Monkeying Around at the Hogle Zoo

The Friday before memorial day Sadie and I, along with Grandpa, grandma & the Van Ausdals, went to the zoo. It was Sadie's very first time at the zoo (a.k.a. getting back to her roots (the monkeys)).

She loved it! She would just stare and stare and stare at the animals. In the past when I went to the zoo, the animals would just lay around but this time they were full of energy, running and playing. Her favorites were the bears, the giraffes and the muskrats.

Here we are at the black bear exhibit. It is hard to see, but the 2 bears are playing/fighting in the background. How fun!

Here is Sadie and Grandma looking at the elephants. The elephant in the back corner is pregnant and will have her baby in the next month or so. She has been pregnant for 21 months!

Sadie was stretching her neck very long so she could look up at the tall giraffes eating their lunch.

Here's the whole gang, minus Deena. Somebody had to snap the pic!

Beach Bums

I have been totally delinquent in the blogosphere...sorry about the slacking! Because of said slacking I have alot to cover before we take off for PUERTO RICO in 9 DAYS!!! WHOO HOO!!!

Sadie turned 9 months on May 5th. More updates and pics to come soon.

On May 6-11 we visited San Diego, California (Imperial Beach specifically) and we had an absolutely fabulous time. We stayed in Ryan's Aunt's condo which was right on the beach. We took lots of naps, relaxed, read some books, played in the water, explored the town and visited Balboa Park. I am ready to move there! It was so nice.

Sadie on our Balcony. When I said we were right on the beach I meant we were right on the beach!

Ryan and Sadie at the entrance of Imperial Beach.

All of us on the pier.

Ryan and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on May 7th. Being in San Diego was such a nice way to celebrate. I have to say, I lucked out when I convinced Ryan to marry me. It has been a great 5 years and I am looking forward to many more.

Coming soon: Sadie's 9 month report, crawling pics, Sadie's first trip to the zoo and so much more. Stay tuned.

The Great Crib Escape

Sadie is a little monkey! This afternoon I put her in her crib to take a nap...perhaps this story needs a little background...

Last week Sadie turned 9 months old. I guess this "birthday" means she is a big girl now because all of a sudden she has learned so many new things:

• She has traded in the army crawl for real crawling
• she can go from lying down to sitting up all on her own
• She can feed herself cheerios...as well as grass, paper and anything small left on the carpet
• She can pull herself up to standing
• She can clap her hands
• Her vocabulary includes most consonants, but mainly "ma" "ba" "da" "ffff" or "pphhhh" "ka" "ga" and other random combinations

...back to the story. So I put Sadie down for a nap this afternoon. While I was waiting for her to go to sleep I was thinking to myself, "I should have Ryan lower the mattress on her crib tonight. Better to be safe than sorry!"

Well, in the course of her nap my friend Heidi came to visit and I stopped paying attention to the baby monitor. Sadie almost always sleeps for 1.5 to 2 hours per nap so I assumed I had plenty of time until she woke up. When all of a sudden Heidi was like, "I think Sadie is crying." Sure enough she was. I went into her room to see what the problem was and SHE WAS ON THE FLOOR!!!

That little monkey climbed out of her crib. Luckily she didn't seem hurt, just a little startled.

Needless to say, we have spent the evening "baby-proofing" the house. What a little monkey!!!

The "Fun Run" was actually fun!

I woke up this morning bright and early, stretched, yawned, looked out my window at the pouring rain and thought to myself, "It looks like the perfect day for a run!"

So, today was my 5k race. Going into this my goal was to:

1. Finish
2. Get a cool t-shirt that proves I ran a race
3. Try not to walk
4. Not finish last
5. Finish in under 45 minutes
6. See if the word "run" and the word "fun" can actually be used together in a sentence, let alone a title

So here is proof I finished the race. That is me crossing the finish line. Unfortunately, that lady is standing in front of the clock. It would have been cool to get my time in the picture...oh well.

Surprise, surprise! Yes I surprised myself. I accomplished all of my goals...better than I thought I would too. I ran the whole 3.1 miles without stopping (in the pouring, freezing rain) and I ended up finishing in 27:50 and I finished 10th in the females age 20-29 category. Not too shabby if I don't say so myself.

I credit my accomplishments to:

1. My awesome husband and daughter who were standing in the rain at the finish line to cheer me on
2. My competitive drive...when I saw a 10 year old little kid pass me I decided it was on!
3. My totally cool workout playlist that I made last night that includes techtronic "Pump the Jam", Britney Spears "Toxic" AND "Womanizer", Madonna "Die Another Day", and, of course, The Black Eyed Peas "Let's Get it Started" (I will never again admit that I listen to this music so get your teasing in while you can)

Sorry if this post is a bit on the bragging side...I am just really proud of myself. I didn't really think I would be able to do it and I am so happy that did so good. Here I am a while after I had finished...and I am smiling! I guess you can call it a fun run after all.

So, I am thinking I am going to do another one. Anyone want to do it with me?