Larkin's First Day as a Hippo

Today Larkin officially became a Hippo! She finally got to move up to the Hippo class at the Goddard School and be with her best friends Ella and Carter. She was so excited and had a great first day. It is wild and crazy in the Hippo room with all the 2-year-olds running and jumping around. It's like a carnival in there every day! Larkin hasn't had any trouble with the transition and she's having a blast. Here are pics from this morning, doing our tradition... first day pics on the front stoop. Hip Hip Hooray for the Hippos!

Larkin's First Baseball Game

We had a blast taking Larkin to her first baseball game! We had good seats - just a bit past first base - and the weather was hot but beautiful. We had so much fun! Larkin made friends with the folks around us and she loved watching the fireworks, airplanes that flew overhead, and the occasional foul ball that came our way. What she loved the most though was the popcorn! We didn't even know that she knew the word "popcorn" and she's never had it before, but when we passed the popcorn stand, she said "popcorn" and she really meant it! She was so happy to get some and ate kernel after kernel until we cut her off. We then topped off the evening with a fun ball game treat - ice cream sundae!

We went to see the Kansas City Royals play the Cleveland Indians (my old team). Neither team is really any good, but we had a lot of fun watching them nonetheless. There were some exciting plays and when we left (around inning 6), the Royals were up 3-0. But the Indians smacked down the Royals after we left, getting 5 runs in the 7th inning and 2 more in the 8th, to defeat the Royals 9-3. I'm glad we left when we did (although a part of me will always route for the Indians)! It was a great first game for Larkin and we loved being there together, the three of us.

Queen of the Mountain

We recently found a wonderful new park put in along a lake near our house. We are loving taking family walks there. After we take our walk, we always stop at the playground so Larkin can play "firetruck" with the toy steering wheel, go down the slide, or be queen of the mountain! Larkin certainly doesn't have a fear of heights. And, in fact, there was a total Titanic "bow-of-the-boat" moment too!

Bounce House

In our house, the words "bounce house" have to be spelled around Larkin because she will ask for a bounce house non-stop once she's heard it mentioned. What a treat for her when we went to Gage's 3rd birthday party and she got to bounce every spare second she got! Here she is, bouncing away. Check out the pigtails going flying up into the air!

Pigtails for School

Memory Cards

I'm not sure this is how the memory card manufacturer intended on the cards being used, but to each her own! And when the cards aren't stuck in her fingers and toes, Larkin is really good at finding matches (at least with the cards face up).

Kansas City Zoo - Nakita the Polar Bear

We had a blast at the Kansas City Zoo today! We've has been waiting for the new polar bear exhibit for quite some time, and they did a secret soft launch today! That was the biggest highlight (see multiple pics below), but the day was fantastic all-around.

We started with a couple of trips on the animal carousel. Larkin and I first rode on the giraffe and then Larkin was super excited to ride on the ladybug. She would have been happy if we had stayed on the carousel all day, but some how we succeeded in moving on.

We next stopped by the Lorikeet exhibit. These are highly sociable birds that are gorgeous - they've got bright, colorful feathers. You can see them in the background of the picture of Larkin below. They do several feedings a day and you are allowed to go into the exhibit, feed them and let them land on you. That's pretty cool! We've already got a bird in our house (Snowy) so this wasn't as exciting for Larkin as it was some other kids, but it still is really fun.

Then, we were off to Africa. We got to see the new baby zebra that was recently born at the zoo, and he was so cute. I've included some pictures of the gorgeous Elands and Kudus that we were able to get so close to!

Finally, before we left (but not before Larkin leaked through her diaper), we stopped to visit the new polar bear, Nakita (a young male). We were so excited and Nakita exceeded our wildest expectations. He's a ham! :) The exhibit has full-length windows that are partly above water and partly below. Nakita practically put on a show for us! He would swim back and forth and visit all of the spectators. (We heard that he's used to crowds, so I believe he came from another zoo). He weighs about 800 lbs (his parents are closer to 1500 lbs) and he's so agile in the water, he's beautiful to watch. Not to mention how incredibly close we got to him. As you can see from the pictures I took and included below, we were literally only separated from him by the glass! It was absolutely amazing... I couldn't say enough positive things about the visit, and we can't wait to go back. Enjoy the pics below (the first 2 are my personal favorites).