Zoo, Starring Ginkoose The Bear

the weirdest zoo we'd ever been to

4 Seconds A Day: October 2013

Yu Two Today

We didn't really have any plans for Yuula' birthday. We knew we'd have Grandma and Grandpa for breakfast, Aunt Danielle sometime around lunch and somehow we convinced ourselves that it was Tuesday and we had a CSA pickup. We kinda based the day around it. We wanted to take Yuula to see some animals but the best place was an hour north and closed at 6. Plus rain was forecast for 4pm and we had to pickup CSA between 3 and 7, an hour south. The timeline wasn't working out and suddenly Laura brought up Country Junction and a deal was struck. Maybe because it's the only place outside of Lancaster to get Jake & Amos corn salsa and we just ran out last night. Happy Birthday Yuula! You're getting Amish corn salsa. Dani arrived and we went.

The girls fed ducks. She loved it.

She sprinkled corn on top of goats. She loved that.

She pointed and yelped at chickens. Loved.

Test drove their various vehicles.

Loving.

The girls competed in a hula hoop contest. I won.

Photo op with a dragon.

She saw puppies and fish, bunnies and thought ferrets were hilarious. Who doesn't? We rocketed back towards the farm only to realize about 100 yards from the entrance that it was in fact Monday and our pickup was tomorrow. We laughed. Then decided to go pickup some beer. Happy birthday Yuula. You're going to watch us get drunk.

Yuula had communicated to us (we think) that she wanted pizza for dinner. Maybe we had a preconceived notion. But we thought it'd be fun to let her make her own pizza, get her hands dirty. It was and she did.

Yes more cheese made it onto the floor than the pies but hey, she loved singing "sprinkle sprinkle sprinkle".

Gifts were displayed much to her delight.

She's still not sure about the whole candle in the cake thing.

She couldn't wait to test out her new umbrella. Good thing it was raining.

She took right to destroying her new coloring books.

And she really took to the magnadoodle, a toy right in her wheelhouse since she can fill up a page faster than we can cut down the trees, this will probably save the rainforest.

We also got her a starter dollhouse (assembly required) and aunt Danielle made her a nice wooly poncho for the quickly upcoming cold and some awesome new books that she then read to her during some aunty cuddle time while downing her night night milk. Then she went right to bed as we snapped this photo at 9:50pm, exactly two years after she was born.

Then Laura cried...

Oprah And The Yelling Goat

this had me hysterically laughing before I even took off the covers this morning...

oh goat

Rolling The Dice In The City Named Twice

Laura and I have taken it upon ourselves to drag each Krupp sect thru NYC, kicking and screaming if be it. Yesterday we toured midtown at breakneck speed and managed to have a pretty memorable day. From towers to toy stores, pizza to polar bears we hit a restroom on every square block and wore our feet to the bone. Now they know that they never have to go back.

the photos:

fountains were a kid favorite

we had to stick our hands in quite a few

the girls had differing opinions on Bryant Park

one of the many potty breaks

the most photogenic spot in Rockefeller

calling monkeys like kitties

the polar bear was a cool moment

I got a bunch of these

this one

Yuula was the last one left watching

penguins are cool, but the overwhelming stench of feeding time was a bit much

Yuula thought the sealions were hilarious

took about 20 tries to catch just this leap

signs of fatigue

red panda wins cutest thing in the city limits

the snow leopard couldn't hide from us

Yuula found the polar bear again

both girls do their best polar bear impression

pretty nice little zoo

also had a blast feeding goats

this guy got his head caught

not afraid to lose a finger

she needed a little cow snot for her collection

the sheep was less than responsive but I would be too if they made me wear a sweater today

alpacas are some goofy looking bastards

anyone know of a massive park in the area where we can let the kids run free?

she would've run all the way to Harlem

who would've thought that a padded sinkhole would be such an awesome toy

on the way out

dude's gotta eat

In the last few blocks before getting back to the car Yuula officially went bananas and started disrobing in the streets. I worry about her sometimes.

Today, we draw. Or something.