roo at the zoo... two

back to the zoo we went, to rectify past face-painting debacles and to make use of the good friday day off from school. unfortunately most of the state of new jersey had the same idea. i did not take pictures of many animals, seeing as how we were just there a few weeks ago and i took a lot of pics then. i did, however, take a lot of photos of the facepainting. i am sorry about that.

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we started at the lorax loft, since it wasn't open on our last visit. it really wasn't all that exciting, but Q was infatuated with the purple stairs.

then we did face-painting before the line got out of hand. Q stuck with his weeks-predetermined choice of spiderman. caroline surprised us by choosing "cheetah" over significantly girlier choices like "butterfly" or "pink bunny". cheetah did match her (also self-chosen) outfit, so maybe she had a plan all along.

checking it out. Q noted to himself, "i look awesome!"

i think the peacocks and the flamingos are my favorite zoo animals. i guess i like brightly-colored birds.

a mommy duck and her 11 (!!) ducklings also live in flamingoville

someone needs to tell this giraffe that he has a long neck so that he can eat leaves on tall trees and that he doesn't need to strain to grab a few dandelions wedged between some rocks.

serious spiderman eating snacks

caroline deemed herself a jaguar and kept saying, "i'm a jaguar! i'm a jaguar! rawr! rawr! rawr!" she then proclaimed herself a jaguar princess, though i kept reminding her that she was actually a cheetah. we settled on cheeguar princess.

what every well-styled cheeguar princess needs - shades

we also rode the zoo train. Q thought it was super-cool, even though it bothered him that there weren't any tracks

definitive

i was a little worried that Q's 'all smiley face' streak at school was going to end today. it had all the hallmarks of a bad Q day: it was monday, it was the day after easter, his mimi was leaving. but he rocked out his 4th consecutive all-smiley day. i think we can officially close the books on his bad behavior. (knock in wood.)

roo at the zoo

we received a family membership to the zoo for christmas (thanks aunt becky!) so we decided to finally check it out a couple of weeks ago (been busy, sorry. you should be used to this by now.) the kids were very excited. pickle was especially excited to see "efflents" but unfortunately the elephants moved out a while ago.

ready for action cheetah. this thing could so totally jump out of its enclosure if it really wanted to.

african wild dog

children's zoo

i had to force the kids to stick their heads through, but after this Q became obsessed with these things and wanted me to take his picture on/in every one

see.

checking out the barnyard petting area before entering

getting ready to groom the sheep. that's when the fire alarm started going off and we had to vacate children's zoo. we never made it back. sorry children's zoo, you're just not as cool as crocs.

an eagle with an eagle

it was peacock mating time so the boys were strutting their stuff. it was awesome. i love peacocks.

the view from behind

maybe this lady is interested?

the kids loved these baby jaguars (and not because of dora and diego.) they were very playful, chasing each other around the enclosure.

the snow leopard were totally trying to catch birds in the tree in their enclosure. it was awesome.

caroline loved the little bronze animal statues sprinkled throughout the zoo. she stopped to pet each and every one.

we love to pose on rocks

the reptile house - one of our most favoritest spots

no real elephants but thankfully the efflent statues were enough for pickle

barilla! (not the pasta, the monkey)

another favoritethe zoo trip concluded with simultaneous meltdowns because we did not get their faces painted. we totally would have but the line was probably an hour long and they were very tired and crabby already. we promised them we would do faces the next time.

happy easter from the easter beagle!

pony party!

caroline had another school friend birthday party today. this one was a pony party. at first, she didn't want anything to do with the ponies; she only wanted to jump in the mini bounce house. but then she decided to give it a try and was hooked. she probably took 10 or 12 laps around the pony loop, and the horsies were only there for an hour. amazingly, she did not fall off. hopefully she does not start begging for a pony.

paparazzi

a night at the museum

by the eagle class

it's a miracle

after three months of escalating bad behavior, numerous parent / director meetings at school, and enormous levels of frustration by all, Q has had two straight days of perfect behavior. interestingly, his teacher quit two days ago. hmmmmmm.

hide and seek

the kids are obsessed with playing hide and seek these days. it is the cutest thing. they are so bad at it though. when it's their turn to find us they are totally clueless even though we hide in super obvious places. when it's their turn, it's even funnier. caroline pops out of her spot as soon as you say "ready or not" and shouts "i am here!!!!" before dissolving into giggles. Q chooses one of the same two or three spots every time and thinks he is so clever. so cute.

coloring

caroline went to her first school friend birthday party this past weekend. the little clique of 3 year-old girls is too cute for words. they would run giggling to the door each time a new guest arrived. rain brought the party indoors and evangeline's mom was brave enough to let the kids color on the floor (on paper of course.)

bull durham

t-ball is starting! this weekend Q marched in the little league parade and got his team pictures taken. practice starts this week and games start next week. it's going to be hilarious.

rewriting a classic

caroline was "reading" alice in wonderland to us tonight, making up her own story to match the illustrations. she was on the page about the mad tea party and said, "the white rabbit pooped in the kitchen sink."

how grocery shopping with children gets done

would you eat them with a fox?

our new favorite dinner... green eggs and ham

balloon!

a classmate had a birthday party at school. pickle was very excited about her backpack treat bag and balloon.

pigtails

say what?

• daddy: what letter does "carrot" start with?
• quentin: k?
• daddy: close. try again.
• quentin: dinosaur?

bad blogger

yup, that's me.