A Week with Miss Elena and Miss Malea in Dallas - Days 5&6

A trip to the Dallas Zoo had been promised and since we are short a vehicle, Aunt Cassie comes through and drives over for the day to help out.  Yay!!!  Even with our best effort to get there early, we are about an hour behind and parking is nutso.  Grandpa drops us all off at the gate and resumes his search for a parking spot.  After leaving his ticket at the gate, we enter the grounds and Elena spots the carousel and requests a ride.  Why not?  We have to wait for Grandpa anyway.  She selects her pretty pony to ride and Auntie takes Malea as well.  Fun start to the day.

Once the ride is completed, it is time to see the animals.  First stop is the lemurs and although several of them are quietly sunning themselves, two others are rather unhappy with each other and are being very vocal about the whole thing causing us to stand and watch for quite awhile.  It is so amazing the amount of noise that they can make.  Wow.


Forward to the savanna.  I do so love this part of the park and each time we are here, I am blessed to see something new.  After a quick hop onto the baby elephants back, we enter the area and discover that the elephants are very active.  They have just been fed and so are moving around and eating and drinking.  This is the first time I have been able to watch an elephant drink -- live in front of me that is.  So fun and Elena was fascinated with it.

Malea, on the other hand, is more interested in what Grandpa is doing.  He is a much more interesting animal to watch.

Onto the giraffes -- EVERYONE's favorite attraction here.  Once a person has fed them, the addiction takes hold and it must be done on each and every visit here.  Well, at least that holds true for Aunt Cassie.  Even Malea gets a nibble on the cracker she is holding.  That big black tongue fascinates all.

I make the mistake of taking Elena into the cafe to see the lions laying up close by the window.  She looks at them for awhile and then declares how hungry she is.  Okay, pit stop time.  It is actually nice for all of us to sit and refresh a bit.  Salads, chicken sandwiches, milk --- we do the best we can under the circumstances.  Oh and french fries, obviously.





We've decided to take the tram ride and as we walk that direction, we come upon a new exhibit.  Mister and I have not even seen this and we are here all the time.  This new area is designed to teach about the various animals and the keepers bring a different one out each half hour to share with the kids.  Right now it is a porcupine and Elena gets as close as she can to watch and hear.  One the tram ride, we watch for as many animals as we can while taking a break from walking.


Once we are back on the ground again, we make a stop to see the koalas for Grandpa and then it is time for the birds in the Children's Zoo.  This is such a great exhibit.  Elena loves feeding the seeds on the sticks BUT -- the birds are not allowed to land on her and she wants absolutely nothing to do with feeding them worms.  Okay -- now that the rules are set, we have fun.

Aunt Cassie has worms hidden in her left hand and the birds know it, making her a very popular person and causing Elena to be delighted.  (In case you are wondering, Malea is cat-napping in the stroller and Grandpa is tending.)

It is time to go --- we are all tired and ready for long naps.  However, a last trip on the carousel is very necessary and this time the gorilla is chosen.

Once again, we are waiting for Grandpa to go and relocate the car.

I told you they were tired. Out within seconds.  She fell asleep while eating her Goldfish -- hand still in the bag.  That's tired.

Once we return to the house, Aunt Cassie spends a few "birthday" moments with Elena, bringing a smile to her face before departing back home.  Thank you so much for spending the day with us.  It was such fun.

After a snack, it is quiet time and the bugs game seems perfect.  She loves this game and yet at the same time absolutely freaks at the sight of any "real" bug.  Odd.  This is great learning time though and she moves through the pages until they start getting too difficult and then announces she is done.

"Let's go back outside and play with my ball please" is the request.  Okay -- sounds good.

Trying to catch little ones in motion for a good picture now and then is tough, but this next one is kinda cool.  That just says "happy" to me and what better thing can there be when the kids are here?

The back yard is starting to come alive and WE HAVE BLACKBERRIES!  Woohoo.  Now to just get them before the birds eat them all this year.  Time will tell.

Grandpa and his girls.  This has been a common sight around the house this week and I love it.  What great times and what a great day.  Time for dinner and bed - whew, this has been a busy day.

A morning is not complete without giggles and tickling.  At least that is how it works in my house.  It is with sheer delight that the little giggles penetrate my heart.

It is a day around the house.  Grandpa will get the car back later today and Aunt Cassie and Uncle Scott are babysitting tonight since we have play tickets.  Since we are staying home, what shall we do -- well, play games of course, but what else?  Oh, how about a paint project?  I go out back and find some pink and purple paint (are there any other colors?) and some letters for her to work with.  Add some glue sticks and let's see what she comes up with.  I put the letters in the right order for her, take these pictures,  and go to the back for a few minutes.  When I return, the letters have been glued down and spell ANEEL.  Oh well.

Grandpa gets out the Marbleworks for the first time this week and we have now caught her attention again.  She loves it and when Aunt Cassie arrives, she cannot wait to show her how it works.

We leave for the play and it is fun times for Auntie and Uncle as they have alone time with their nieces.  A win, win for everyone.

Cass had told me that when she moved down here she was hoping to have more time with her nieces and nephews as they game to stay with us.  Up until recently, it didn't happen.  Now that we have flights again, we are hoping to make several stays possible with all of them.  We love it and do not wish to give these times up even a little bit.  Let's just keep fingers crossed that flights keep working so that we can steal little ones now and then.

We go and see "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and although it is a good production, Mister spends way more time laughing at the people sitting around us.  There are two guys in front of us that are definitely into it --- chair dancing and all.  Way funny. While we are at the play, an incredible storm hits Dallas, keeping us inside the hall after the play has ended and delaying our trip home.  We arrive late to find everyone sound asleep.  After waking Scott and Cass, they start their trip home in the rain while we sit and worry.  Ah, parenting.