The Zoo - Again

Tim had to work this Saturday. I decided to take the kids to the zoo as I couldn't figure out anything else that would be fun for them to do at home. Sometimes going out is way less difficult than staying home! I'm so thankful for a zoo membership. It's great to know we can go anytime without having to pay extra. Though, it is MUCH more fun to go when Tim can go too.

Bekah is a big fan of bugs (well, at least until today when she was stung by a wasp). Here she is with a large preying mantis art type thing at the zoo.

I never seem to get a good rhino picture. They're always hiding. But not this time! Here it is for your viewing enjoyment:


One thing I was surprised/impressed by was how much my kids remember from our last trip to the zoo... they remembered the order of the animals. Bekah remembered that after the rhino was the "baby frocodiles". I didn't even remember that they had frocodiles!

Ryan hadn't napped yet, so it wasn't long before he was getting restless. Nothing a picture couldn't cure. Later in the day, I pulled out the camera and Ryan started yelling "CHEESE" over and over. (I was attempting to take a picture of an animal, not him.) This lady next to me commented that she'd never seen a child that small be so excited to have his picture taken. He's a nut!

Not long after this picture, he looked like this:


I got an email on Thursday that one of the elephants had a baby! We waited in line for quite some time to catch a glimpse of 3 day old Angelina. She's 3'-7". There's another baby expected any day. Elephants are pregnant for 22 months. I'm certainly thankful that God didn't decide to make it that long for humans too! Maybe that's why elephants don't have many babies. Here's "little" Angelina. The picture isn't so good since they were behind glass.

Joey really liked the grizzly bear last time as he was playing in the water a lot and was really fun to watch. This time it was almost 90 degrees outside and all of the bears looked pretty much like this:


Don't worry though, it's wasn't too hot for the dear. This is Melvin and he's 17 years old. They told us that dear in the wild rarely make it to age 5, but that dear in captivity can live to be upwards of 20. I'm guessing at this point in time, Melvin was wondering if they had returned him to the wild.

Last time we were at the zoo, we some how managed to miss the reptile house (yeah, I wasn't THAT sad). This time I made sure we found it as I think it's important for me not to pass on my irrational fear of snakes to the kids. I did shiver at one point while trying to force myself to look at the rattlesnake, but other than that it went pretty well. Here they are in the meercat habitat.

When we went to the zoo with the cousins last fall, we took a picture of Ryan by the naked mole rats as he had managed to poopsplode and no longer had a shirt... kind of resembling a naked mole rat. I tried to take a picture of him there this time too, but it's up in a wall, so I had to somehow hold Ryan up there and take the picture... so yeah, no naked mole rats present.
Here's a link to last fall at the zoo.

They have a misting station near the end of the zoo. I vote they install several more. We spent a while here cooling off.

Right before leaving, the kids rode on the carousel. Joey went by himself, and Bekah & Ryan rode together. For any of you who argue with me that Ryan looks more like Joey than like Bekah, I rest my case!

Oh okay, one animal bum picture... but only because you asked. How could I resist this one - these zebras were asking for it. Two for the price of one!

Blue Puppy

Anyone who spends much time with us knows that we are actually a family of 7: Tim, Mandie, Bekah, Joey, Ryan, Blue Puppy and Purple Puppy.

Tim's Aunt Karen (a frequent commenter on my blog) gave Bekah & Joey stuffed puppies when she came to visit us when they were about a week old. Shortly after, Joey claimed both puppies as his (Bekah has never minded). They have affectionately been named Blue Puppy and Purple Puppy. Here's an early picture of Joey (6 months) with cousin Jay (3 1/2). You can see a sliver of Blue Puppy all shiny and new in the corner.

Here's a sliver of shiny Purple Puppy about a month later:

Well, 3 years later, suffice it to say, Blue Puppy has seen better days. Just last week he suffered an almost life threatening tear. Just this morning I spent a good bit of time performing major surgery - a stuffingectomy and transplant, followed by major rattle repair, ending with a large suture across his belly. He also received a much needed bath. Sure, he's not exactly "good as new", but I'm happy to report he'll be with us for many more years.

I'm amazed at how attached I've become to these little guys. Joey has never wanted any other stuffed animals or toys - just always his puppies. I'm so glad that I'm able to keep in shape - sort of. haha. I worked on them for about 45 minutes. It's all worth it for this reaction:

What a face!

Ryan loves to have his picture taken. He yells CHEESE anytime he sees a camera. (This is quite the opposite of my other two at this age).

This one is midway through a very excited CHEESE.

Now, I understand that I'm biased, but how could anyone not think that Ryan has just the cutest face - even with a slightly black eye?

Hans & Tami's Wedding

We went to my sister's house this weekend to attend her sister-in-law Tami's wedding. Andi and I were able to do a lot of things for the wedding, which we thoroughly enjoyed doing together. We also had a LOT of help from Andi's friend Sara Garms. While I don't get to spend a lot of time with Sara, I thoroughly enjoy every time we get together.

I made Julia's dress to match the one that Hannah already had. Julia may just be the cutest little flower girl ever.

