A Day at the Zoo - May 5, 2011

Grandpa came up from Utah to visit with the whole fam damily, and Madelyn had no clue (we like to really surprise her!). He showed up at the door bright and early just as the Roo and I were comin' down the stairs, and his voice through the screen calling to her didn't phase her initially - but once she stopped, listened, and turned to look, the look of pure joy and the oozing excitement was amazing!

And so the adventure began!

We were lucky to have some great weather that day, so after running a couple of quick errands and getting Gpa, Madelyn and Daddy to the McDonald's Playland for a quick lunch, it was time to head out to the zoo!

We had SO much fun checkin' out the scene, and Gpa was lovin' pushing the Roo around in the dinosaur rider she had selected as her ride of choice! After a few brief exhibits, we hit up the play area, and she was off, testing out the monkey bars for the very first time!

This zebra bus with the monkey bar middle had a little side window at the front that she loved to poke her head out of and give us a little royal wave before heading out for another attempt at those bars!

I managed to catch her in her adorable little gesture:

After much fun was had in the play area, it was o

ff to see the snow leopards and the monkeys and the tiger, and of course, the lion, whom she appropriately dubs The Lion King.

(The lioness in the exhibit with him is affectionately known as The Lion King's Mommy.)

Right after the lion exhibit, Madelyn knows the camels are coming up. I had just caught on enough to know that when the Roo begins getting excited to see Alice the Camel, it's not that she's looking forward to actually seeing the CAMELS, but rather, the little camel PLAY AREA located AT the camel exhibit! This has a camel slide that she is more than familiar with!

So when I was gettin' her pumped up to see the camels and the Alice the Camel slide, I knew it would be a home run.

Of course, this little girl is full of surprises.

Once we got to the play area, she checked out the slide, but not with the same vigour as per usual - no, this seemed more obligatory. THIS time, she was all about the sand box, and making "a castle for The Lion King".

This "castle" was a pile of sand.

A pile of sand that she became VERY protective over, and even snapped at a little girl who accidentally kicked a bit of it down as she walked by. (That's my girl!)

A pile of sand that she could NOT be pulled away from, not even with the lure of ice cream!

Check out the intensity of this 3yr old in a sand box, dedicated to completing her mission:

Unfortunately, we didn't take many snap shots of Gpa's visit with the Roo, and not even when Grandma showed up a day later for the weekend! We did get a lot of video though, but this little girl was in heaven just by being around 2 of her favourite people!

We went out for dinner at The Keg, and Madelyn enjoyed "Grandma's steak" (the name she gives to all steak now in general, ever since Gma let the Roo sample some of her steak quite a while ago!). Gma and Gpa played with the Roo in the g

arden, and tuckered that little girl out! It was so incredible, and sad to have Gma leave us so soon after arriving, but Gpa made sure to step up his game by going golfing with her for her very first time!

A rainy Monday had us indoors at a black light glow-in-the-dark mini golf facility with dinosaurs and underwater creatures (she L.O.V.E.D. it! - two of her fave things at the moment!). Luckily it wasn't busy there at all, so we had the run of the place, which was great, b/c Madelyn wasn't exactly working on perfecting her technique! She had more fun standing b

ehind the ball and whacking at it with the club between her legs (and then she just resorted to picking the ball up and placing it directly into the hole - y'know, to avoid all that annoying "trying" stuff!) HA!

Gpa got to see Madelyn in action at her Kinder Ballet class that night. Everyone in attendance witnessed Madelyn pay attention to the teacher's words for a few fractions of a second, the rest of the time was spent running over to us and not wanting to participate (I think Gpa still enjoyed the show!). Then that evening, he spoiled her with an incredibly fun game of "Name that Person", where he showed her pics of ppl and she had to guess who they were correctly to get a present!

A couple pics of Mommy, Daddy, Gma and Gpa (not recognizing Gma from the pic though? Gpa was sure to enjoy THAT, he's all about competition!), and the kicker - a picture of Baby Madelyn, which she got right off the bat! Gpa did NOT expect that one!

He spoiled her with pop-up dinosaur books, a glow-in-the-dark Ladybug book, a ladybug piggy bank, a big collection of Dr Seuss stories, a Fantasia dvd, a spinning light-up bunny, and he created the most amazing memory for her: Puff the Magic Dragon - a song he sang to her earlier that day, multiple times in the car as we drove around. She grew to love that tune, and wouldn't you know it, the final surprises consisted of a Puff storybook and a music box that plays the tune!

The evening was topped off with a snuggle session on the couch watching her new Fantasia movie. Thanks for the great visit, Gma and Gpa!!! Madelyn loved every moment, and I know she'll remember it for years to come!