Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium

On Tuesday, we decided to venture out and take Erin to visit the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium. It was a large zoo with tons of cool animals and it had a petting zoo and three aquarium buildings.  It was a bit pricy but worth the short drive and cool animals that we don't always get to see (giraffe, rhinos and white tigers!) Erin kept "calling" the animals like she does the dogs.  She makes a kissing noise, squats down and gestures with her hands to come here. It might be the cutest thing in the world!  (She does that to anything or anyone she wants to come to her or with her.)

Look Mom! Monkeys!

Climbing up to look at the animals

Look at those huge Rhinos!

Getting Tired

Giraffe Feeding Station! (Look at that tongue!)

Meerkats (If you look closely on the left hand side behind the guy standing on a rock, you can see two Meerkats laying down. I thought they were dead, but apparently they just lay there like that and don't move for extended periods of time.)

There was a stingray petting station.  Mommy and Erin were way to scared to try it out. It was neat to watch them swim though.

White Alligator

Flamingos!

We were right by Luke AFB so we heard flyovers and birds chirping the entire time. It was so noisy but VERY cool!  I never got tired of seeing the F16s and new F35s flying overhead.  (Neither did Erin! She LOVES planes!)

In the Zoo, there was a great play area.  We couldn't tear Erin away!

The Petting Zoo had goats, deer AND llamas!  Erin loved it!

The Hoover Dam

We decided to take the non-stop plane trip from South Bend to Las Vegas and drive to Phoenix instead of flying directly into Phoenix.  We would be renting a car anyway so we got a great package deal through Allegient Air and I think it worked out pretty well. 

One of the perks was being able to see the Hoover Dam. You drive right over it when you drive from Las Vegas to Phoenix.  It was quite the sight to see! I'm glad we were able to say we saw it (Twice!) There was some major construction going on so of course I was interested! :)

Erin's First Plane Trip!

We left on Sunday February 28th to begin the long journey to Phoenix to visit lots of family and friends.  Erin had never been on a plane before and we were both a little nervous about how she would do.  Would she sit still for 3 and a half hours? Would she be scared? Would her ears bother her?  But she surpassed all of our expectations and did a GREAT job!  She slept for a bit and watched iCarly. (Thanks Grandma for the portable DVD player! We could not have lived without it!)

Erin entertained herself with Mommy's camera for a while on the plane.

Our First Family Vacation!

Last week, Ryan, Erin and I took the cross-country trip from South Bend to Phoenix (with a stop in Vegas in between). I will be chronically our journey in a series of blog posts over the next few days, so stay tuned! (I will also add our trip to Erin's Blog from her point of view)

Movie Tuesdays!

Erin loves playing with her fellow Colt friend, Abby!

Erin and Abby playing @ Yahoo! Video

Test

Dancing Fool!

Erin LOVES to Dance! She is quite the dancin' fool!

@ Yahoo! Video

Movie Tuesdays!

Erin loves her some iCarly! This is what happens everytime the theme song comes on!

Erin dancing to iCarly @ Yahoo! Video

Such.A.Ham.

Erin loves posing for the camera!  Apparently Daddy makes a good head rest.

Bowling!

Our friend Chanda, had a suprise 30th birthday party at a bowling alley over the weekend.  We took advantage of the opportunity to take Erin bowling for the first time.  She loved it!!  Although she would have much rather just played with all the other kids.  But she did like watching everyone else bowl and couldn't wait to toss the big balls down the lanes!

Erin watching her ball creep down the lane!

The Najdek's!

It was really great to catch up with our friends!  How we've missed them!  We hope we can see them again soon!