The ZOO!

We went to the Zoo today.  We had a lot of fun, it's been a long time since I've been to the zoo.  

Point Defiance has a new Kid Zone that is a lot of fun, they had toys to play on and kid friendly exhibits.  The picture above is Violet learning about the tracks that Jumping animals make.

Petting the Goat at the petting zoo.  Does anyone remember when you use to just walk into a big pen of animals and it was a big feeding free for all?  This is much more tame.  This goat was really use to being pet, he didn't react to us at all.  That could be because we didn't have any food though.

Violet in a Sea Anenome...how do you spell that?
Violet crawling out of the....I'm not even going to attempt it....the pink thing
This is the last picture of the Day....after 4 hours in the Zoo Violet was exhausted.  It was a great day.
Beethoven showing off his jumping capabilities.  We just happened to be at the whale exhibit when they did their little afternoon show. It was really cool.
Beethoven the whale showing us what a big splash he can make

Beluga whale tail.
Violet found another fish tank.  I think we may need to get a tank of our own soon.

Violet sitting with a family of Lemur's.  The Zoo has a great kids zone now with toys to climb on and little exhibits. Wesley really liked the Bugs and snake room...I did not.

I don't know how to spell Anenome...Anename...Annenome.....nope

I couldn't get Violet to look at me so I reached my camera around the fence.  Violet was more interested in the Penguins than in smiling for a picture.

The Peacock that came to visit us while we had lunch.  This picture is not zoomed in at all, this is really how close he came to us....he was looking for handouts.
An otter taking a nap
Violet watching the Beluga Whales Swim by.  she thought they were pretty cool.

This Elephant had the saddest story,  she had been in a circus for 20 years and was beaten, so she was so violent that she almost had to be euthanized.  luckily she has done well at Point Defiance and is now a really calm animal.
Another beautiful flower from the Asian Animal exhibit...if anyone knows what this flower is called please let me know.

The other tiger was in the Bamboo forest and we could barely see them so I'm glad this one was napping up close.

These Gibbons were taking a rest and checking out the people who came to check them out.

Some of the most beautiful flowers were in the Asia display.

I want some of these in my yard!

Violet loved the fish...Loved them!

Violet and I in the South Pacific aquarium, she really was having a good time, but she was upset that I took her away from the fish tank for a photo opp

This Nurse Shark didn't move the whole time we were there, Sam was particularly interested in him.

Sam thought the sharks were pretty cool, he was so enthusiastic about getting his hands on a nurse shark that he crawled right into the glass and bumped his head.  Poor guy.

Wesley, Sam and Violet playing shark bait for Jaws

play play play

We have been playing quite a bit this last week.  Peter's sister Emily came into town from Houston, with her two boys Wesley and Sam.  They came up for a family reunion.  These pictures are all a little out of order but I'll provide an explanation for each one.

The above picture is Violet at the Lattin's Cider Mill and Farm yesterday.  We took like 15 pictures trying to get her to look at us....this is as close as we got.

At the Cider Mill you can buy a small bag of animal feed and feed the goats and chickens through their fences.

Well one Goat was not satisfied with the speed at which we were feeding him and stole the whole bag out of Wesley's hands.   Wesley is 2 and half....scroll down to see his reaction......

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Now scroll down to see his brother Sam's reaction to the whole situation

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Ha ha haha...I couldn't help but laugh when this happened.  Wesley got another bag of animal feed for free after he explained to the lady what had happened and the rest of the visit went off without a hitch.

Peter loves little Sammy boy.  Here they are at the beach.
Violet loved the Ocean, here she is devising a plan on how to get back in the water.  The trip to the beach was part of the Corier family reunion out at Camp Bethel which is about 1/2 hour from the beach.
Emily holding Sam, Grandma Corier with Wesley and Me holding Violet.  If I hadn't been holding onto Violet she would have been confidently toddling out to the Ocean.

Violet at the Farm, she liked this chicken.  We scared the other chickens and they flew all over the place, there were a few accidental egg layings after we left!

Violet and Wesley took some chalk out to G&G Corier's front porch and left them some beautiful artwork.
Here is Wesley explaining how the wooden airplane works to Violet.

We took the kids to the little playground in the mall,  Violet had a blast!  Sam really figured out how to crawl through this tube.  Poor Sam had to go buy some new pants though,  he's growing so fast that his jeans were too tight to sit up on his own!
I love this picture.  It took several tries to get this shot because neither of the kids wanted to sit still long enough to smile at me.

