buffalo zoo

so von & i were hanging out on thursday and i thought to myself "hmmm, what's something fun/different that we could do tomorrow?" ... eureka, the BUFFALO ZOO! so i did my research and decided it would be a fantastic way to put in our day, especially with the gorgeous weather. then i asked von, and he obviously agreed. i told him that it would be like 'goodnight gorilla' (except the animals wouldnt get out of their cages and come home with us, so really it was nothing like 'goodnight gorilla'). we talked about it again at bedtime and he just continued to say 'uh-huh, zshoooooo!' so friday morning came and we packed up a lunch and headed north.

minus a dramatic experience with ripping a contact (yeah, it was definitely one for the books), we had a SUPER GREAT AWESOME time. we saw elephants, bears, lions, tigers, gorillas, sea lions, chickens, pigs, and the list goes on. i wish that i had 6 hands so that von coulda been out of the stroller more, but he'll have many more trips to zoos this summer, so i'm sure he'll be running around like crazy then.

buffalo zoo has an amazingly huge park next door (it's seriously green for as far as your eyes can see), so i was very very tempted to run around with von before we headed home, but his heavy eyes and quietness told me that he was ready for his nap. so into the car we went, and no joke, he was out cold within 3 minutes (cutie was eating raisins and couldnt even raise his hand to his mouth before he passed out, hehee).

von showed daddy his stuffed elephant (and how to give an elephant a drink) when we got home. then we ate dinner & played in the yard to round out our adventurous day.

i love mommy & von field trips!

goodbye 19

von will be 20 months old tomorrow (yikes!)
so please enjoy a few fun pictures from his wonderful 19th month in this world:

POPS!

as you might have guessed from the last couple of posts, pops came with ma & pa for a visit last weekend. it was GREAT having him here!! plus, we celebrated his 85th birthday :)

von was pretty excited to show pops his toys, house, talents, etc. we enjoyed some lounging on saturday (gorgeous weather) and then took him to spragues for a yummy breakfast on sunday morning.

come back again soon, pops!!

four generations

then (august 2010)

now (march 2012)

BLESSED

these are four of the most amazing men in the world. and handsome too!

so lucky am i :)

yup ..

we walk in the rain too. fun stuff!

puddle jumping

is it really possible that saturday we were all bundled up playing in the snow, but sunday we were walking around the neighborhood in 60 degree weather?! von also managed to find a few puddles to jump in. he's all boy :)

FINALLY SOME SNOW!

it was no blizzard, but we'll take it.
this morning was von's first time getting all bundled up and playing in the snow. he wasnt as thrilled with it as i had anticipated, but he still enjoyed it. his little cheeks got rosy red after about 15 minutes, so we came inside and had some hot chocolate.
i'm just glad we finally had the opportunity to snap a few pictures in the snow, seeing as how spring will be here in just a few short weeks!

uh, oh ...

.... SPAGHETTIOS!!

basement fun

we've made it to march, spring is almost here ... but until the weather warms up just a tad more, we're stuck inside. but inside is fun too, especially with that nice basement that daddy & pa worked so hard on last summer. so down we went!

oh, and that nice sled that grandma got von last year, yeah it hasnt seen any snow, so it's an indoor sled for the time being. doesnt matter - von thinks it's pretty fantastic, snow or no snow.

and ps, ollie likes chasing the sled.
all great photo ops!