Day at the Zoo, Take 2

James's mother bought us a family pass to the zoo. It means the girls and I can go whenever we want and James can join us (should he ever get a day off again in this lifetime). Admittedly, it felt strange to go do something like the zoo without James. We always try to make such adventures a family thing, but I wasn't going to let the zoo passes go to waste. Besides, James had already gone with us, so it wasn't a newexperience, though we did do a few things we didn't do last time.

For example, we completely missed the primates exhibit last time we went, so the girls were ecstatic to discover cage after cage filled with monkeys. And then I got these pictures of their innerselves shining through.

The orangutan with the baby was so precious, I couldn't help but snap a quick picture of it. The baby kept looking at the girls and I, probably because we were making so much noise.
Shortly after leaving the primate exhibit, Cadence began begging to see a dragon. Lo and behold, minutes later, we were passing by the komodo dragon exhibit. I am not sure if she remembered it from last time or what, since it was in sight when she began asking for it. I'm not sure I convinced them this dragon isn't the same as the one on our video games...
Since members get carousel tickets half-price, I figured I'd treat the girls to a ride. They wanted to ride all of the animals and had a hard time deciding, but in the end they ended up on the lioness and the leopard, though Cadence referred to hers as a tiger for the entire ride.

The most exciting part of the day was getting to feed the giraffes. Armed with extremely overpriced leaves of lettuce, the girls got to get up close and personal and watch the giraffe snatch the leaves from their hands with its long tongue. Cadence giggled the entire time (can you see how hard she's grinning in the picture from her cheeks?)
After that, it was a quiet lunch in the children's zoo and then on to the petting zoo, where the girls, once again, enjoyed brushing the goats before racing around the many playplaces the children's zoo offered. Cadence stubbornly navigated a rope playplace intended for older children and Megan and I went up and down a ramp a dozen times to let her go down the slide.
Before we left, we stopped off at the aquarium. The girls went nuts over the displays. Starting with a huge aquarium filled with fish as large as them (no picture, though, because the little boy in the corner of this picture posed with them and I'm not putting the face of some stranger's kid up on the internet). They were especially fascinated with the reef fish, where they happily pointed out every Nemo and Dory they found. Nor were they the only ones referring to the fish by those names. I think scientists should just give in and rename the suckers.
And... the aftermath:

First and foremost, we must remember to wish happy birthday to our number one man! James is 27 today. Unfortunately, no special plans for his birthday. There'll be carrot cake and a special meal at his request tomorrow night. And the girls and I are going shopping for presents today, not that he's expecting any. He just got a new, expensive toy a few weeks ago. But, the girls and I don't have many excuses to spoil our favorite guy, so I'm taking full advantage!

Anyway, on to the girls (since that's the reason everyone reads this blog anyway).
Can I just say... I love their curls! They're not always quite so curly, but right after naps they've both got those run away curls that no amount of combing seems to tame. Cadence's hair is starting to straighten out, especially after it's washed and combed, but when it's been awhile since we shampooed their hair, they've both got crazy curls.

Cadence has started playing pretend lately and I find it fascinating. She's always trying to rope Megan into her make-believe, but Megan is completely clueless and just grins and runs in circles. The other day, Cadence insisted "I'm Angelina Ballerina, Megan, and you are Alice". Then before that, Cadence told her sister "I'm Mommy and you're James, Megan" (since Cadence still refers to James by "Daddy" and by his given name. She's outgrown the fascination with my given name). She then proceeded to roll her eyes and say "James" in a rather exasperated manner. I snorted. Seriously.

Megan's speech has improved by leaps and bounds (and Cadence's has gotten back to normal the more Megan speaks properly). She's forming complete sentences, with proper pronouns I might add. At the drop-in daycare they go to sporadically, the teachers have all thought she was older. When I told them she was 2, they assumed 2 almost 3, until I corrected them. She seems to be flourishing in nursery without her big sister and I'm quite pleased. It never even occurred to me that she might have a problem without Cadence in nursery with her, seeing as they've rarely been apart, until someone else asked how she was handling the situation.

Cadence is doing much better with primary. I still don't dare go into sharing time to be with my primary class, and am so grateful to the other parents who have substituted for that hour since my co-teacher is taking temple classes during that same hour. However, I do peek into the primary room while waiting the last few minutes before picking up my class and I am pleased to see Cadence smiling, laughing, and getting into singing time (Her new favorite song EVER is "Once There Was a Snowman"). She's fully adjusted and blossomed back into the sweet, slightly hyper girl everyone loves. I was even pleased when I caught her getting in trouble for being a little too eager and talking to her neighbor. Seriously, I bragged about it the rest of the day whenever anyone asked how she was doing.

I don't know what to say about Megan. Living in her sister's shadow, her "new things" often go unnoticed because I'm already used to such things from Cadence. But she is getting bigger. Just the other day I finally went through the girls' clothes, moved some of Cadence's clothes over to Megan's drawers and some of Megan's clothes into a box. Just another reminder of how big my littlest girl is getting. At the playground a week ago, she managed to even climb up the ladder to get on the platform instead of using the steps. My heart was in my throat and I was poised to spring forward at the first sign of distress, but she got it down and used it many more times after that.

Time to get ready to go run errands. Finish this episode of "Diego", then we'll get the girls dressed and head out.