Saturday Trip to the Zoo

These pictures uploaded all over the place, so randomly! Oh well.

We went to the Natural Bridge Zoo last Saturday and we brought Ellie. The zoo is small, but it really does have a nice collection of animals. If Charlie talks at all, it's usually about animals. And Ellie is so smart -- I actually did a practicum in her classroom this year at the very time they presented animal projects. Her favorite animal is the cheetah, which she knew a ton of information about-- and although she and I saw one earlier this year at the National Zoo, the Natural Bridge zoo had no cheetah. I think everyone had a good time!

They have lots of cute little animals running around-- like exotic chickens that jump into the trees!

There are some photographs of me at the zoo in 1985 or 86, and most are of me petting a baby elephant. I found out that the zoo has had this elephant since around that time, and it being their only elephant, she's all grown up! I wish she had a buddy.Moments before the rain came. A moment I want to remember.But wish I had painted my toenails.
Charlie wouldn't feed the animals so I dropped some food on the base of his stroller. The llamas loved it! Charlie-- not so much.
Giraffes have looooong tongues! Feels funny!
Ellie is so pretty, huh! She ran out of purchased food at one point and ran over to an animals trough and took some food out to share with the other animals! I sure hope Leslie writes down some Ellie stories!
Cute little goats!

Watching the monkeys while it rained....
We discovered Charlie had a fever soon after this.... which is why he looks sooo over it!
Wish I could've gotten just a little closer!

Everybody is Moving Away!!!

So, Sam's getting married (and moving wherever the Marine {Ben} takes her!) AND Leslie, Paul and Ellie are moving to Charleston, SC AND Jeremy's parents are also moving to Tennessee. All this in the span of the next 2 weeks or 2 months. Kinda crazy and I know we are really going to miss everybody!

So, me being who I am, I feel like we should have a few more get-togethers before everybody drives off into the sunset. We will hopefully do something for Memorial Day, and we are also thinking of going to Pearisburg to help Jeremy's folks pack up (and maybe slip up to Cascades or something, too.)

We had a little picnic in Jordan's Point Park. I realized after I looked at all the pictures that I never took a picture of Ellie, who was with us. After we ate, she found a big branch and wanted everyone to go down to the Min-each (for Mini-beach); no one took her up on the offer because we just wanted to hang out in the grassy area. Good times.

Here are the siblings:

Playing in the grass! We don't have any grass at home so this was super exciting for him! :)
He really loves his aunts and cousin!
Samantha and Buster
Chillaxing.

24/25 Posts: Cookies!

So after spending so much time with other kids, home must have looked a little boring for Charlie. Luckily, my aunt Anna had sent us a Gingerbread Cookie decorating kit (Brilliant gift!) It may have been as early as 9 am, but I wanted to do something fun!

Here's what he did:

Gotta sample the icing, like any good baker!



This is what we did after!
24 Posts! I have just one more, and that is one I'll have to do tomorrow!

23/25 Posts: A Quick Trip to Philadelphia, Part 2

Since Jeremy had never been to Reading Terminal Market, and we were downtown, Becca drove us there for lunch. I think Jeremy and I both had cheesesteaks on the brain! It's a great place to go, so many choices!


Even close to 3 pm, it was still packed with long lines. We chose, instead of cheesesteaks, to eat at this one Jewish deli! So good! We walked around afterwards, looking at the different bakeries and candy shops... and my camera batteries died.

We had nice relaxing evening that night, and hung out more with family the next day. I got to see my grandparents, and my aunt and some other cousins. We left the next day, stopping in Baltimore to see Jeremy's friend Kevin, and his family. They have 3 kids that Charlie also got to play with! He especially had a great holiday, I think, because he got to play with so many kids!

20/25 Posts: Christmas Day

Here's a quick post from that morning. Charlie and Jeremy-- looking at the tree. I think we actually woke him up (completely NOT the norm!) and I went down to capture his face.
And here's Charlie's face. When he's nervous, or unsure, he's just very still. Granted, he was probably tired but....
And then I forgot to take pictures. But as he opened gifts, and played with the toys and wrapping paper, he had great time!

My family came over for brunch, I burned most everything, but it was a nice morning. We played Guitar Hero for the longest time, and then they went to watch Invictus while Charlie slept and I did dishes (there were a gazillion!).

19/25 Posts: Christmas Eve

We spend Christmas Eve at my parent's house. They always have a nice fire going in the wood stove, and my mom made Kifta (an Armenian soup but here's a Lebanese recipe) for dinner -- so yummy !

Charlie loved tearing ornaments off their tree...
Here's this face he's been making lately. Sort of smiling, laughing...
Loved tearing into the presents...
Wearing bows..


There's that funny face again !
Not sure what my brother Michael is doing ....
These aren't really in order, oops...


My dad in his Christmas outfit.... :)
Michael and Lulu
Jeremy
Moi
My mom... and Callie and Lulu

Not sure what's going on here...
We never can all smile for a family photo!!!