Mardi Gras at the Zoo

We bundled up on Sunday and headed to the Zoo for the kid friendly Mardi Gras Parade! We went with my friend Jennifer Warfel and her two boys, Braden and Owen. Oh yeah, our husbands were there too! Jennifer decorated a wagon and a stroller for us and the boys got to march with their 'floats' in the parade! Dylan wasn't really too sure what was going on, and why we were hanging out in the cold. Once I gave him his goldfish though, he was very content on sitting in the wagon and doing some people watching! Here's Jen pulling the wagon with Dylan and Owen. Scott is pushing the stroller that held all of our bags!

Here's Owen and Dylan up close during the parade. Owen tolerated his penguin hat. Dylan took his off right away...you can see it in the wagon right in front of him. Along with the shared bowl of goldfish! Penguins eat fish, right?

There was a band that led the parade. The drummer let Braden play the drum while we were waiting for the parade to start. He was so excited!

The theme of the parade this year was penguins. Here's Dylan giving a high five to a big penguin!

Here we are taking our picture with a scary looking Elmo. I think he's a knock off Elmo, if that's even allowed. Dylan didn't notice a difference though.

Finally, here's our traditional penguin statue picture. Every year we go to the zoo, and every year I take a picture of Dylan by this statue. I have no reasoning behind taking a picture by this particular statue...it's just something I started doing, and will probably continue for a long time! This year Dylan was petting the statue!

Magic House

Since I had the day off for President's Day, Dylan and I decided to do something fun. We went to the Magic House! (which by the way, should be called the Magic Mansion.) Dylan had a blast. He tried everything. Here is the infamous hair picture that everyone gets!

He loved any exhibit that had a ball involved. We were stuck at these two particular exhibits for awhile. The bells would ring on this one as the ball went past them.

They look like skillets to me, but they were actually bells of some sort. They would make ring every time the ball hit them.

The is the beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk. The kids could climb up and down the leaves instead of using the stairs. Despite many efforts to keep him off of the beanstalk, my determined son made his way. I was so nervous because there were lots of older kids that weren't paying attention to how little he was, and I thought they were going to knock him down. I knew that if Scott were with us he would tell me to relax and let Dylan try it out, so he got to try. He didn't make it very far before he got stuck...the space between the leaves was just too steep for him. Right after this picture he said "Mom, out." I had to talk him through climbing back to the exit. Maybe next time...
This is a short video from the shadow wall. The point is when the light goes off it takes a 'picture' of your shadow. Dylan didn't quite grasp that concept very well, but he saw the other kids being silly and jumping around (they were trying to make silly shadows!), so he followed suit. His jumps were a little delayed though. It's kind of hard to see, since the room is dark...until the light flashes!

Dylan is officially 2!

And what a day he had! We went to the doctor to get his 2 year check up. Everything looks great. He threw an absolute fit when the nurse was trying to weigh him and measure him. I quickly got out the fruit snacks though, and saved the day. He was fine for the rest of the appointment. Then we headed to Dierbergs. The cashier found out it was his b-day and gave him a b-day sticker! She didn't stop there though! She drug us to the service desk and Dylan got to pick a toy from their birthday basket! Then, she drug us to the florist and Dylan got a free happy birthday balloon! He was so excited! Thanks to Dierbergs for all the great gifts!

I can't believe he is already two! The time has sure flown by, but it has been the best 2 years ever! We celebrated by having cake and ice cream tonight. Here are some crazy pictures of my silly 2 year old monkey!
He thinks it is hilarious when he takes one arm out of his shirt. I think maybe he is just so proud that he figured out how to free his arm!
We were singing Happy Birthday to the one arm monkey. It kind of looks like he's wearing one of those shirts that girls sometimes wear, where one arm is missing on purpose! (Sorry PaPa!)Check out that facial expression! He was trying to blow the candle out! I think he actually got it on this try!

Getting a little taste of the cake. I bought half of a chocolate cake from Dierbergs (I just found out you can buy half cakes from their bakery.) It was delicious!

I call this one chocolate "Cheese"! That's his face when he says "Cheese" for the camera.

I'm not sure what was going on here...it's just a funny picture!

2 Year Pictures

Dylan's birthday is this week and he will be 2! I can't believe it! We got his pictures taken this past weekend to commemorate the occasion. He was playing ball the whole time and wouldn't sit still. The photographer was so patient with him...and quick with her camera! I know I'm a little partial, but I think he is just so stinkin' cute!