Tea Party

Nana won certificates and treated the girls to a tea party complete with cupcakes and dress-up fun.  The girls liked getting all dolled up and even got their make up done.  Joel and Jonathan went to a local coffee shop for some treats of their own while the girls were busy.  It was a nice treat on a cold winter Saturday.  Thanks again, Nana!

Awesome Day at the Zoo

We went to the zoo this past Saturday for 4 hours.  We didn't intend to stay so long, but we were having such a great time we ended up closing down the zoo for the day.  There were hardly any people there and the animals were out and active as a whole as we haven't experienced before.  In Joel's own words it was possibly the best trip to the zoo we've ever had as a family.

We got to look eye-to-eye with an orangutang with only a panel of glass between us.  He mimicked some of our expressions and stuck his lip out at us playfully.  The lion was out and prowling.  We got to see him roar too.  It's always so impressive the massive volume that comes out with such seeming ease.  We fed parakeets by hand and saw kangaroos napping in the sun right under us.  We sat and watched the otters swimming around like corkscrews in the water.  Something that I never tire of watching (I'd seriously love to be able to swim like an otter - it just looks like a blast!)  We also saw an 8 week old calf being bottle fed and then Joel, Jonathan & I got to let it use our fingers as a pacifier (the girls didn't want to experience baby cow slobber on their hands).  We finished the day going through the amphibian house and seeing many cool things up close including a light blue caterpillar - never seen that before!

We literally saw the entire zoo and had a blast doing so.  It was a great afternoon and we all agreed it was a special gift.     

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.  Joel took them all so unfortunately he's not in any of them.

Exciting Morning

We had an exciting morning last spring.  We were cleaning up our backyard one Saturday morning and unearthed an active gas pipe!  Joel could detect the faint smell of a gas leak so we headed inside quickly and called the local gas company.  They sent out the fire department to check out the extent of the leak.  So we had firemen in full gear in our backyard!  They determined it was an active small leak and let the gas company know so they could come out an cap the line (which they did a few days later).  Our exciting morning also made for a great photo opp for Jonathan with the firefighters in front of their truck.

Soccer 2014

Jonathan played soccer again this fall.  Joel co-coached his team.  We tried a different venue this time and liked it a lot better.  Practice and games are all on the same day each week and it's right up the road from our house.  Jonathan had a monster season scoring 14 goals for his team (more than any other player).  He's going to play again in the spring, and Joel will coach again as well.  It should be another good season!

Here's how Joel described Jonathan's season in a Facebook post: "So proud of Jonathan this season. He was my top player again. He scored 14 goals, 2 assists and had 10 saves this season. He did it all with grace and humility. We are both already looking forward to next season in March!"