Ruby Swings!

Legoland Billund: Part One

Last Friday, the train line that runs all around Denmark had a special deal for travel anywhere in Denmark for about $15 each/one-way (with a seat). Jared got to talking with his friends at work and they decided we should all go to Legoland in Billund. I must admit I was very apprehensive since our long train ride a few weeks ago was very hard on Ruby (and us!). But, we decided to go for it and we were all glad that we did...

For those that don't already know, LEGO bricks (they don't like the term "legos" apparently) and all the accessories were invented in Denmark. According to Wikipedia:

The Lego Group had humble beginnings in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a poor carpenter from Billund, Denmark. Ole Kirk started creating wooden toys in 1932, but it wasn't until 1949 that the famous plastic Lego brick was created. The company name Lego was coined by Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well".

Having played with LEGO bricks my whole life (well, practically) I didn't have a clue that they were invented in Denmark. Apparently there are also four different Legolands--the original and largest in Billund, Denmark, then three others in USA, Germany, and England.

So, after waking up at 5am, a 2 1/2 hour train ride and two bus trips totally about 1 1/4 hours, we made it to Legoland Billund. The trip there was great since there were two four year olds along with us that Ruby was very interested in. They weren't getting along that great, but even listening and watching the arguing and rough-housing was better than listening to Ruby scream by a long shot. Once we got there we had a rather ironic experience... Julie (Jared's co-worker) decided that we should all buy our tickets in advance so that we wouldn't have to wait in a long line to purchase tickets. Apparently everyone else had the same idea and while there were about 6 or 8 booths to buy tickets and at least that many aisles to enter the park through, there was only ONE guy that had to scan every one of the tickets we had printed out at home! The line was HUGE and pretty time-consuming, but once we got in everything was peachy.

There are seven different "worlds" inside Legoland Billund: DUPLO Country, Imagination Zone, LEGOREDO Town, Adventure Country, Miniland, Pirate Country and Knights Kingdom. The first picture in this post is a LEGO model of the docks area in Copenhagen featuring lots of Maersk machines and containers in Miniland. The next one of my head inside the lions mouth was just around the park... I'm not sure which "world", but I had just bonked my head really hard on some protruding LEGO bricks, which is why I have the funny look on my face. The third one is of Ruby and Jared sitting with H.C. Andersen. Then, this one is in LEGOREDO Town where we panned for gold and then they melted it down into a medal... kind of cool actually. Jared was totally captivated by the process and took about a zillion pictures... I'll just leave you with one!

This final picture is of a LEGO modle of the Billund airport. The little planes actually taxied around and the planes with propellers would spin, etc. The whole Miniland was really awesome. They had models of scenes from all over the world. I noticed that in these pictures it's really hard to tell that everything is made from LEGO bricks, but it is. They said that you could make everything they have at home with the commercially available bricks... of course they didn't say how much it would cost you to collect enough of the right bricks to do it!

Our Little May Flower: Ruby Rae

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

We have had about two weeks with some rain every day. The last few days, the rain has been accompanied by rather strong gusty winds--YUCK! I guess I was just totally spoiled by those nice days that we had because now I really want summer to come and stay! Our extra time indoors has given Ruby lots more time practicing walking on her little twinkle toes. We've discovered that if she hold something in one hand (e.g. her xylophone mallet!) she seems to be able to find her balance and walk better just holding one hand. She is very wobbly though, to the point that we really wonder if something isn't going on with her ears. Skip ahead if this is too much information for you...

BUT, Ruby has always had LOTS of earwax. Not a big deal, but you have to be pretty diligent about cleaning up or else you end up with rather yucky ears after say a week. Well, for the last month or so there hasn't been much of any. Could this mean that they aren't draining properly and maybe it has her a bit unbalanced? We aren't really sure, but it just seems like she has been at this "almost walking" stage for about 4 months (or maybe more!). Everyone kept telling us that once she walks with your hands it will be no time at all. Well, that was at LEAST two or three months ago that that started, so obviously she is really taking her time or something is holding her up. I guess I just need to be thankful that she's taking her time becuase I'm sure she'll be even more of a monkey once she has that extra bit of freedom and mobility.

