Winter Fun

We have been having fun this Christmas season. We went to the National Zoo for Zoolights. Hannah had a great time!
All bundled up, trying to stay warm.

Hannah liked these elephants and another display that had lights dancing to music.

Walking with dad. Notice her heavy winter coat? Ha ha!

I also let Hannah make a gingerbread house this weekend. She had a great time!

Putting the icing on!

Getting ready to decorate.

She took her job very seriously.

Hannah's finished house!

What a Weekend!

Hannah and I got to spend an extra-long weekend together and boy did we have fun. Kyle has started working at night for the next several months so Hannah and I must find ways to amuse ourselves so he can sleep during the day. On Saturday we packed up and headed to Baltimore to the Maryland Science Center. We go to the Baltimore Inner Harbor regularly but we had never been to the Science Center before. It is an amazing place for both kids and adults. So many things were hands on and kid friendly. Hannah was terrified of the dinosaurs, but once we moved past those she had a great time.

I LOVE this face!
So full of wonder, amazement, and curiosity!

She was also terrified of this picture of Cal Ripken.

This is her new way of walking down the street...with her arms crossed.
So stinkin' funny!

It didn't take long for her to be fast asleep on the way home (with her book!).

That night we went to Dave and Michelle's for dinner. Baby Brian was sleeping and Hannah climbed up on his crib (she actually made it all the way up) and peeked inside and yelled, "Hi Beeeee." Needless to say, his nap was short lived.

Sunday afternoon we headed up to Pennsylvania to Aunt Kelsi's house. Yesterday we hit the Philadelphia Zoo and my little animal lover had a great time.

Crossing those arms!

She had a love-hate relationship with this giraffe pinata that Kelsi has. She wouldn't walk by it when it was sitting on the shelf, but once we got it down she was riding it.

I accidentally put this one in twice, but I'm not taking it out because it makes me laugh!

On our way back home this morning we stopped at the Giant Wooden Slide here in Maryland. I don't know how I found out about this slide, but I read about it online. It is up north of where we live, in Rocky Ridge, about an hour away and right off the highway that takes us up to Kelsi's house. It is at a small park really out in the middle of nowhere that is run by a church. This place was really, really fun. The slide is much higher than it looked in the pictures online. They have burlap sacks there and you climb up the right side of it and then zoom down. You go really fast! Hannah couldn't get enough. She kept saying, "More, please." Since we went this morning we were the only ones there. We will be taking daddy back to this place for sure. I'll post videos soon!
The slide!

The view from the top down. There is a huge pile of sawdust that you go flying into.
The slide looks like that slick bowling alley type wood.

Hannah going by herself (with no burlap, a little slower that way!)

Fun, Fun!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Yesterday my mom and I took Hannah to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It is amazing! I have been there many times but not in the past 10 years or so. They have totally redone the zoo and have many, many hands on exhibits that Hannah LOVED! When I asked Hannah if she was ready to go to the zoo she said, "Roarrrrr." I think that meant yes! She had such a great time and slept soundly all the way home!

One of the best parts of this zoo is that you can feed the giraffes. They just come right up and you can feed them crackers and pet them. Hannah wasn't too sure about them at first!

These are life-size giraffe statues. What you can't feel in these pictures is how hard Hannah is pulling my hair because she is afraid of them. Not afraid of the real thing, just the statue!

As we were leaving the zoo, we walked back by the giraffes. Hannah immediately did the sign for "eat" and said, "Eat." (She is really starting to put words with her signs a lot these days!). How can you not let her feed them one more time? So...we bought her 3 more crackers! All of the giraffes at the front exhibit were full and were not coming up to eat the crackers so we went to an exhibit a little farther back. The only down side was that their cages weren't as open and we had to feed them through the wire. This time Hannah was not afraid at all!

Hannah's favorite animal, the lion, was sleeping when we went to see it. As we were looking at it I told her, "The lion went night-night." A little while later we went to see the gorilla, who was also sleeping. Hannah looked at me and did the sign for "night-night." She is SO cute, I could just eat her up!

So curious!

She loved every minute of it!

We got to pet a baby albino wallaby.

In the bird house we got a seed stick and this bird flew right to us!

I love her face in this picture!

She loved playing in the water!

I LOVE the zoo!

Hello Chicken!

She had no problem putting her arm through the fences. Don't tell dad, I'll surely have my zoo chaperoning privileges taken away!
The elephants were eating so she did the "eat" sign!
In heaven!