Daddy and Elisabeth at the Zoo: Then and Now

April 2009

November 2012

 

Family Time in Orlando

On the train at the zoo

During our Christmas trip to Florida, the kids got to spend some good quality time with all their grandparents. I was very thankful we able to make time for everyone.

We visited the Central Florida Zoo with Grandma Darlyne on Tuesday. We were all impressed with the herpeterium which housed a King Cobra among other slithering serpents. We all ended the trip with a ride on the kiddy train.  Our membership to the NC Zoo got us all in free - gotta love that!

Wednesday, we met Grandma Theresa (their great grandmother) in Altamonte where we watched a marionette puppet show of the Little Drummer Boy. This was a first for me and I really enjoyed it. Kudos to Pinocchio's Marionette Theatre at the Altamonte Mall for providing such a classic, yet unique venue for kids.

Marionettes on Stage

Checking out the T-rex

The next afternoon, Boompah joined us for a trip to the Orlando Science Center. Again we got in free there with our membership to the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences. Here is Jonah playing at being a meteorologist. They had several life size castings of dinosaur skeletons and one animatronic T-rex. All four of us stepped into a hurricane tunnel - I couldn't stop giggling during this, but Elisabeth was more than ready to exit the experience.

The day after Christmas, we went with Grandma Theresa to see her mom, Grandma Margaret - the kids great-great-grandmother.

Four of five generations

A Good Day for the Zoo

It was a bit nippy, but the animals seem to like it.  We saw more action from certain animals than any other time we have visited.  The red wolves were roaming and active.  The big lion was roaring his lonely song.  We saw the giraffes galloping.  And the most exciting thing was when a big chimp jumped off the glass right in front of us chasing off another chimp - thank God for 3 panes of glass.















Tons more pictures here

Sunday in The Park

Sunday, we managed to leave the apartment by 9:15 a.m. motivated by the fact that we were scheduled to meet friends by 10 a.m. at the Central Park Zoo.  We took a subway train that we have taken before, but we needed to make a transfer.  That went well, but when we got to our final stop one of the elevators to the surface was not operating so Kelly and I had to carry the double stroller up on the escalator.
We got to the zoo about the same time as our friends despite the hiccup with the elevator.  Jonah and Elisabeth were both excited to see Tristan and Cara again.  We all enjoyed a fairly laid back morning exploring the Central Park Zoo.  There was also separate petting zoo that the kids particularly enjoyed.  It had a few play elements that made for some great photo opportunities.

We left there and headed to an authentic Chinese restaurant that Paul and Cathy knew of a few blocks south.  The food is served family style and we ordered a selection of chicken, beef, fried rice, green beans, jellyfish, and these dumplings that had soup and meat inside (a.k.a Shanghai Soup Dumplings).  It was all very yummy! The Jellyfish wasn't bad either.  I love this picture of Cara and Elisabeth taken at the restaurant.

Then we set off for Central Park to look for a playground.  When we got to the park and I started to take pictures, I realized the battery on our nice camera was dead!  So I had to use my phone afterwards.  Which was a real bummer.  The park is beautiful and everywhere you look there are great things to take pictures of.  Every time we've been there, we've seen brides in their dresses getting formal pictures taken.      There was so much going on there that I think I'll wait and do a separate post on Central Park.
We finally made it to a playground and let the kids play for quite awhile.  Then we called it a day and went our separate ways.  When we got back to the apartment it was fairly early (7ish) so I took the kids to the park to swing for a few minutes while Kelly went to get a pizza.  Then we enjoyed a relaxing evening in.

Central Park Zoo

With Tristan and Cara

Not Our Typical Friday

Me at Grimaldi's Pizzaria

Jonah on the Carousel

So we ended up not getting to the park this morning, and I didn't get to the consignment store. We had a great time at the Prospect Park Zoo and even made some friends.  We rode the carousel after the zoo and then hopped the train back to our neighborhood.  We then walked to Kelly's office which is a little over a mile away.  After getting introduced to a few of his new co-workers, we walked a little ways to Grimaldi's - where we heard one could consume the best pizza in NYC.  I have to say it was pretty darn good!  Then we walked through Brooklyn Heights were we saw a lone couple being serenaded by a 3-part orchestra overlooking Manhattan.  We walked home via that route stopping in the grandest Trader Joe's I have ever seen.

Related articles

• Prospect Park Zoo's new exhibit features nocturnal critters (timeoutny.com)
• Coal Oven Baked Pizza at Grimaldi's of New York (activerain.com)
• There's No Place Like Brooklyn (foxnews.com)

Zoo Trip 2010

Last weekend, we went to the NC Zoo with our friends Zeynep, Serdar, their little girl Serra, and Seyma (Shay-ma) and her daughter Azra. Of course it was the hottest, most humid day of the year in so far, nevertheless, we all had a good time.

Tons more picture HERE!

A Funfilled Weekend!

We had a very full weekend. I think I have recovered!

On Friday evening we went to a picnic with friends. Jonah's swim class started back this weekend, so he and Kelly went to that on Saturday morning. He did really well and even floated on his back for the first time comfortably with some help from Daddy. That is the first big step in actually teaching kids his age to swim. As soon as they got home from that, we all went to the Turkish Festival at the fairgrounds for some good food, fellowship and entertainment. See our pictures from that event here.

On Sunday we went to the NC Zoo with our friends the Burns and Tim Lockamy. We took a lot of pictures from that day as well. Click here to see them. These are a couple of my favorites from the day.