We had a "don't you just HATE technology!?!" moment last weekend when we discovered that the bank had de-activated both of our bank cards. This was totally our fault becuase eons ago they sent us new cards saying that the ones that we had were screwed up. Well, since we had never had a problem with them, we never got around to activating the NEW ones and eventually they got lost (well, I think they were actually thrown away--OOPS!). So, here we are at Baby Sam with about $80 worth of stuff for Ruby and we had to just leave. To make matters worse, Thursday and Friday are national holidays, so the soonest we will get our cards is Monday. Couple that with our upcoming trip to Legoland and the fact that about half of the Danske Banks don't even have paper money (other than the ATMs), this really has been a pain in the neck. Jared has, as usual, fixed us up just fine to get through the weekend, so we should be peachy (I hope!).

I thought that this picture I took of Ruby this morning kissing Trixie was so cute! She really does love that little doll and drags her all around with her. She loves to have Trixie use her toys like the rocking horse and her little walker. She'll even lug her through the tunnel with her--what a nut! It's nice that she has her little "best friend" to do things with because she really does play with her for quite a long time on her good days!

I'll end with a quick tadpole update. I know that some of you (well, maybe just Rachel!) are as interested in this whole process as I am. That whitish blob beneath the visible tadpoles are all the egg sacs and eggs that never hatched. They seem to be munching away at this day and night, though some have started to work on the duckweed, etc. I thought I could just barely see little nubs of legs starting, but it's really quite difficult to see in the pond water without actually sticking your face in and well, I guess I'm just not that curious!

Have a great day everyone! And stay tuned for some quick video clips of Ruby playing in the next day or so...

Stubberkloster: Part Two

Well, here we've been back over a week and I still haven't gotten all the pictures posted from our trip to Jutland... pitiful. In my defense, Jared came down with a nasty cold late last week and has been medicating himself with hours and hours of silly computer games. I've been known to play plenty of games myself, so I really can't say much, but that's how it's been. On top of the games, Jared has also been faithfully hunting down the best fares for our trip to the US this summer. I'm so happy to announce that we will be flying into Chicago on June 21st and staying for about 2 1/2 weeks! Yeah! We're not going to even think about how difficult the flights may be with Ruby, but pray for some kind of miracle! Ruby has a doctor's appointment in a week and I'll ask her for some of the "travelling medicine" Claire got for Carter to help him sleep... baby tranqs!

We are a bit anxious about this visit because we need the doctor to check out a little lump we found a few days ago. It feels like a little cyst or ball of fat on the back of Ruby's head. So, please, everyone say an extra prayer about this. I'm sure that it probably isn't serious, but it's hard not knowing for sure. Jared will try to come to the appointment with me to catch everything that's being said in Danish that I always miss. Anyway, back to the pictures of our trip to Jutland!!

The first picture is of Leo at his pig farm. They own a mink farm and an organic pig farm. The operation was really quite interesting. They have five groups of mothers (about 200 total, I believe). They go through the rotation twice a year of getting pregnant, then going into their "private" yards to give birth and keep the babies for 8 weeks, then it's back to get pregnant a few weeks later. The babies move along to various places until their slaughter at about 6 months. I was quite shocked at how big they get in that short of time. I was also surprised at how clean it was... really neat.

The next two pictures are from an outing in Leo's Land Cruiser around the property. Along with the farms, they also own a lot of land that they raise Christmas trees on and trees for the pine boughs, etc. used each year for decoration. They also have a hunting lodge and have people come and hunt there for deer and wild pigs (which they have a lot of!). This picture is of the lakes and the little monastary (kloster) that the farm is named after. It's really hard to see in this picture, but is on the strip of land between the two lakes.