We also had the pleasure of making the cake. Despite never having used fondant before, the cake turned out beautifully. The roses are real. You can also see the Superman cake in the background that Andi made for Hans as the groom's cake.

My nephews Jay & Daniel (the middle two) handed out programs.


We also arranged the flowers. Here's my beautiful sister Andrea with her bouquet. I did learn through all of this that wrist corsages are not my friend.

Hannah had the fun job of escorting little Olivia down the aisle. Too cute.
Tami looked just beautiful.

I was surprised to see that Bekah was quite the dance machine. First she just slow danced with her daddy, but then decided that fast dances, and something that sort of resembled break dancing, was more her thing.
Joey joined in too, though he's a little more Pilgrimesque in his dancing than Bekah is.
My brother-in-law Johnny is quite the dance machine too. He was trying to get my sister to dance. Slim chance. Pilgrims don't boogie so much. Johnny performed the ceremony. He did a wonderful job. He was much better at that than he was at getting Andi to dance.


Ryan just wore himself out with all of the excitement.

So did Julia.

We had such a great time at the wedding. Thank you Hans & Tami for letting us be a part of your day.

Joshua Daniel Priano

On June 6 we welcomed a new Priano to the clan. Tim's brother Danny and his wife Laura had a beautiful baby boy.


Bekah had been eagerly awaiting his arrival.

Joey loves baby Joshua too.


Ryan's still deciding...
Congrats Danny & Laura. We love you and can't wait to share lots of great memories with sweet Joshua.

A Trip to the Zoo

Tim took the day off of work today and we took a family trip to the zoo. It was so fun, but very tiring too. For anyone who might be interested, the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium is just wonderful.

Here they are looking at the Komodo Dragon. We told Joey to put his arm around Bekah. I think it looks like an awkward Prom picture.

Ryan wanted to push the stroller like Daddy.

Here they are looking at elephants, but Bekah was more interested in the fish.
Elephants:

The grizzly bear was very playful while we were there. We watched him for a while.

Even the PPG Aquarium is rooting for the Pens, appropriately enough, in the penguin exhibit. I think Tim was excited that he had a better playoff beard than the penguins there.

Ryan was VERY excited about the fish. They were a favorite of Bekah and Joey's when we went last fall.


Here's a nice family picture: Joey, Ryan, some random kid, and Bekah. I tried to wait for the kid to move on, but he was pretty insistent on being in our picture. You'd think he could have at least smiled.

Tim hadn't yet seen the newest exhibit there: the polar bears. I was really excited for him to see them. We watched them for quite some time last fall. Come to find out, polar bears spend about 90% of their time on the land. Unfortunately, we weren't there for the six minutes that hour that they spent in the water. Bekah enjoyed the tunnel anyway.

Joey's a fan of anything he can touch. I'm fairly sure this deer remembered him from last fall and now is considering early retirement. To sum up: the deer wasn't quite as thrilled to see Joey as he was to see the deer.

And also the sheep. (FYI, this sheep's name is Andrea. The goat in the same area is named Hannah. The other sheep is named Bonnie, so I guess the Stanges will need to have another girl, or change Julia's name.)


Nothing like a family picture sitting on a tortoise!

Okay, well, I tried to resist, but I just have to post one rear-facing animal picture. I don't know why, but I find this just too funny. All of our zoo trips involve multiple pictures of the backsides of animals. Maybe it's because it seems like this is what the animals want... So many people spend so much time trying to get "good" pictures of the animals, and this is what they give you. So, I just go with it. I will resist posting the backs of the sheep, zebra, and bear. The best are the giraffes, but they were non-compliant today. Though I may have posted one from our vacation last year. Tim made me promise to include a disclaimer that none of the animal bum pictures were taken by him.

Laundry Laundry Laundry

My friend from high school Ruth recently posted about her washing machine dying and how much laundry she had to do after replacing it. I'm frequently perplexed by the amount of laundry that accumulates at my house so quickly. Did we go on vacation? Did I have a memory lapse and forget to do any for a month? No... It just piles up at the speed of light. I'm not sure how it happens. There are only 5 of us. I remember hearing while pregnant with the twins how much more laundry I'd have to do. I guess I didn't understand at that point that I'd be doing so much more laundry for ME, in addition to the kids. I didn't realize the effect that grubby hands have on mommy's clothes. I'm not complaining... Laundry is one of the few household chores I actually enjoy (anyone who knows me knows that cleaning isn't high up on my list of fun things to do). Now, putting the laundry away... that's another story. Anyway, I find laundry piles to be one of the great mysteries of life. Fortunately, I have 3 very willing helpers in the laundry department. Heaven forbid I try to do laundry without letting them help. (I'll have to remember this time in life when they are teenagers!)

Bekah is always my most eager helper.


Where are helpers #2 and #3, you might ask? Well, Joey was given roller skates for his birthday and doesn't have time to help (this picture was taken at 8:15 am). (And to answer your question, that is a 3' tall Stanley Cup next to the lamp in the background. His name is Lord Stanley of Foil.)


And Ryan isn't feeling too good these days (those annoying back teeth are trying to make their way into his mouth), so he just decided to chill on the couch.