San Antonio Zoo

This past weekend, Neal took off a few days and we headed down to San Antonio to see our good friends Josh and Liz for a long weekend. They just moved to Texas from California and we were anxious to get to see them and take the girls for a fun weekend. We had so much fun seeing them and getting to see the girls hang out with them. Both girls were sick at some point in the weekend - which Neal joked that we were at the perfect place, though, since Liz is a pediatrician! We actually experienced some of Jillian's breathing issues and she really helped me get a better handle on how to manage all of her breathing treatments, etc - so I was really thankful for that. Luckily, the girls held up long enough to have a little fun on our trip and for us to eat some great food too! These pictures are pretty deceiving - somehow I never caught Josh or Liz on camera. I promise they were there though! :)

On Sunday morning after a yummy breakfast, we hit up the San Antonio zoo - it was a beautiful day for it and I think it was a hit for the kids and the adults!

Posing with the lions
In the fun indoor aquarium, we couldn't pass up the chance to take a picture with a really big turtle

There was a cool butterfly exhibit that Liz took the girls through - Meredith was a little upset because a butterfly landed on Jillian's hair flower, but not hers, but luckily she thought it was still cool. And the cut-outs outside the exhibit were just as fun!

My monkeys!
Jillian was super excited to find this fun mama and baby hippo sculpture! She wanted to ride it but it was a little hot - this was the next best thing!
Check out what is behind my hippo-loving girl! When we walked up on them, I excitedly said, "Jillian - look, what's in there!" She, just as excitedly, said "fishies!" I had to keep coaching her to look on past them to see the hippos - not sure she knew that that a live hippo was anything more than a head that popped up out of the water since that is all they do at our zoo!
Now that she knows they are back there, she is super excited!
And then we found more turtles for Meredith!

Sweet Meredith

Just a couple of cute pictures of my sweet Meredith...

Neal traveled quite a bit this month and would be gone all week - this is Meredith running to the door when she heard him pull in one day!
And a reunited hug!
Then a few nights later, she had these glow-in-the-dark glasses that she decided were necessary for sleeping - silly girl!

Two Little Dancers

I've loved observation days at dance since we started there, but this year it is even better because I get to see both my little ballerinas dance! Jillian has been loving her first year of dance - she practices her moves (shuffle, jump in, and turns) constantly and is always talking about the purple star (she gets to stand on one and she always picks a purple star sticker at the end of class)

The little ones weren't quite sure what to think of the moms being in there at first. After I had been in there for several minutes without any interaction, Jillian finally stopped dancing, turned around to me, and said "Hi, mommy!"
Practicing shuffles
The girls loved doing a shuffle choo-choo
Such a big girl!
Jillian and her purple star!

Next up, we went in to check on Meredith's new class - they are doing a fun tap dance and are working on hard on a super-cute bow, too!

A Day at the Beach

Each year, my parent's neighbors who live on the lake, have a beach party. The girls went with Gigi and Papa this year and had a blast with a few of the other grandkids - so we asked the party hosts if we could come back with playgroup! Although lack of rain in the area isn't great for much, it did make it so that we had a fantastic sandbox to play in all morning - the kids loved it!

Jillian started off the day in her cape. Why not, right?
Another mom and I took turns pulling around this big old wagon full of kids to get our workout for the day!