Here is a picture of the main house. Really beautiful and very huge and sprawling by Danish standards. I wish I would have taken some pictures inside becuase they had lots of Danish design furniture. It's a very sleek and modern looking design, but they still manage to make it feel homey. Anyway, we were so thankful for the wonderful visit and the chance to reconnect after all these years. Hopefully we will see them again before too many more months pass.

Ruby's Christmas Movie!

Stubberkloster Weekend!

For those of you that don't already know (or remember) one of the main reasons that we ended up here in Denmark was because Jared was an exchange student here TEN years ago! While he was here he stayed with three different families in the Skive area, which is in Northern Jutland (the mainland part of Denmark). So, once we arrived last fall Jared contacted his "favorite" family to let them know that we were here. Leo and Elinor invited us to their farm for the long weekend and we were happy to come! So, these are some pictures from our weekend...

That first picture was of the smallish pond that is right behind the house. We happened to arrive on Leo's birthday (Friday) and several of their kids and grandchildren were there for the occasion. Leo and Elinor had quite a day planned including LOTS of food and drink, a trip to the circus, more food, a memorial service for Leo's dog (Tor), which was followed by oodles of cake! Ruby and I bowed out of the circus in favor of a much needed nap, but Jared (and everyone else) really raved about it! The women were all oohing and aahing over the hunky guys and Jared seemed to like just about every act that they brought out.

Ruby's favorite part of the weekend was playing with the big girls! They helped her walk all over the place and she just had the biggest grin on her face the whole time. Don't look too closely at her outfit though! She was wearing a skirt and then the temperature started dropping fast so we had to pull some sweatpants on underneath! The two girls in front in this picture (actually holding Ruby's hands) are Agnes and Thea. They live just a few minutes away, so we got to see them again on Saturday. They live in an old farmhouse (I think a few hundred years, but I really don't remember for sure). I thought it was pretty cool that their barn had a thatched roof. Anyhow, since it's such an old place they have been in the process of renovating the place for the last few years and are nearly finished inside. Jared got a detailed and technical tour of the construction details, but unfortunately, I wasn't in on that...

It was SO nice to be in the country again. I really didn't realize how much I had missed seeing open spaces and feeling that fresh breeze until we got there. It's a farming area and very close to a huge fjord. It reminded both of us of the Grand Traverse Bay (where we got married) in color and the landscape. It really made me miss home, but I guess we just have to be thankful that we had our time in the country!

Another perk was that Leo and Elinor live in a rather huge house, complete with bathtubs! Ruby was very pleased with her big girl tub and wanted to play and play all night. Eventually, the water was just getting way too cold though, so she had to go to bed. I was very impressed with our little Ru becuase she slept like a champ while we were there. We had borrowed a pack'n'play from our friends and had Ruby sleep in it a bit before we left, then while we were there, she was great!

Well, I have another batch of pictures to post from our weekend, so I'll continue the recap then...

Nelson Family 2005: Slideshow

Back to basics

I know that it probably seems like all we do is just go and have fun all the time, that isn't exactly true, but who really wants to read about washing and hanging laundry day in and day out? But, since I brought up the laundry, I have to say I'm loving the warmer weather. If I haven't mentioned it before, we don't have a dryer. Thankfully, we do have a nice big laundry room with room to hang about two loads at a time. Even so, it generally takes about 24 hours turnaround... then if there's ironing to do--let's just say, it might be a while! Anyway, now that the weather has been warmer (as you can see from Ruby's garb!) I can hang things outside. Jeans which normally take at least 18 hours to dry are done in 2! Awesome! Okay, I can see you aren't as excited as I am, but it's the little things, you know?

