November Happenings

We had a great visit from Shanda and Gary and family. They stayed at a local hotel and invited us to come swim with them. Big fun!

We spent the next morning at the zoo. 

I've been to the zoo A LOT but never had never seen the lioness in the tree - pretty cool. 

Chugga chugga chugga choo choo!

Both Sami and Audrey love babies.  I'm sure Sami is saying, "nose" as Penny touches her nose. 

This look on Annika's face is her "I'm really happy to see you here but I don't quite know how to express it." She had her first ever solo speaking part for the school Thanksgiving play.  She recited her 3 sentences with ease - way to go, Annika!

 A post-production, more relaxed Pilgrim Annika. 

 This is a common position for barnacle Sami these days - hanging on my legs! 

Thankfully, Audrey enjoys more independent play - and big, cheesy smiles. 

For some reasons our mums did great this fall.  Maybe because I didn't do anything to them. . .

Ashley and Allison dared to bring out the finger paints with all four girls. 

Peek a boo!

Daddy took the girls on an outing to turtle park.  They had a great time and are still begging to go back to see if the egg they were jumping on has hatched.

Audrey loves putting on this homemade hat from Katie. 

Our little girl is growing up - I remember lots of Connect 4 games when I was a kid.

Halloween Fun

 I'm not very creative when it comes to Halloween costumes, so all the girls wore the same thing they wore last year.  Here we have our dog and bee.

 Woof woof.  Sting.

 Annika and Lauren just had to see if Audrey and Sami's costumes fit them too - they mostly did so guess what that means. . .   we won't need new Halloween costumes for years to come!

 The Halloween line-up, hoods down.

 The Halloween line-up, hoods up. 

The candy cache.  We walked around our little block with our neighbors - short and simple.  One of the highlights was a neighbor (attorney) dressed up as a mermaid and "walking" his kids around the neighborhood.  Karl may have been inspired for next year. . .

Night at City Museum

 It had been at least 3 years since Karl and I had been to City Museum. We left Audrey and Sami with my parents (a wise move) and introduced Annika and Lauren to the too-hard-to-describe-nothing-else-like-it world of City Museum.   All in all I was really surprised how brave the girls were and how much they enjoyed it. 

Bring it on!

 Lauren is under the floor in the main room here.  To follow her, I had to crawl in a very tiny hole and remain hunched over and sideways as I walked.  Sounds fun, eh? 

 Spelunking!

 This was what Karl was doing while Annika and Lauren were riding the train right below him.  Even the conductor was impressed that he made it across. 

 Walking through the caves - the giant organ was playing Phantom of the Opera (note Annika covering her ears) to add to the ambience. 

 Climbing outdoors - we are about 200 feet up in the air here.   Karl followed us and proceeded to lose his wallet.  Right as we were starting to panic, the 12 year old boy behind him emerged from the tube with it in his hands. 

Here's the giant pipe organ mentioned earlier.

  

We climbed and climbed in the cave until we got to the top.  This picture was taken near the top, looking down.  Next adventure:  descending down a 13 story corkscrew slide.  Everyone except Lauren (she went way too fast and came flying off the end) enjoyed it.  

 I've always wanted to climb into a hole above an elephant's head, haven't you?

 Giant outdoor dragon slide. 

 Indoor roller slide - this was Lauren's favorite.

Here we are outside again - a couple hundred feet up in the air and exploring an airplane. 

 We finished off the night in the art room. 

 One last time down a giant slide. 

Unfortuately, both Annika and Lauren bonked there heads on the way down the last slide.  To top it off, Lauren threw up on the way home so we had to monitor for a concussion.  It was pretty easy to recognize why the City Museum has an extraordinary amount of law suits filed against them.  Thankfully, Lauren turned out to be fine and we can be thankful for a fun family night.