Ellie turns 4

Ellie turned '4' and she chose to go to the zoo.

We met them over there and hooked up at the Penguin exhibit

 They got up front and showed off for Pete

 The jaguars were a little more standoffish

Tigers were back there resting some

 But we could see them at least

 Pete and Ellie liked climbing on the rocks

 and playing on the statues of animals

 This monkey kept his eye on Ellie from under the burlap sack

 There were a few of these handcrafted benches throughout the park

 The metal monkeys were more fun than the really ones

 and the wolf cubs

 Big elk

 Pete has a hold of the crows beak

 The grizzly bears were good sized

 Pete was more interested in the 'sticks'

 One of the grizzlies went for a swim right in front of Ellie

 We did see a real otter playing in the water too

Warthogs

A lot of the animals were sleeping or at least cuddled up

to keep warm.  It was a cool July day.  Last year

was a record breaking 92 this year not so much at 68

 I saw the Japanese lantern looking plant on the way out of the park

 When everyone got back to the house Ellie got to open presents

 after the photo opps

 Looked like Christmas

 Waterproof hiking boots 

 and lots of things to play in and with

 workbooks

and a Grammy made wall hanging

 Sue does beautiful work

 Pete had fun with the toys in the corner since Ellie explained 

to him he wasn't helping with the unwrapping

 The play house from Grammy & Gramps went together easily

I had basically the same idea this year.  I made a tent for

under the slide on the new swingset.  Ellie called it the 

vacation house.

 The kids were pretending to make food outside
Pete's very good at pretending to eat pretend stuff 

 After dinner we had cupcakes and ice cream

 Ellie got to help decorate her cupcakes

 Lex, Helen, and Giuliana came over to help celebrate

 I think Pete liked the sprinkles the best

Ellie liked it all 

Happy 4th Birthday, Ellie!!