But on to the fun stuff! Ruby and I visited the zoo, yet again, last week. It's much cheerier there now that all the animals are outside and the zoo keepers seem to actually be cleaning up the pens and such. Of course, all the flowers and hoards of people help too. This was the first time we've visited that the giraffes have been out--hurray! They were being quite cautious though and stayign close to home (that building right behind him), so we didn't exactly get a close-up view, but that's okay. At this point in the trip my heart was still racing from a near miss with a horse! There is a petting zoo within the zoo including lots of animals, mostly of the barnyard variety, for the kids to ride, pet, and generally play with. For some reason they also include horses with very low fences in this area. Ruby had been eating Cheerios from her stroller tray and apparently Mr. Ed thought he'd like a few too and just about bit the tray OFF of the stroller. I wrestled the stroller away as calmly as possible and we were off again. After we were walking away I saw a sign that said "Caution: Horses Bite!". Then WHY are they in the petting zoo!?!

Our little monkey (I mean Ruby, not this one!) has figured out how to climb the sofa and crawl up onto the window sill and then stand up there this week. Of course once up there she's totally trapped and basically an accident waiting to happen. Gotta love toddlers... She is constantly getting herself into jams and doesn't have a clue how to extract herself. Sometimes it's funny, but other times I just want to put her in her playpen and let her be SAFE for 20 minutes or so. Thankfully we haven't had any trips to the emergency room... YET! She still hasn't outgrown her put everything in her mouth phase either as we've learned when we try to do anything artsy--playdough, fingerpaint, crayons, chalk--they all end up in her mouth. And it isn't just once, she'll put them in again and again even though they taste horrible--weird.

I'll end on this picture of Ruby eating a burrito--who would have thunk it?! 12 months ago she could barely figure out how to nurse, now she's eating a burrito like a big girl! She has totally shunned all baby food now (with the exception of cereal) and wants to eat everything we do. I think that her tummy isn't quite ready for all of that though, judging from the "nasty factor" of her diapers. Hopefully her tummy figures things out soon, because there's just no holding this girl back!

Oh! As a quick teaser, we will hopefully be posting our videos from this Christmas and eventually some other clips here on the blog. We've discovered Google Video, so now I just have to figure out how to imbed the video into the blog and we're golden. Stay tuned!

Ticks!

I just had to make one more "catch-up" post today since we've been without internet for about 5 days here. All of the pictures are just taken at our house this time, which is where we've been spending most of our days. We did have the chance to meet an old friend of Jared's and her family for lunch last week (Lisbet, Kasper, and Annalief). They were up here on holiday from Holland (where they are from). Anyway, Liz had been an exchange student in Michigan back when Jared was just 12 or 13 years old. I had heard lots of good things about her and it was fun to meet her and her family. Her daughter, Annalief, is 14 months old and a real cutie. She was running all over the place. Ruby and Annalief enjoyed watching each other's antics, as did the parents!

Anyhow, as the title betrays, we have had a run in with a tick. Yesterday after lunch Ruby was playing with her rocking horse and I noticed what I thought was a scab on her head. Well, it wasn't a scab, but a wood tick. I really don't have any good idea about how it got on her as we hadn't even been playing outside that morning. My best theory is that Malle (the cat) brought it in. Anyway, I really wasn't sure what to do as I knew if I just tried to pull it out it would most likely leave the head behind. I ended up going over to my neighbors, Ulla and Ole, for help and they said I should take her to the doctor right away. Ulla immediately got on the phone and called the doctor to tell her we were on our way and Ole got us loaded into his car lickety split. The doctor got the little bugger out (along with a bunch of hair) and Ruby never made a peep. I am now very paranoid about ticks and have been scouring her head every time I pick her up. Today we will have to get a flea and tick collar for Malle so we don't have a repeat of that experience.

I also wanted to show you an update on our tadpoles. All of the eggs have hatched now and the pond is just teeming with zillions of tadpoles. My camera seems have have a hard time doing good close-ups, so this was about as good as I could get. I thought that the ones in the red box were easiest to see, but there are lots all over the place if you look closely. The Nielsens (our pastor's famiy who we gave eggs to) already have tadpoles with little dangly legs. I just hope that our whole backyard doesn't hop away in a few weeks. We recently found out that frogs are protected in Denmark, so we're really helpless to do anything about them even if the population becomes plague-like in proportion.

