Open it!

This morning, we set off with our sunscreen, new zoo pass, and slightly overtired boy to check out the Toledo zoo.

He can't hide how happy he is about being front-facing. He let us know about every vehicle in front of us.

As soon as we arrived, Joseph woke up from his 8 minute nap to point out what incredible wildlife we saw in the parking lot ("School bus! Another school bus! School bus!"), and he probably would have been fine to go home and get more sleep after such a beautiful sight as elementary school field trips.

But Kevin and I were still interested in animals, so we decided to go inside. Our first stop was at the seal exhibit, and after staring at the swimming seals for a few seconds, he asked, "Get in?"

And thus it began. No matter how many times we told him we weren't allowed to get in the water or we couldn't get through the glass, he insisted that we do more than see the animals. I guess it was kind of flattering that he thought we could do that.

"Open it?"

His face for most of the morning. He was tired. Also sniffly nosed.

"Open it?"

"Get in?"

Once he found doors that we would open if he asked, "Open it?" he got pretty excited and wanted to run through them more than looking at any exhibit.

Escaping the aviary!

Funny faces

Lemurs! This was one of Joseph's favorite exhibits.

They play with the same toys as Joseph!

His first smile! He was pretty excited.

After we left the monkey/lemur exhibit, we decided to take a break and let him play at the playground. So for about twenty minutes he went down the slide again

and again

and again

until we somehow convinced him to go see gorillas. And then he started smiling a lot!

"Get in?"

"Open it?"

"Shoes off? Shirt off?" he is obsessed with water.

A few otters, hippos, elephants, tigers, crocodiles, snakes, rhinos, and lions later, we were ready to go, but not without looking through the window at the hippos one more time and asking, "Open it?"

We've got to get this kid to Africa someday.

ps: Here are some lemurs and penguins being cute.

Spring

As far as springs go, this one has been pretty normal, if a little late. Some days are crazy hot. Some days are crazy cold and rainy. Some days are windy. Some days are perfect.

Regardless of the temperature, the general direction is always toward green. Looking out at the woods, it's almost like an entire sheet of vibrant green with a couple of tree trunks interspersed between the grass, moss, and leaves. No matter what the weather brings, it just keeps getting greener, almost defiantly.

It looks greener in person. I guess the green hasn't reached the top of the trees yet, but it will soon.

Although we were fairly confident spring would eventually come, we had our doubts. When a few solid weeks of 60-70 degree weather occurred at the beginning of April with only a few buds to show for it, Kevin and I wondered if maybe the arctic winter had killed some of the trees and bushes.

But we didn't have to worry. Spring came slowly, but it came.

And it's been great! We've spent a lot of it outside sans camera, so that is one reason why I haven't blogged all month. (The other reason is that I keep writing deep thoughts without knowing where they're going so I have like a billion drafts.) But now I think it's time to play catch-up, so here is my Ernest Hemingway-esque tri-annual 6-word recap.

Easter
He is risen! So spring comes!

(This was a beautiful day. Church was great, weather was great, food was great, and hiding 5 Easter eggs for Joseph was great.)

"Joseph, can you say 'Happy Easter'?" "Happy Easter Eggs!"

Anniversary
How are we this old? Indian food.

Here we are on Easter. 4 years!

End-of-year Potluck
Lots of counties in the state.

It only took me three conference talks to make all the flags, and I won a Symphony bar at the ward potluck.

Stake Dance
Thank goodness for the samba routine.

(So, other than the samba which was drilled immutably into our brains, Kevin and I kind of have forgotten most of our dance moves and all of our technique. I think right now Joseph is the best dancer in the family. But we had fun, especially when we realized we were accidentally dancing circles around an older couple [okay they were all older except for like 3 of them]).


Birthday
Best day ever. Kevin is great.

(on the off chance I don't blog about it for real, here's the synopsis: Kevin took the day off of research and made pancakes, then we went to the botanical gardens, then the art museum, then walked around central campus, then ate lunch, then I made my cake, then watched neighbor kids, then decorated the cake, then went out to eat, then ate birthday cake. The weather was perfect and many trees were gorgeous. [so pretty much this birthday was brought to you by Mom Explores Michigan because it gave me the idea for the gardens and the museum]).

On a trail at the botanical gardens

This is cool looking

The view from the art museum. The art was pretty too!

Hogwarts, MI

Pretty good cake

Music party
Laundry basket full of song books.

(So I decided in the middle of the night one night that what I really wanted for my birthday was to play piano for people. This morphed into a sort of talent show that I was in charge of and late to and accompanist for. I think people had fun. Yay for being around people who appreciate nerd fests!)

Garden
I like dirt. Joseph likes mud.

(We are sort of helping our neighbors with their garden. Mostly I wanted the excuse to pull weeds and eat free food without having to set up anti-animal defenses myself.)

Mother's Day
Don't need Instagram. Chocolate. Brownies. Cookies.

(I learned in Sacrament Meeting that Instagram is all about making moms feel bad for not giving private flying lessons and we are good moms as long as kids are fed and clean. And I was inundated with chocolate. And we drove around looking for pink and white trees. And talked to Jennie and my jetlagged family. Good day.)

Also, when I went into nursery to pick Joseph up, this is what he was doing. It was a sweet gift to see him being so tender.

Rackham Family Night

Everything is awesome! Except full-length features.

(Joseph did not get the Lego movie. And so Kevin and I got turns not getting to see it.)

Arboretum
Kevin humors my hunt for pink trees.

(And we found some! And rhododendrons! But no peonies yet! And oh my goodness my soul loves seeing so much green. And I keep not taking the camera because I want to be "fully present" or something [and most pictures are blurry anyway] but then that means I don't have any to show or look at later.)

Anyway, it's been a spring full of lots of happy, beautiful things. I'm glad it finally showed up.