Living Desert

To end our Christmas break, we took a trip out to the Living Desert with my parents. It was a gorgeous day and it wasn't busy at all - perfect!

This little lady with her big glasses and tiny hawk just cracked me up!

First stop - giraffes!

We got to feed them some lettuce leaves

 Watch out for that looooong tongue!

Then it was on to the camel rides. 

 Jacob was super excited to ride the camel with Boppa and he talked about it for days, yet we were all a little surprised (and very proud) that he actually went through with it.

                                         

The little city with trains is a favorite! I think the boys asked us to look at them at least 5 times.

The playground is another favorite. You get to......

Slide down a cactus

Ride a gecko

 

Play in a spider web

Play with water and sand

Watch Boppa go down the underground slide

 We also visited a nature discovery area that we all enjoyed.

There was a huge skeleton of a ground sloth.

Super fun to play on a 'sand dune' with some stuffed animals

 

The boys were too busy to have their picture taken in the 'desert'.

Carousel ride!

Badger! Had to take a picture of the mascot of the University of Wisconsin - Madison. 

It may look like a sweet little cuddly pillow pet, but they are anything but. Have you seen their claws?

We saw this nice little roadrunner fly down onto this rock and immediately the badger jumped up and started stalking it.

We stopped for lunch on the way out and this little guy couldn't stay awake. The sign of a good day!

Christmas Break

Here's a little glimpse into some of the things we did over Christmas break.

Isaac loves the stroopwafels from Trader Joes and when he saw a picture of them in a cookbook of mine, he asked if we could make some. So......I borrowed a waffle cone maker from a friend and using her delicious recipe, we made a batch. 

It's a bit of a time-consuming process and I was glad to hand off the slicing of the waffles to Alan. He is much better at that kinda stuff!

Oh my, were they yummy! I am glad there weren't many left over after we delivered them to neighbors.

But then......
Alan thought we should try a different tactic, so we made another batch. Those could not stay in the house or I would eat them all, so we gave those away as well. I think we may be getting a waffle cone maker and make this a Christmas tradition.

And to work off all those sweets we were eating, we went on lots of bike ride/walks. Well, Jacob and I did. Isaac usually prefers to ride in the wagon and rest. 

One afternoon we visited the local museum. Here the boys are digging for fossils!

 There was an exhibit where there was a bunch of old clothes and hats that you could try on. The boys loved it! My mom and I got quite the fashion show!

We also went up to Oak Glen for a chilly hike. The boys were so excited to see that there was some snow on the ground!

There was a lot of snow ball throwing going on!

And a little bit of snow eating

 I got bit by the organizing bug after Christmas and as I was going through the cupboard above the fridge, I found a large bag full of coins, all silver. My mom counted it up and there was almost $100 in there! What were we doing holding on to THAT?!? Oh look, here's a big bag of change. Let's just chuck it up in the cupboard.

Isn't this too cute? I bought a new hat and Jacob wanted to try it on. I think he might look better in it than I do. Well, if he could see!

One thing I was involved in over the holidays was a weight loss/maintenance challenge. Participants made a goal for themselves to either maintain their weight or lose a certain amount, putting in $10 as incentive. If you met your goal you got your $10 back. If not, your $10 went into the pot and those who did meet their goal would split it. My goal was to lose 2.5 pounds. Yesterday was weigh-in day (in the rain, I might add) and I lost 3.5 pounds! I am pretty proud of myself and my fellow challengers. I believe we all met our goals (patting ourselves on the back).  Now we're beginning a fitness challenge for the next two months and I am really excited about it.