I'll leave you with one last picture of Ruby with her beloved, Trixie (the Cabbage Patch doll). She has taken to carrying Trixie around the house with her and loves to set her up on her rocking horse and in her wagon. It's really quite cute. Well, I have oodles to do before Ruby wakes up, so I better end there. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Sunny and Warm

We have been enjoying beautiful weather here for the last week or more. I'd like to say that I've been faithfully taking Ruby out for a new adventure each and every day, but that really isn't all that easy or practical. We did, however, visit Frederiksberg Have (Park) last Wednesday afternoon. Even on a week day, there were oodles of people out enjoying the sun and flowers. We met Claire and Carter there and the kids enjoyed some time at the playground before we hit the walking trails. Ruby managed to put a whole handful of pebbles down her shirt and ultimately into her diaper, which I discovered when I changed her an hour or so later at home--talk about the princess and the pea!

I had to take a picture of this Danish phenomenon--The Pacifier Tree! There are lots of these all around Copenhagen, though this is the biggest one I've ever seen. Apparently, when Mom and Dad decide it's time to retire the pacies, they tie them all onto a long ribbon and throw them up in the tree. Some of them have notes attached telling what a good friend, etc. the pacifier had been to the child. It's a bit of an eyesore, but it's actually a good idea I think. Then the kids know that this is it, we're saying goodbye to the pacies forever. I suppose they could come back and visit thier old friends, though it seems a bit odd to. Here in Denmark, kids will keep the pacies until they are about 3. We're going to be doing this before the end of the summer. I don't think that it's going to get any easier the longer we wait.

Ruby has officially been weaned for one week. It was much easier than I thought it would be. The big change is that we don't bring her up to our bed to snuggle in the morning, it's just up and at 'em with a cup of milk. She hasn't ever tried to nurse or even asked to, so I think that she was ready. The gradual method was very easy on me too, so in the end I was glad that we dragged it out to one year. I hope that wasn't too much information for anyone... but, that was a big step for all of us!


We had a bit of a sad story this last week in our own backyard. One afternoon Ruby and I went into the backyard to swing and we saw these two ducks swimming around in our little pond. Later that night, I didn't see them around, so I figured they must have gone along on their way. Well, sure enough, the next morning Mr. Duck was standing next to the pond and Mrs. Duck was sitting in the reedy area next to the pond. I went back into the house and suddenly heard a bunch of commotion and quacking out by the pond. Later, Ruby and I went out there and the ducks were gone, but there was an egg lying right where Mrs. Duck had been sitting. I left it alone in hopes that they would soon be back. Well, they weren't and something ate the poor little egg. The next morning, Mr. and Mrs. Duck were back again standing stock still for several minutes. It was almost as if they were having a moment of silence for their little lost egg. I haven't seen them since, so I suppose they went on to find somewhere a bit less hostile to raise a family. I was so sad though, I was so hoping to have a little duckling hatch and swim around our little pond... oh well, maybe next year.

New Toys!

Here I am posting again! It's a shock, isn't it?! Well, I found myself with a bit of time on my hands as Ruby seems to have come down with her first stomach bug. Yesterday we went out to the park and when we got back she was very fussy, followed by two "unmentionable" diapers. Then, sometime in the night, she apparently threw up! The poor thing didn't even make a peep until 6:30 this morning when we found her and her mess. After a quick trip to the tub, new sheets, and a piece of toast, she was back to bed. Our little bugger is just feeling totally rotten, all flushed and fussy. Her Nana and Bobo sent her a stuffed gorilla and baby and she's just been clinging to the little hands like a lifeline. I feel so bad for her. Hopefully it will go as fast as it came.

