The Zoo!

Auntie Addi and Auntie Kate weren't able to make it to Grant's birthday party a few weeks ago, so they wanted to do something special with him. We have been wanting to take him to the zoo for a while now, and it seemed like the perfect time to do it. It was quite the trip! Grant, Aubrie, and I drove to Eugene and met Gammy. Then we drove with Gammy to Corvallis to meet up with Auntie Kate. We helped her with a few things in her new apartment, and then drove to Portland to see Auntie Addi's new apartment.

The kiddos did pretty good in the car, but it was a long day!

We all stayed together in a hotel. That was an adventure! Paul and I always try to sleep in a different room with Grant, because we are afraid if he wakes up and sees us then he will want to get up even if it is the middle of the night. And a hotel is especially tricky because he has to fall asleep while we are in the same room. Plus we had Aubrie with us, who does pretty well at night, but I never know exactly what she will do. I didn't know how it would go, but everyone did really well, and we got an "ok" night of sleep (the Aunties might say differently though!)

On Saturday morning we went for a special birthday breakfast at the Original Pancake House. Grant had to be convinced that he would like the chocolate chip pancakes covered in whipped cream, but once he got a taste he was all over them!

Finally to the zoo! Grant was excited. He loves animals. He told me before we got there that the animal he really wanted to see was an armadillo. Once we actually got there though, he got it in his mind that he wanted to see the elephants. He would stop briefly at every animal (mostly because we made him) but would say "next animal" and move on very quickly so that he could see the elephants. The giraffe though turned out to be what stole most of his attention and time. He sat and watched the giraffe for about 20 minutes. He kept trying to call the giraffe over to him. At one point it did start walking our way and he was so excited! Aubrie had fun at the zoo too, although she did sleep quite a bit. :)

We were THIS close to the cougars...although there was glass in between us!

Another of Grant's favorites was the BIG fish!

He couldn't stop talking about the "ginormous" elephant with the "gigantis" poops!

And what birthday would be complete without a little something sweet?! Gammy took us all to yogurt after the zoo. Yum, yum!

When I was packing for our trip Grant saw me throw in his swimsuit. I told him that there might be a pool at the hotel. Oh man, was he excited! I think he talked more about going in the pool than he did about the zoo the whole way to Portland. If we would have known that all we needed to do was find him a pool! :) But we did finally make it to the pool.

Thank you Gammy for a fun weekend!!!