Calvin loves his Cookie Monster. He gives him big hugs.
Calvin's favorite place to play is in the cupboards with the pots and pans.
This week's special outing was going to Woodland Park Zoo. Microsoft sponsored this outing for the interns from BYU. It was great because we got to meet a lot of other interns and BYU alumni that are now working at Microsoft. We also got free lunch! Yummy.
Anyway, the Woodland Park zoo was AMAZING! Seriously, it was one of the best zoos I have been to in a long time. It was like Disney's Animal Kingdom at Disneyworld without the horrible. I am referring to the unbearable Florida heat and humidity. It was really neat, though, because all of the exhibits were more theatrical than your typical zoo. For example, to see the zebras you enter a little shelter that is made to look like a primary school in Africa. All of the information about the zebras are written on chalkboards and on pretend clipboards on desks and stuff. The penguin exhibit is made to look like a penguin reserve in some foreign country. I love scenic/production design, so this aspect of the zoo really got me excited.
The penguins. They were so cute! You could get right up close to them. They reminded me of Calvin the way they would waddle around looking for food. I also didn't know that penguins say "moo."
More penguins.
Where the penguins swim. That was the other thing that was really awesome about this zoo- the habitats seemed really high quality and really big, but somehow in their design, the animals could still be really close to the viewers. We saw so many animals really up close. It was awesome.
Huddled Meerkat family. I cannot help but squeal whenever I see these cuties.
Komodo dragons- huge and terrifying. Their saliva will boil my flesh.
At Rose Garden just outside of the zoo. Beautiful flowers and these bizarre trees.
Calvin touching the goats at the petting zoo. He was very gentle.
This gorilla really reminded me of Papa for some reason.
Calvin rode a carousel for the first time! He held on tight and screamed for joy! It was very fun. We would try to wave at Daddy each time we went around, but Calvin could never seem to find him in time before we passed him.
Bald Eagles and their giant nest. Reminds me of Marahute.
The day started out really overcast, but the sun came out and it was beautiful!
A primate that I forgot the name of. Isn't it neat how close we could see the animals? And seriously, their habitats we really big!
The pretend primary school I talked about where you can go in to see the Zebra habitat.
Calvin playing with some African instruments.
Banging on a drum in the African music room. Right after I took this picture a family came in and started climbing and banging on everything. The parents were the worst. They were grabbing the instruments and banging them into other parts of the room. It was weird.
Once again, Calvin was wiped out after all of the excitement. Whew!!!
Well, we made it! Calvin and I arrived last Saturday night after a week of shows, packing, cleaning, a bizarre taxi ride, and dragging a huge car seat, 2 suitcases, a diaper bag, stroller, and a number of "personal items" that wouldn't fit anywhere else. I looked pretty insane lugging everything around at the airport. I was so grateful to have Kelsea there to help me get through security. And to watch all of our stuff while I cleaned up Calvin when he peed so much that he soaked all the way through his stroller. Phew, it was tiring. Life without my Tyler to help was hard. I am so glad that Kelsea and Carson were there all week to help out. I do not know how single moms do it. I am very impressed.
This week, one of the first places I went to was Daiso in Alderwood. Daiso is a Japanese chain of dollar (100 yen) stores and they have opened some in the United States in the past few years. Three of their nine US stores are in the Seattle area (the other 6 being in the San Francisco area). As a missionary in Japan, we would go to Daiso almost on a weekly basis to stock up on housewares, stationary, and a bunch of other random items. This Daiso didn't disappoint. It had EVERYTHING from Japan that I love. I tried to hold back as much as I could, but went a little crazier than I should have. Take a look at our loot:
Delicious crepes for lunch! And don't worry Shandy, we tried some dark chocolate linguine. Yummy...
Touching the sea stars in the tidepools.
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