On to happier memories! Presents, presents, and more presents! It seems that this birth"day" is turning into a birth"week"! This is a perfect arrangement for Ruby though as the unwrapping process bores her and she'd rather just get down to the actual playing. Here she is "opening" her box from Aunt Heidi and another from Uncle Bobby, Aunt Amy, and her cousins. The unwrapped presents were her favorite as she didn't have to work so hard to get to them! I have already read her 30 pages or so from "a light in the attic" and she seems to like it. It's a nice break from all the same old baby books day in and day out! Her little outfits have come at the perfect time as she seems to be in a little growth spurt and we've had lot of wonderful warm weather to enjoy, so she was ready for all those short sleeves and capris!

Jared and I got her two "big" presents including this igloo tent and the cloth tunnel. The tent isn't too fun for her yet, but I'm sure she'll like it a lot in a few months. I thought that this picture was funny because it almost looks like Ruby is showing me around her new pad and explaining all her decorating plans for the place! I think that she will enjoy playing in there with a few toys from time to time, but because of the size, it will just have to be a once in a while thing, otherwise it kind of takes over the room.

Well, I think I hear my little bugaboo, so I better run. Hope you enjoy these pictures and have a great day!

The Return of the Picnic!

Glorious! It's the only word to describe the feeling of SPRING! After a winter in Denmark, I think that my favorite season may have just switched from Autumn to Spring! Jared has been busy assembling lawn furniture... as you can see, Ruby was a big help handing Daddy the tools when he was ready to use them. Jared said that in her "off-time" she was banging the wrench on all the nuts--at least she figured out that the wrench and nuts belong together, even if she didn't get the methodology down quite right.

We were able to have our first family picnic of the year and Ruby loved it! She had a whole hotdog (with skin cut off and cut up--don't panic!!) and almost a whole cheeseburger, along with a few tomato slices and melon! This was after her appetizer of... dirt. It's hard to really see in the picture, but she had just filled her mouth with a hefty handfull of mud and acted as if everything were perfectly normal. I used her natural tendancy to spit liquid out to my favor this time and poured water into her mouth for her to swish it out and she was clear in no time. These things will happen!

While Jared was cooking (and Ruby was eating dirt) I got a picture of our tadpole eggs for you. If you click on the picture you'll be able to see a bigger view and check out their nifty little bodies and tails. When I took this shot, a lot of the eggs were already empty. Sadly, it will now be pretty hard to see the little guys because (in my opinion) our pond is pretty grimy. We may get a tiny aquarium and bring a few inside though... we'll have to see what I can do about that little project this weekend. Jared brought a bunch of eggs to our pastor's family (with five young boys) and they are really enjoying watching them grow in the aquarium. Since they are warmer and inside, they seem to be growing faster than our pond 'poles.

Ruby was able to top off her barbecue dinner with a leftover chocolate cupcake from her birthday party. Like I said in an earlier post, the girl loves her sweets! The nice thing about eating outdoors, we found, was that we could just brush all the zillions of crumbs onto the ground. That way we're happy and the birds are happier.

Happy grilling!

Birthday Bash!!

Who knew that throwing a 1st birthday party was so much work and so expensive?!? As the BIG DAY approached, it seemed that my daily planner got more and more packed with "things to do". Jared thought that the sight was a bit humorous (apparently) and decided to take a picture. I absolutely love lists. It really helps me to write down all the little tasks I need to complete in the day and have the satisfaction of checking it off my list. So, as you can see I had a lot to do. Much of it was brought on myself, so I really can't complain and I will say that Jared was a lot of help with both the food preparation and the cleaning! What a doll! Along with the cake, we also had kabobs on the grill, antipasto pasta salad, fruit salad, bread with artichoke spinach dip, and chocolate covered strawberries--YUM!


