Wee Beasties at the Zoo, at the Circus, and at Home

Eliza had her well visit and is at the 50th percentile in all categories. She’s a healthy and strong little girl. She’s taking more steps in a row and makes herself known with all her chattering. She has even learned how to climb up on small chairs and stools. Once on top she stands up and blows raspberries at you as if she is saying, “Look, I can do it!”

Hallie took the kids to the zoo on Tuesday. We’ve really enjoyed the mild November weather and are taking advantage of being outdoors while the temperatures are still in the 50s and 60s. Some hay bales had been arranged into a maze for the Zoo Boo, and people could still walk through. Landon had other ideas as he climbed onto the bales and leaped from one to another. To his worried mother, he remarked, “I always land on my feet.” And generally, he does. He played like this for more than an hour, and even with the crisp weather, he was sweating.

The new enclosures allow people to get close to the animals (perhaps too close for this arctic fax?). 

While we typically don’t start decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, we did add just a little holiday cheer to the living room with a Lego winter village. Both Landon and Eliza have really wanted to get their hands on the minifigs, trucks, and wagons that come with the buildings. Landon has an easier time not destroying everything like a raging giant monster. With Eliza, we have to make sure to watch very carefully so that a villager doesn’t make an unintended trip down her throat. Eliza has two small teeth now, and everything she can grab (cereal puffs, paper, dust bunnies, wrappers, etc.) goes into her mouth. We have had to be very careful to try to keep the house tidier than before she got so mobile. This has been a bit of a challenge this week between Mike’s cold and Hallie’s sore back. Either the parents are showing their age, or the kids just naturally keep one step ahead. Landon helped Dad put the yard to bed for the winter by raking and piling up leaves. He’s a great helper and a hard worker who loves to get out his gardening tools anytime Dad’s out in the yard.

Hallie took Landon to the Ringling Bros. Circus on Friday. They had excellent seats right near all the action. He laughed at the mock super hero clowns. “Clowns are hilarious!” he quipped. He decided that elephants are his favorite animals. The great beasts stood and lay down and did other amazing tricks as the crowd applauded. Landon liked watching all the acrobats tumble and fly and balance high up in the air. At the end Landon told Hallie that he wanted to do that one day. He marveled at the motorcyclists defying gravity as they rode in the huge spherical cage. Such fun! However, he actually found the small toy Mom bought for him to be much more mesmerizing. Strange how it’s the little things that seem to grab the kids’ attention.

OK, it is a pretty cool toy, after all. 

People were invited onto the floor prior to the performance. 

We ran a bunch of errands on Saturday in preparation for our upcoming trips. We’ll be back and forth from home quite a bit leading into the holidays between a trip for Mike’s work, Eliza’s sealing, and visits with family in California and Nova Scotia. We’ll have turned into regular road warriors by the time we get done.  Landon is looking forward to watching movies in the car as he knows no movies unless we go on an adventure. Eliza will be looking forward to getting to our final destinations so she can get out and get all of her wiggles out. Look forward to lots of fun pictures in upcoming weeks.