To Monga's House We Go

April 30, 2013

No visit to Monga's house is complete without a trip to the Sedgwick County Zoo.

The tiger exhibit is a family favorite at the zoo.  You can get up close to the tigers and still be in the air conditioning.  Win win!  Plus, tigers are Rose's best friends.

As if the tigers weren't enough, the exhibit wraps around a cool outdoor area intended to mimic a tiger's habitat.  Dale loves to run up and down the ramp nearby.

This is the face of a boy who just saw a tiger up close.

Rose was thrilled, because I let her roam freely through the zoo's playground.  She ran and jumped all over, and I tried not to freak out while she climbed way up high with all the bigger kids.

Freedom at the zoo playground!

Once the zoo had sufficiently worn us out, we searched for an artsy looking coffee shop downtown that we had once seen.  We found it!  While Monga and I sipped our coffee, Dale and Rose enjoyed playing on the front porch.

Since neither the zoo or the coffee shop wore my kids out, we played like crazy in the backyard at Monga's house.

This is the face Dale makes when he's batting.

Is she serious???

The day was exhausting, but I'm pretty sure my kids didn't go to bed early that night or sleep late the next morning.  It never stops.  Ever.

A Trip to the Zoo

One beautiful day in April, Rose and I met Dale and Monga at the Rolling Hills Refuge in Salina.  We love that place!

If only reptiles were this cute.

Dale is going through a phase that involves him actually wanting to get his picture taken.  He stopped at every sculpture in the zoo and asked me to take his picture.  I obliged of course.

In case you were wondering, Dale is sitting on a giant frog.

Rolling Hills finally finished the neat play area they were building last year, and my kids love it!  It's unique and evokes good fun imaginative play.

Scary troll.

Even though we were at an awesome zoo with tons of exotic animals, the stars of the day were by far the Canadian geese families.  Let's face it, baby anything is adorable.

More adorable babies...

Just the Girls

Monga took Dale to Wichita so that Mommy could have some time alone with Rose.  Rose had never experienced what it was like to have Mommy all to herself, so we spent a few days with just the two of us, and we loved it.  Thanks, Monga!

We had a nice sunny day, so we decided to check out the new additions to the Sunset Zoo in Manhattan.  They have a brand new entrance with attached gift shop that we wanted to see.

Pretty new entrance.

As you can see, Rose was thrilled to be at the zoo.

There's not a whole lot to see at the Sunset Zoo, but they do have a tiger.  Thank goodness he was out, because it's the one thing that kept Rose going that afternoon.  When we finally got to see the tiger, Rose declared that he was her best friend.

There were pretty tulips everywhere.  I bribed Rose with candy to sit by the flowers for a few photos.

This is the smile you get when you ask Rose to make her "pretty face."

She's a beauty.

Because Rose was such a good girl, she got to play on the zoo playground for a while.

Rose's trademark:  giant smile and closed eyes.