the party! You couldn't really tell with the two of them attached at the hip though. They loved this ball pit at the end of a slide the most I think.
They had pizza at the party which is Charlotte's favorite. Andrew looked at this picture and asked if they all had their own personal pizza. Ha! Not quite but Charlotte did have 3 pieces!! She was hungry after all that play.
At one point during the party, they took Lakynn to another room and dressed her up to bring her back out for a birthday parade. Before they brought her back out, they asked the kids where Lakynn went. Charlotte jumped up and starting frantically looking for her and calling out for her. Then they brought her out dressed like this. They sang happy birthday and posed for pictures. It was adorable.
Here's the birthday girl with her cake. Both girls wanted pink cupcakes. Lucky for them, there were exactly two!
Charlotte was the last one at the party. She didn't want to leave. I had to pull her out of there!
They are just two peas in a pod, aren't they?
Here's a video with all the party action. Have you ever heard so much giggling in your entire life?? So much fun!! Happy birthday, Lakynn!!
For Mother's Day weekend, we got together with our family.
On Saturday we got to play with Wyatt.
I'm not sure how Wyatt felt about us though. ;-)
One of these days, we will get a wonderful picture with all three of them smiling and looking... but today is not going to be that day.
All the pictures are cute of course but it's near impossible to get them to look and smile at the same time.
Or to stop picking their nose.
Or to stop playing with each other's feet.
Actually even paying attention at all would be surprising. Charlotte was playing with Wyatt until she got distracted by Tommy doing... well I have no idea what he's doing.
But our kids definitely love their cousin Wyatt. :-)
On Sunday we went out to eat at Mountain Jacks. Charlotte had her favorite: butter with a little bread. :)
We kept the kids busy with movies on phones and we had a really nice dinner out.
I got a picture of the whole family and our server did a really great job! Wow, a picture that's not just kids! I don't have many of those on my phone. :)
It was a very lovely weekend. Happy Mother's Day!!
