Rae Ann's B-day

We celebrated Rae Ann's 25th birthday on August 4th. Mom and I went with Rae Ann, Julia, Stella, Ivy, and Nattalie to the zoo (Julia and Nattalie Sager for those of you who don't know). We met up around 2pm and headed out. The zoo parking lot was packed so we had to park at an overflow lot down the freeway. A shuttle picked us up and took us back to the zoo.








The girlies had a grand ol' time! We headed straight for the elephants since that exhibit would be closing early. There was a concert on the big green lawn...an explanation to all the traffic. People were forming one huge line that wrapped all around the zoo.









The elephant named Pet died recently so there were paper lanters all around the elephant pen. It was sad! More people were creating lanterns as we walked through. We moved from the elephants on to other "warm climate" animals...like zebras, rhinos, and bats!







And then on to the less mysterious creatures...



After goats, we visited the Pacific Northwest exhibit: sheep, elk, eagles, fish, all the good stuff. The girls took full advantage of some small people fun-makers, like the tractor they could pretend to drive, the log the could run up and down, and the waterfall where they got thoroughly soaked!












Rae Ann sat down with Ivy for awhile so Mom, Stella, and I visited the elk exhibit. Funnily enough, Stella dropped her juice cup over the side of the wall. It fell right next to the elk, which startled him. Here he is running away from Stella's juice cup. And her we are mourning the loss of the sippy cup. And then in a self-portrait.















The girls began to lose momentum, and all we adults were really hungry. So we made an executive decision: Time To Go! We drove back to Rae Ann's and Mom bought dinner, Italian from a bistro around the corner (or so. Everything's around the corner in Rae Ann's neighborhood). We ended our little meal with a birthday cake for Rae Ann. Oh-so-fun! It was a Good Day.


And isn't Ivy freakin' adorable? She has the most beautiful eyes! This picture absolutely cracks me up--I think it's very endearing! It's been fun to witness her little personality coming out. The picture below is Stella and I kinda "fishy-kissing"...she started puckering up like a fish, so I went in for a wet one. She became more interested in the way my mouth looked than in giving a kiss, so we got about this far. Rae Ann has cute kids. It's official: They're Keepers.