Anyhow, we invited four families to celebrate Ruby's big day with us, but (un)fortunately we only had three able to attend. It was unfortunate in that we missed having them, but fortunate becuase with 8 adults and 5 kids stuffed inside our house, it was a bit of a mad house--2 more adults and 2 kids may have pushed us over the top! Ruby was very shy at first and didn't want to play with the other kids, she just wanted to be carried around. Eventually she got better until Conrad decided to yank the bow (and some hair) off her head. That wasn't the kind of birthday surprise she had in mind!

Ruby had lots of help from 3 1/2 year old Emma opening her gifts. It started as Emma just bringing Ruby the gifts, but before long, Emma was basically unwrapping them as well! She was a bit bored by Ruby's snail like movement through the unwrapping. Ruby recieved several adorable outifits, a book, a puzzle, and a wooden xylophone from her friends! Jared and I let her open one present from us, which was a big cloth tunnel from IKEA. When Ruby opened that, the kids went NUTS! Apparently many of them have experience with the tunnel and were eager to show off their skills!

Ruby had a Jell-O "poke"cake for her birthday--a white cake with stripes of strawberry kiwi flavoring with buttercream frosting. I was very happy that it actually turned out quite nice! Sadly, the pictures are all horrible like this one, I guess becuase the cake was so white and her dress is so dark. I'm not sure. At any rate, everyone was very impressed with the cake and commented on how "light and fluffy" it was. I had to admit that I had used one of Claire's hoarded cake mixes and the Jell-O that Momma K had sent to make it happen. For the Danes in attendance, this was definitely one of the first cakes of it's kind that they had sampled and they were equally in awe that we served ice cream with it!

As you can see, Ruby enjoyed crushing her cake as much as she did eating it. Before we even got it cut Ruby had already managed to bury her fingers deep into several slices. That's the risk you take when you come to a kids party I suppose!

The party was a total success and we even got to play in the yard a little bit as the first rain drops didn't fall until the last people were leaving. What a huge blessing! The whole family was exhausted though and we were all in bed before 9pm!

Playing Catch Up

I tried like the dickens to get these posted last night, BEFORE Ruby's birthday, but alas, Blogger wasn't cooperating. Anyhow, these are from a trip to the zoo that we took with the Nielsens (our pastor's family) and the Danfords last weekend. There are oodles of baby animals at the zoo this year, so it was really fun to see. We apparently arrived at feeding time, so just about everyone was in a feeding frenzy. I thought that these little lion cubs (or are they kittens? I'm really not sure!) were so cute going down to get a drink. They were very playful and patient while they waited for Dad to eat before going up with their mothers to pick at the rest.

One of the day's highlights was this little baby elephant! A baby elephant born in captivity is apparently a pretty special and rare event. I really feel for that mom though, after 22 months of pregnancy she had to push out a 200+ pound baby--NO THANKS!! Anyhow, the baby is just a few weeks old and still looks quite "fresh"! His eyes were quite bloodshot and he just looked exhausted with the effort of having to stand up. His mama was busy throwing hay over both of them nearly constantly and in between was eating sticks. I did not know that elephants ate sticks, but apparently they do. The baby spent about 15 minutes trying to manipulate a twig around into his mouth with his trunk, but the muscles are still very weak, and virtually useless so he never did succeed. It was cute to watch never the less!

Jared is so happy now that Ruby is big enough to ride around on his shoulders. Both parties seem to enjoy the arrangement quite a bit! Ruby also has been doing very well keeping her sunglasses on, especially when Daddy is around. Ruby loves it when Jared scoots along quite fast, making her clutch onto his hair giggling with delight-- it's quite a treat to see and hear! From her bird's eye view Ruby does seem to take note of the animals a bit more, but mostly enjoys watching all the people. On nice days the zoo is absolutely mobbed with people, strollers, and kids darting all around. It's a pretty crazy scene, but very fun.

A day at the zoo wouldn't be complete without an ice cream treat! As you can see, Ruby wasn't shy about taking nice big bites of my cone! She definitely enjoys sweets just as much as her Mommy and Daddy!