The BEST Zoo Trip EVER!

We had a family zoo day today and I have to say it was seriously the best zoo experience I have ever had. I have been to the zoo a lot of times and I have never seen the animals this closely before! It was so amazing! A little known fact about me is that I LOVE giraffes, I think they are the most fascinating animals, so when I heard that the zoo was now offering a chance to feed the giraffes, I couldn't have been more excited! This was our first stop when we got there.

This is Bogey, the male.

And Elly, the female.

Olive liked feeding Bogey. He was a quick eater, so as soon as he took one piece of lettuce he was ready for another and this scared her a little.

Check out that tongue! Later in the day when we talked to her about the giraffes, she would stick out her tongue.

Daddy and Olive checking out the lions at the top of the hill. Next we headed over to the Elephant Exhibit to see baby Malee. They were right next to the fence and we got to watch them squirt water on their backs and then watch baby Malee roll around in the dirt!

Silly Malee!

Olive was really jealous that the elephants got to play in the waterfall and started requesting to go to the "water playground to take my shoes off".

When we were walking out of the Elephant Exhibit, Stephen stopped suddenly and said "STOP!"

This disgusting creature was slithering across the path. I kind of had a mini heart attack and then immediately grabbed the camera!

So in the picture it doesn't look like it was that close, but I can assure you, it was TOO CLOSE! It may be sad, but I had never considered that snakes could be all around at the zoo with all of the wooded areas and the giant pond. I can promise you that I will never be so nonchalant at the zoo again! I kept watching the ground in front of us! YUCK!

Olive loved feeding the ducks. She kept saying "Here duckie! Quack!"

Then we headed into the Cat Forest (not the best place to be when you have snakes on the brain and there is bamboo all around you and your child yells "snake!" everytime she sees a root on the ground)

Olive was pretty interested in the tiger statue.

The zoo has 4 new baby tiger cubs who were born recently. We got to see the Mommy and 2 of the cubs hiding in their cave, but we kept hearing another tiger roaring. In a separate area, we found the Daddy tiger. He did not appear to be very happy about being away from his family and he growled and roared the whole time we stood there. When he would walk along the fence, he was only about 7 feet from us. Olive kept saying "Hi Daddy Tiger! Hi!"
Someone told us that the lions were right at the window, so we headed there next. They were RIGHT next to the window! Olive never hesitated, she just walked up and starting talking to them like they were kitty cat sized! She was a little confused by the female lions not having manes and she kept saying "Hi tiger!"

I don't think she was very comfortable putting her back to the lions! ISN'T THIS AMAZING?!!! Look how big she is compared to Olive! I was in awe!

Giving the lion kisses

"Look Daddy!"

Our last stop was the water playground in the Children's Zoo. She was so excited to take off her shoes and get her feet wet.

It was a great ending to a great day! We talked about the animals all evening and she keeps saying "I feed the staraps and the elfants. It so fun with Mommy Daddy".

PicassOlive

Earlier this summer, I saw what I thought was a brilliant idea on Pinterest, painting with colored ice cubes! So we tried it and Olive was not a fan. It had something to do with the cold ice cube getting color all over her hands, let just say a FREAK OUT occurred. So then I saw someone else who had used little popsicle sticks in the ice cubes. This worked out MUCH better for us! She was so excited to "paint"!

Even Wrigley wanted in on the action!

I love the concentration on her face!

After a few minutes, she pushed the first paper away and started setting the cubes out one at a time. I was curious what her thought process was, so I actually used restraint and let her do it. (Pat on the back for me)

After she got them all out on the paper, she started singing the clean up song and put them back into the bowl one at a time.

Then she started the whole process over again. This time, I couldn't help it, I had to get involved and had her name the colors as she put them on the page. (Pat on the back for Olive for practicing colors)She continued this process of putting them all on the paper and then putting them all back in the bowl over and over about 5 times. Her masterpiece in progress.

Daddy came out to check on our progress and was impressed with our little artist!The finished product!Isn't it pretty?! It didn't dry quite this vibrant, but it still has a tie dye feel to it and I think it looks pretty special! Can't wait to see her next creation!

Boomer Sooner!

Olive and Stephen have the best seats in town when it comes to watching Sooner football games.

"Boomer!"

Sweet kisses!

This may be better than actually going to the game (well, for Olive it is for sure. Stephen would probably enjoy actually getting to focus on the game a little more)

Push Car Derby

Sunday afternoon, Olive and I headed downtown to watch Uncle Isaac in the Construction Push Car Derby hosted by ATC Freightliner. This is a huge fundraiser for Rebuilding Together. Olive and I loved hanging out with Auntie Mica watching this event. This is what Olive's face looked like for most of the day. She couldn't understand why the people weren't chasing after the cars. She kept saying "Where da cars? Go get dem!"

She was so excited to cheer for Uncle Isaac!

"GO ISAAC!"

Watching the car fly down the hill.

His car won the first heat! Hooray!

Watching the car cross the finish line.

We had so much fun, she couldn't even keep her eyes open in the car!

Bike-A-Thon

Olive's school had a Bike-a-Thon fundraiser on Friday. I was super excited when I got the envelope because it reminded me of the Bike-a-Thon we used to do at my Elementary school. We would work so hard to get people to give us a penny or a nickel per lap that we did. Any donors who gave a quarter were big time! Then we would get up super early, put on our awesome Overholser bike-a-thon shirts (which were designed by a student in the school, I always hoped and prayed my design would get picked, it never did, again, not an artist) and head to Eldon Lyon park to ride laps around the parking lot. Pure JOY. I loved this event and looked forward to it every year. (WARNING: lots of pictures in this post, but I couldn't resist!)

Olive was pretty excited too, but more because her name was on her "bike". When we pulled into the parking lot, they had just started. Go Olive!

Sweet girl hasn't quite mastered pedaling, it may be due to the fact that her feet barely reach the pedals. But, she can push with the best of them!
(Side note, I know flip flops are not the best shoes for riding, but we had already had 2 battles over what she was wearing that morning, so we went with flips)
How about this helmet?! Stephen had taken her to visit our good friend Rob at Sun and Ski Sports the night before because they had to wear a helmet to ride. Getting her to wear it at home proved to be a task, but when she saw the other kids with their's on, she didn't seem to mind.

If you look behind the big ugly green dumpster, that is the house where Stephen and I lived until we bought our current house in 2007. Loved that old house.

Olive never lacks for enthusiasm and yelled "Whee!" anytime she would pick up speed.

The 3 Bears (get it?) who rode in the event.

We had so much fun watching our little rider!
Thank you to Olive's school for hosting such a fun event!