Week of May 20, 2013: Trip to the Zoo

Katie's had fun this week learning about triangles, the color green and the letter D.  I saw this great idea on pinterest and didn't know if it would work but, thought I'd try it.  You can take sheets of foam that you get in the craft section and when they get wet they stick to the sides of the tub.  Worked great!  We cut out triangles of all sizes and Katie was able to play with them in the tub throughout the week.  She made pictures with them, sorted them by size and floated them in the tub.  

 

Don't you love the little cross eyes on Ms. Audrey's sweet face?

Knox and Brex came over for a few playdates this week.  Knox and Katie went through about 10 fruit snack packages in one sitting. 

Ms. Audrey spent the playdate snoozing...

 

...while Katie and Knox played dress-up.

Audrey really listens when we read Katie books before bed.  She turns her head towards whoever is reading and is starting to try to focus on the pictures.  I love this quote, "Children become readers on the laps of their parents".  So true.

 

We focused on the letter D this week.  Katie put these beads on the lines of the letter.  She loved this activity and probably redid it 4 times in one sitting.  She has also started practicing her letter sounds.  While driving the other day she turned to her Daddy and said, "D, D, Daddy".  Such a smart little thing.

Cousin Hannah was able to stop by for a few minutes this week to get some cuddle time with the girls.

 

Lillie is worn out by the end of the day.  

Audrey SMILED for the first time this week!  She's such a relaxed, cuddly little girl.

 

Katie played with her dinosaurs, cookie cutters and play do.  She made dinosaur footprints and used cookie cutters in the shape of a duck, dolphin and dog.  This activity kept her entertained for about an hour and a half.  

 

We spent friday afternoon at Grandma Sue's house.  Aunt Jo and Uncle Gary got Katie a rake and a petunia for her fairy garden.  Katie loved playing in the sandbox with Aunt Jo...

...and making "coffee" for us with her tea set.  The best part was Grandma made fried chicken!  I haven't cooked like I usually do since Audrey's been born so this was a real treat plus there's nothing like Grandma's fried chicken and gravy!

We took a trip to the zoo on Saturday.  I've said it before but I am so thankful to have a zoo pass.  We are able to go to the zoo at the drop of a hat and see as many or as little of the animals as we want.  They had two special activites going on Saturday.  One was a scavenger hunt based on The Lion King broadway show.  We went to the lion, rhinoceros, meerkat and giraffe exhibits to pick up our clues.  At the end of the day we turned our clues in for a prize.  The other activity going on was Rhino Awareness Day.  We got to get up close to the rhinos and even pet them.  They had a tent set up with rhino information and games for the kids to play.  The rhinos were as docile as cattle but, Katie was still a bit too intimidated to touch them.  It was still a really cool experience...who can say they got that close to a rhino?

 

Katie watching the elephants.



 We stopped in this walk through garden they have and went to the fish pond. There was a red-eared slider turtle swimming that came right up to us. Katie got a kick out of watching him.

 

Near the tortoise exhibit is a statue that almost every kid stops at for a ride and a photo.  I have pictures of my brother and I on this same tortoise years ago.

 At the end of the trip we stopped in a shady spot and bought Katie some dippin' dots ice cream.  Audrey was so relaxed during our zoo trip.  She lounged in the stroller and laid on a blanket in the shade.