Lets all go to the Zoo!

My family is definitely getting our bang for our buck when it comes to our zoo pass this year. This week alone we've gone 2 times... the month of March we went four times. I'm pretty excited about this (I love a bargain - and going to the zoo tons of times with a pass is most definitely a bargain!)

This was the longest time my girls have ever spent at the zoo. We went with Grandma Karen, Haley and Jessica was in town for Easter. We ended up meeting up with the neighbors, so all in all we were a big group. And we were there for over five hours. That's right. Five hours. I knew ahead of time it would be a long trip, and I worried that the girls wouldn't make it - but they did really surprisingly well!! I'm a little proud of them!

Before we left, Jessica braided Claires hair. I (selfishly) with Jessica lived here and could braid Claires hair every day, because it was incredibly cute, and kept her hair out of her eyes all day long!


This trip was definitely the most exciting for the girls in a while, and mostly because the animals were so active! I don't know if it was the heat, or the fact that all of Columbus was at the zoo that day, but the animals were out and moving around like crazy!

The first big animal show... the tiger. Normally the tigers aren't close to the glass. They're far away, lounging below rocks. Today the tiger was pacing the line of the glass, like he was mad about something. He'd periodically dunk himself into the water, and then go back to pacing. He was so big, and so close, that Olivia got completely freaked out, and stood behind me bawling until we left. Claire, however, thought the big kitty was cool.

Thats the tigers head, next to Claires head

The next big exciting place... the flamingoes! Even they were super active - fighting amoungst each other, and coming really close to the fencing.




Jessica and Karen were practically hanging over the fence to get pictures of the flamingoes (Jessica got the best picture ever - I'm very jealous) until a docent came up and warned us that that flamingoes would, in fact, take your phone from you.




Look how close Karen was!! This was when the docent came up to us.


Of course the aquarium was awesome as always. I got a cool shot of seahorses


I have way too many photos to share, but if you fan me on facebook, you can see them all. At this point we all took pictures with Hannas green glasses... they're some funny pictures :)

We ended with the gorilla's. Now I'll be honest... the girls have only seen the gorilla's one other time. The gorilla's are in the back of the zoo, and I hate walking back that far, especially given that the girls never ask to see them. Though that'll probably change now... Claire LOVES the gorilla's. I had bought her a stuffed manatee back in the aquarium, and she showed it to all the gorillas. She and Donna went around to all the windows, just looking at them all.


And when I came up to take a picture of Claire with a gorilla, I couldn't help but laugh at how pleased as punch she was so be in a picture with him


Before we left, we got some Dippin Dots. This is, by far, my favorite picture from the day. The girls had been so good, and here's Claire, obviously incredibly hot, just chillin with her ice cream.




And of course, this was the scene when we pulled up in our driveway. Claire with her manatee, Olivia with her new platypus




Everyone should get out and enjoy the zoo!! Polar Bears are coming in less than a month!!

Lets have a PARADE!

The whole purpose of going to NYC when we went to NYC was to see the Macy's Day Parade. Of all the fun/famousy things that happen in NYC (the Macy's Parade, lighting of the Rockerfeller Tree, the New Years ball, etc) this was the thing I WANTED to see! To warn in advance, this post is going to be FILLED with pictures!

So we got up early, and headed to Central Park West. We landed at 64th and Central Park West, which is closer to the start of the parade then the end.

More of me attempting myspace-ish type pictures


Here at our spot was where we had our one and only encounter with a famous person. Randy, from Say Yes to the Dress, watched the parade from the ledge directly behind us. Of course, I took two not so flattering pictures of the guy.




I actually heard him before I saw him. He has the best voice ever. I didn't say anything to him, because I figured he just wanted to see the parade like me, and there was no reason to get all weird about it. I say this right after I show you guerrilla-style photos I took of him, so sure I am being a little hypocritical. Shoot me!

So when we first got to our spot, I thought it was crowded. We were in the back row of about 4 rows of people. But the start of the parade, we were pushed up to the second row of about 10 rows of people... sardines man! We knew the parade was starting because the tv helicopters started circling, and people started craning over to our left...




Okay the floats aren't going to be entirely in order... sorry about that! I do know that this one float had mirrors all along the side of it, and Tim poked me and said "You should try to get a shot of you in the mirror." The girl next to me (who I think was also a photographer like me, and was definitely not from New York) was trying to get the same shot too. Both of us were convinced we missed it, but upon further inspection when I got back to Ohio...

Full shot


Hey thats ME! Right in front! With my new Parade friend. And a guy looking at us like we're idiots....


My favorite people walking around were the ones on stilts. Love those guys!


The energizer bunny actually would stop and spin around periodically. Genius!






Hey there's Cyndi Lauper!


Jimmy Fallon




Some band... I think it was Boys like Girls? Something like that... I just liked that they were taking pictures of the crowd


Awwww Sesame Street


This confetti was all over EVERYTHING! We ended bringing it to Ohio with us!


Some random older ladies called the Ohio Purple Peddlers. I don't know of them, but apparently they peddle


DORA!!!!


The people holding down the balloons wear these smocks, and I loved the Dora handlers, because they had Backpack on their backs. So awesome! (a note on those people - they yell to the crowd too... we were chanting for Spongebob)


I think this guy in the fireman float had the BEST seat




Oh Gabba..... YO GABBA GABBA! I'm not going to lie, I got SO EXCITED when I saw their radio in the distance. And editting these pictures were hard, because the girls would get upset when I'd change to a picture that wasn't these guys...




330 of 365: Dj Lance Dj Lance DJ Lance ROCK!


So there were kids at the parade (not just me) and this one little boy... he was so cute! Blonde, blue eyed, sweet as can be. He just couldn't wait to see Buzz Lightyear. He had his Buzz Lightyear shirt on, and his Buzz Lightyear toy... his dad was worried he wouldn't stay awake long enough to see Buzz, but the kid made it.






I loved watching the balloons as they were leaving, since everyone's looking at whats coming ahead.


Loved this float too... it would rock every time she stopped


Papa Smurf, give me a "what what"






I love this santa balloon... I might print this up to use as a decoration at Christmas time




Awww its Santa! Which means its over! But how cool was his sleigh??


And now it's time for the masses.... the shear amount of people at the Parade is just staggering. The street is barracaded off, so you can't cross the street at any point. There are officials who follow he end of the parade, moving the barracades in so that people can move again. And its just a SEA of people.




Tim and I crossed into Central Park to sit for a minute, before heading off to China Town. The ultimate goal was to get to Little Italy, to see if anything was open to eat. We weren't going to have Thanksgiving dinner until late late into the evening, so we needed to eat a lunch now. In China town, we got lost. I mean LOST! Here's a couple random things I decided to photograph.




So, like I said, we got lost. Like super lost to the point of going home. Tim at one point said "Man if I only had a map." So there's a series of pictures like this one on my camera. I literally went down into the subway, and photographed small sections of the map from where we were to where we wanted to be. It actually worked out really well... I just looked like I was checking my camera constantly.


We found an open restaurant, had lunch, went back to Jessica's, slept, and got ready and went to her friend Johns house. She and John made a fantastic dinner, and there was just so much food!!




I didn't take many photos, because I wanted to actually be at the party, rather then photograph the party, but here's what I did get. I love how Tim looks bored to death - he wasn't, he actually enjoyed himself more then he thought he would. I thought it was fantastic, and was sad when it was all done. Definitely a great way to spend a holiday!






*phew* that was one heck of a post!