Kid Stuff, Zoo and Steak

If I hear one more person say to me "Welcome to Calgary" in that sarcastic tone because I commented on the crazy weather... This past weekend was a fine example of how unpredictable the weather out here can be. We had a few feet of snow that had accumulated over the past few weeks and along came a Chinook and poof! All our snow was gone. We were up to 16 degrees Celcius this weekend and we took full advantage.

Lisa suggested that we join families and meet up at the Calgary Zoo for Sunday afternoon and it was the perfect idea. The weather was SO nice. The zoo was full of people in t-shirts and with the warm sunshine it felt like we were in the 20's. Unfortunately, we weren't the only people who had the idea to hit the zoo. The line-ups were insane and I think we waited over a half hour to get through the gate. Once in, I think the kids had a good time.

We got to see one of the zoo's newest additions.. Richard, the giraffe. Isn't he cute?

I have to include this picture of the wart hog just because I think they're cool. Who didn't love them in the Lion King?

Here are Jake, Owen M. and Ella pretending to be underwater in the Hippo tank. The hippos were being lazy, asleep outside at the time of the photo so the models in the photo were never in any real danger. :)

Our Owen and Will were pretty low-key. I think that the sunshine mellowed them out or something because they never really wanted to get out of their wagon. After seeing the giraffes, hippos, rainforest animals and best of all - the gorillas, we headed to the playground. We spent a good 45 minutes just stressing out trying to find the kids in the chaotic world of tubes, slides and little munchkins.

After the zoo we drove back to Craig and Lisa's for dinner. I can't stress enough how beautiful it was out. For anyone who knows Calgary, we drove along Memorial Dr. and it was so nice to see the hundreds of people running, roller blading and strolling along the Bow River. With the downtown buildings on one side, the beautiful (still mostly frozen) river alongside it and all of the old stylish homes to our right, it was one of those days where you just feel happy to be a part of the city.

Once at Craig and Lisa's, Jonathan and I easily fell into our roles as lazy guests and let them do all the work at preparing dinner. :) It is so wonderful to know that we have friends out here, whose home feels as comfortable as our own for our kids to be in. I get so much pleasure watching our boys hang out with Ella and Owen. They are such cool little kids, with great dispositions and they're just as loving and affectionate as our guys are. We love being around them.

The highlight of our visit was managing to snap this photo of all of our kids eating at the same table.. at the same time! They sat for at least 5 or 10 minutes and I am sure that's a new record.

Us grown-ups were treated to a bbq steak dinner so you know we were happy guests.

Owen enjoyed biting off the tips of all of his french fries. Please forgive the shag hair-do's. I will soon post their new haircuts (as of last night!).