One hot Saturday, Violet and Grandpa David got a big idea...The filled up a pool and V went for a swim.
She loved every minute of it!

Here's a good one of Wesley in the yard.
A chalk artist at work
Grandma Corier with a tuckered out Sam Boy.

It's been a great week, I think we are going to the Zoo tomorrow so be watching for some more pictures of our adventures!

McCall, Idaho

Violet and I took a trip to McCall, Idaho this week for a family reunion. We had so much fun, and it was great to get to see that side of the family. I haven't been able to go to one of these reunions in about 6 years. August is the months of reunions and we are looking forward to the Corier family reunion in about 2 weeks.
Violet requires a lot of sunscreen in order to go to the beach...she even had it in her hair, which is why her hair is standing straight up.
Violet was really interested in the flowers we picked on our walk. Our condo was right near a golf course so we got to walk around the golf cart path every day.
Olivia is finally old enough to play with, and Violet really loved to play with her. Olivia's favorite toy was my old Sam's Club card, so Violet kept stealing it. Check out that face!
Violet loved the lake! I had to drag her out because she kept getting too cold but didn't want to stay on the beach to warm up. I would put her down to play in the sand and she would instantly crawl towards the water. This kid is always up for an adventure.
Violet is giving Olivia a hug. She was so cute, she would get as close to Olivia as possible and put her arm around her and lay down, they would just lay there and snuggle...what cute cousins.
Violet sitting in the Sand. We had so much fun at the beach that day, the whole family was there.

Portland Temple and the Beaver Pond

We've had a lot of fun the last couple of weeks. Here are some pictures of this week.
We were able to go down to the Portland Temple last Saturday and see Randy and Cathy get sealed, it was really nice, and they seem really happy.
Peter, John and I went to the Beaver Pond by our house, it was a beautiful day and I was able to take some great photo's. I'm putting a book of photo's together for my friend that is moving to NY to get her PhD . It was a perfect day to take pictures.
Violet was really ready for a nap by the end of our little hike.
Violet liked to look down into the water. It was really peaceful out there.
Violet likes to try on glasses, she thinks it is so funny. Here she is trying on Grandma's glasses. she was making the funniest faces and laughing...I of course couldn't get a good shot of that.
Here is another picture of us coming up the trail.

Hope everyone is doing well. We are so excited to see The Wood family in a few weeks!

Love you all!
Ellen, Peter and Violet

nothing new

Well, there is really nothing too new going on at our house. For those of you who don't know, our air conditioner was out for about 3 days, but works again. Those 3 days were pretty miserable and really made us apreciate some of the things we take for granted (ie. air conditioning). Sam has been a little sick and has developed a cough. He's hacking away as I speak, but he's okay. Wesley is still learning to go to the bathroom on the potty. JOnathan called one night to say that he'd be late and I let Wesley answer the phone, it went something like this, "Hi, I pooped on the potty. Bye." We had a pretty good laugh. Jonathan has been busy as usual. We are just grateful that he is getting good experience and learning a lot. Here are a couple of pictures of life at our house the past few weeks.


On the 4th of July we went to a carnival. Wesley played the bean bag toss and won a prize!

Sam is a big baby. At his 4 month appointment he was 19lbs, 4 oz and long (I don't remember exactly). I call him our little line backer.

We tried to find a parade in our neighborhod on the 4th of July. We packed up our strollers and went for a walk. About a mile down the road we ran into someone who said they canceled the parade. So, we just went for a long walk.
The highlight of our 4th was letting the boys stay up late and watch fireworks on TV. Wesley was so excited. He danced and ran all around (oh, fireworks are illegeal in our county).

our house on the 4th

We went to Splashtown with some friends a few weeks ago. Wesley and Dad had a lot of fun swimming around. Mom and Dad both got really sunburned, but the kids were fine.
Wesley and Sam sitting on the couch. Sam learned to sit all alone this past week. I cannot believe how big he is getting
Wesley loves to help Mom cook. His favorite is stirring flour. He's such a good helper.
At the carnival Wesley got to jump in a bouncy castle thing. As you can see, he had a lot of fun.

Hope all is well at your house. Good luck with your finals Peter and congrats on finishing school!

the Wood's