what g does during christmas break:

...dresses lucy as an obscure gnostic god.

@ the zoo w/ a new camera

yep. another disgustingly loooong post all about our zoo. excited? well, go away then. just kidding, come back.......please? phew, thanks. i picked up a memory card for my fab camera and, lucky for me, we went to the zoo on tuesday. grant watched me fiddle with my fab contraption and he was fascinated with watching the lens move, so i took a picture:

then we headed out. once there we packed the kiddies into the stroller and covered them with blankets:

we were especially careful with lucy since she had just gotten over a nasty stomach flu:

throughout the whole trip, grant had me use the zoom:

works pretty good.  inside the zoo, we took a sharp right and ended up in the aquarium:

hazel had a chat with dory:

and then found nemo:

back outside:

we found some christmas trees:

hazel gave waldo the sea lion a hug:

and peeked at the real things:

lucy wasn't impressed:

she liked this fountain better:

probably because of all the shiny coins at the bottom. when lunch time came, hazel found us a nice, sunny bench to eat on:

not too long after, the girls made like squirrels:

what's a trip to the zoo without a visit to the:

fish tunnel! we probably should have taken lucy's hood down so you could see that she's giggling. grant noticed these tiny little monkeys:

it's sitting on that vine-y branch thing.  and zoooooooooom:

so cute. grant really wanted one. i told him that i clean up enough poop as it is. that's when hazel said, "to the bat cave, mommy!" she didn't really, but i wish she had (note to self: teach hazel 1960's batman quotes...):

as we left, i noticed this hanging by the door:

i knew it! they do exist...

christmas '09: part b

finally! time for part 2 or b or whatever...

after naps christmas day, we all headed out to another park near us, the stein family park.  we unloaded and bundled up:

lucy, again, wasn't interested in riding her trike:

hazel was excited to ride her's:

but she was also willing to share (i'm not sure if she had a choice though)

the girls both had fun playing. hazel tried her hand at rock climbing:

next came a slide.  apparently it was too fast for hazel:

lucy handled it more gracefully:

hazel, to outdo lucy, then climbed up the monkey bars:

she ended up higher than she thought and got scared, so of course i took a picture before helping her:

since the sun was setting, hazel hurriedly had one last ride on her bike. grant has high hopes for her to be a famous bmx-er so he made her go down a hill:

she survived and he got to push her back out:

she was kind of pushing the pedals.  to get hazel used to flying and falling, grant tossed her around a bit:

on saturday or sunday (the 26th or 27th), we went to the toad park but i didn't take any pictures. oops. i'm thinking it was sunday that we went there because saturday we went to lunch at chuy's and then grant and i went on our first date in something like 8 months.  we went to see this and we enjoyed it. thanks again, gail.  lucy spent that weekend becoming more and more attatched to her piggy bank that hazel has named "wilbur. wike in charwet's web.":

perhaps she takes after grant in more than just looks....

sadly, monday came too soon and it was time for grandma to head back home.  we spent the morning taking pictures with her:

hazel then requested to take picture of us. i decided she was allowed to touch the old camera since i have my pretty new one now (just a note of interest: the only pictures taken with the new camera are the ones at the park. grant didn't think to get a memory card and the camera only held 20 pictures. my next post will be all fancy camera pictures.).  she did pretty good, but i'm going to post the not-so-good ones:

hazel had too much coffee that morning, i guess*. attempt #2:

my older brother, jared, always used to say to my sisters and me in our growing up, tender years, "want to lose 10 pounds? just chop off your head."  what lovely memories...

anyway, then we snapped this one of the girls with their sock monkeys:

pretty cute, eh?  then it was time to head to the airport and say 'goodbye' to grandma. on the way home, both girls passed out:

such pretty babies. a day or two later, i finally replaced my missing sunglasses.  i guess the girls missed my having some just as much as i did:

look at lucy's luscious locks! i can almost do pigtails...

*just in case my jokes are taken too seriously: no, we do not drink coffee or allow our 3 year old to have it either.

christmas '09: part 1

christmas was fabulous.  we started our celebrations on christmas eve by picking grandma up from the airport.  once we got home, grant and i put her right to work taking care of the girls:

i finished up and served dinner (pot roast with carrots, crash hot potatoes, yorkshire puddings, cesar salad, and my mom's raspberry jello salad):

 then it was time to pop open the traditional christmas crackers:

and wear our lovely crowns:

after we finished eating:

we hosed the girls off and then read luke chapter 2, using a nativity to make it more kid friendly for them.  after we finished reading, we asked hazel some questions to see if she understood why we celebrate christmas.  when asked who's birthday it was she exclaimed, "it's jesus time!"  once hazel and lucy were tucked into bed, we got everything ready for the morning.  it was so fun, putting out the presents.  i was looking forward to the girls' excitement:

and they didn't disappoint.  both hopped onto their bikes as soon as they came out:

finally, present opening time.  hazel got very enthusiastic, opening not only hers but everyone else's.  we had to move fast in order to keep her hands full:

lucy, on the other hand, just wandered around, carting a wrapped present and her m&m's:

or playing with something hazel had already unwrapped:

eventually, she got down to business:

and she loved everything she got:

does that face look familiar?  i thought so too:

anyway.  once the frenzy was over and i had recieved some really awesome presents:

like season 5 of lost and................................................a new camera!!!!!!!! so excited about that one (apparently my subtle-as-a-sledgehammer hints worked).  i'll post more about it when i figure out how to use it. since both girls got bikes, of course we had to try them out. so we bundled up (it was sunny, but freezing outside) and headed out:

grant had a blast testing out hazel's bike several times (until she started crying and begging for a turn):

lucy stayed true to character and wandered around, rather than riding her trike.  we then headed off to our park:

where they played until their noses were running and their hands were numb:

christmas day to be continued in part 2...