Trip to the Zoo

This weekend we went to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore with our friends the Vongs. We have been told by the locals that the Baltimore Zoo is consistently rated as one of the top five zoos in the country. After our visit it is easy to see why. Even after spending half a day there we only managed to see about half of the attractions. The weather was great and the kids (Maia, Leo, and Aiden) all had a great time.

I captured some of the highlights in pictures below. Julie and Phil helped the kids feed the giraffe. I got a nice picture of the giraffe sticking out its long tongue to get some leaves right in front of Julie's watchful eye. Although I wasn't able to capture a smile on his face, at times Aiden was really enjoying it. The next big event was riding the camel. Julie took Maia for a camel ride and Leo rode with his Dad. We also saw the new big attraction, a baby elephant name Sampson that was recently born in the zoo.

I was a little disappointed that some of the big animals were lazily taking naps including the lions, cheetah, and polar bear. However, the chimpanzees were fairly active and put on a nice show for the kids. Check out my pictures below or click here to see the entire album.

Summer Vacation

We just returned from vacation. First we flew into Illinois and then drove down to the Lake of the Ozarks for a week vacation at my parent's condo. My aunt Barb and cousins Ben and Kelly spent the week down there with us as well. We had a great time and seemed to fit in a lot of different activities along with a healthy dose of naps and lazing around by the pool. Despite the heat (up to 115 heat index!) we enjoyed plenty of water skiing, wake boarding, and even some tubing.

My family kicked the week off with a birthday party for Aiden. Although it was his second such party, we did not hear any complaints on repeating the dinner of cake and ice cream. Aiden also was treated to his first experience with the boat and the swimming pool which he seemed to really enjoy. I also introduced him to the game of "bags" (those of you in Illinois probably know it by a different name :) I don't think he is quite ready for prime time just yet.

On Wednesday, we adults took advantage of the free teenage babysitters and headed out to a local comedy club to see a very funny comedian, Mark Sweeney, and on Thursday, Julie and I took my cousin Ben and his friend David to see The Dark Knight (a must see).


En route back to Illinois for the flight home, we were able to have dinner with some of my dad's side of the family, my Aunt Gail & Uncle Rich, Uncle Mike & Aunt Kay, Uncle Jeff, cousin Brenda and her daughter Lexi. Finally, we had breakfast before our flight the next day with my brother Adam & his girlfriend Michelle. It was really great to see everyone and introduce many to Aiden for the first time. Overall, Aiden did a very nice job with all the traveling and it was just a really great and much needed vacation for all of us. As always check out the pictures below and the full album here.