Knoxville Zoo & meeting a new friend!

We spent the second day of our vacation at the Zoo and had such a great time! She loves the camels there.







A beautiful princess on a camel : )



Daddy, check out this big thing!!



George the baby chimpanzee was so cute and he loved playing through the window with Annslee



It is hard to see but he kept swinging by giving her high fives!





Coby enjoyed his first time in a petting zoo....then he put the brush in his mouth YUCK!














After the Zoo we got to meet Emerson for the first time. She has been home from China for 3 months now : )



Annslee and Garrison exchanged advice about having a younger sibling : )



Group shot attempt LOL

Fall Break Vacation : )

We decided to take a little trip and go to my college homecoming this weekend. We told Annslee we would be staying in a hotel with an indoor pool and she squealed "vacation!!" So we headed east to the football game amid all those going to the UT/GA game. We will take them up to Daddy's alma mater soon but NOT for the Ga game as I do not want them learning new vocab words LOL

We got to the hotel on Friday night and then on Saturday morning went for a swim before heading to CNC. I went to a small liberal arts college so homecoming is a lot of fun for the kids as they can just run around having fun.

Here we are in front of my old dorm. We couldn't go inside as it was closed for remodeling but we did get this pic out front.



The Psychology dept. was selling pumpkins to paint and Annslee loved doing that.



Silly girl made a name tag with both their names on it



I have no idea what kind of face she is making but Coby is doing his standard "big smile"



I wanted to get a pic of both of them with their shakers but Coby didn't want that. In an effort to make him look at me Annslee grabbed his and he was not pleased : )



Annslee was mesmerized by the long pink dress this student was wearing and I thought was never going to let her keep walking with her friends.



The parade was all she'd talked about and she didn't like that the wait was longer than she wanted



Coby, I think I see it coming...I have my candy bag ready! Remember the beautiful Korean girl, well she was part of the International Club and as they marched by every Asian person in that group walked over and dumped a load of candy into Annslee's bag and gave her balloons (hey work it if you've got it LOL)



Coby enjoyed the parade atop Daddy's shoulders. Sorry this is a pic instead of video as his laughter was so loud and sweet!



For fun here is Annslee at homecoming in 2007 wearing the shirt Coby wore this year. When we went to the bookstore to pick up a new shirt for Annslee this year there was a pink one I was sure she would pick and she almost did but in the end went with the gray one saying "Coby can wear it someday" Thanks baby for saving us some $$ : )



On the way to the stadium Annslee spotted the Eagle and ran up for a photo. She loved him this year.




She also made sure she met the majorettes



Binoculars came in handy even if we were only 5 rows from the sideline and most of the time she was down front looking over at the field



Our seats were right next to the student section and band and that is the perfect place for Annslee to be! She was yelling "Go Carson Newman" and "Go Eagle" over and over. There was a lot of scoring on both sides and she would constantly ask "Eagles winning?"



She eventually moved down in front of the cheerleaders and had such a fun time cheering "with" them (but what is up with dude in the Utah hat??) Believe me, she never noticed him or anyone else!



Coby spent most of the second half like this : )



After the game it was on to dinner and more swimming! Zoo pics next!

P~ P~ P

P is for Party~

We went to a friend's birthday party and had a great time! Coby actually sat still for a facepainting but then messed up the "stitches" on his football. Annslee opted for her hand this time.



Annslee with Kaleigh (the birthday girl's sister) one of her BFFs from school



LOVE that she is giving herself bunny ears too



P is for Pumkin Patch~

Annslee has waited for weeks for the little pumpkin stand down the road to open. Just like last year she would say "open yet" each time we drove by. Well, last Friday it finally was!! Kitty Cat is the lovie of choice these days so she had to come along : )



She is my brave girl and always has been. At two she did the haunted house at the Zoo so I had to ask her to pose like this LOL



Coby however is a total scaredy cat so it was a good thing he was safely in daddy's arms as he got his first glimpse of Hallo*ween goblins



Seriously, what is all this and WHY are we here???



Annslee was thrilled to get some baby pumpkins and came home to paint them.



I LOVE October!!! The next three months are sooo much fun. It was close to 80 degrees today but I am still trying to stay in the fall mood : )

Oh, and the third P is for Pee Pee on the Potty which is what Coby did yesterday! He has been indicating when he has to go and he finally did it on the potty. I doubt it really means much but he and Annslee had a great time dancing and celebrating his success : )

Time to Celebrate!!

Even though this picture is out of order I had to make it first because it is so important. Baby Annslee has been missing for a while now. Annslee has asked about her and looked for her with no success. I honestly couldn't remember her taking it anywhere but she must have and it is not here. I looked EVERYWHERE for a new one (this would be our third one as the first one was left at a restaurant when Annslee was 2) and I couldn't find one. Today I did and I bought it and brought it home for her to find. When she found Baby Annslee she exclaimed "I so worry to you!!!" and immediately grabbed a bottle to feed her since she must be thirsty :) We really have to keep up with this one!!




On Saturday we went to the Celebra*tion of Cultures and had such a great time. Last year Annslee had to put Coby's star on Vietnam on the map but this year he got to do it himself!



Annslee loved the China exhibit



and got to watch the birthday celebration that was being broadcast live



After walking around some we went to see something Annslee LOVES ~ Coby wasn't so sure



Here is what had him so concerned



Annslee was right up front enjoying the show (her teacher from Mandarin class is in the mask)



Later we ran into Sarah and the girls apparently shared a secret : )



There were people there from the Zoo and the girls loved touching the animals (even the snake)



Coby didn't want to do it ~ look closely, there is Annslee with her arm around him reassuring him and also trying to push his hand towards it LOL



I don't remember which animal this was but apparently it was pretty exciting!



A happy girl on her daddy's shoulders (that is a bindi on her forehead)