Wolf Haven visit

Today we joined a few of the moms with the Moms' Club for a group tour of Wolf Haven International out of Tenino just south of Olympia. It's basically a sanctuary for wolves that are taken from the public OR retired from zoos. On arrival, they told us we had to wait because they were having an emergency. No, thank goodness, one of them did not escape. One wasn't feeling herself so they were trying to wrangle her to get her to the vet. So after doing some coloring of wolf prints in the education center, we headed out for our trek. The fenced area in the far back had 2 wolves that were brother and sister to the sick one. So they were off limits at the time.

Lauren taking in the sights and spotting the wolves.

Once we got to the wolf enclosures, the mobile kiddos were confined to strollers so we didn't agitate the wolves. Kiawatha is the female in the front and London is the male behind her, both gray wolves. London came from a breeder that was intending to use him for the movies. Kiawatha is one of the older wolves (12 years old). They live in the wild 4-8 years, but the haven has had one live to be 20.

We also saw a red wolf named Ruby. She was really shy hence no pictures. The guide, Megan, was telling us about the red wolves and when Ruby came out Lauren said "Red Wolf!" Megan said to Lauren in disbelief "Good Job!" in which Lauren replied "Thank you!"

This guy was probably my favorite. Caedus was a pet to a person in the military who had to give him up when he was deployed. Now he shares his pen with a female gray wolf, Ladyhawk, who was brought in with her mother and father. Caedus whimpered and cried to greet us when we arrived.

They informed us that they have a contract with Thurston County to pick up "road kill" for dinner! They only get fed twice a week. And in the summer they get tuna and blood popsicles on hot days! Yum! They do have special treats during holidays (like stuffed turkeys) and fun wolf friendly cupcakes for birthdays!

Not sure if it was because of the passing train or the problems with the female, Cricket, but the whole sanctuary started a group howl. It was pretty neat. Some of the kids were scared, but not Lauren....she laughed hysterically! Lauren called it "singing" and not "howling".

They also have Mexican gray wolves, Gypsy and Diablo.

It's a pretty neat place to visit. They had coyotes as well that were pretty fired up when we arrived. The city kids were in awe of their yipping! We had it all to ourselves since they are only open on the weekends right now. And it didn't actively rain which was a plus! Megan said that most folks think that the summer is the best time to come out, but the wolves are so hot, they don't move and all you see are ears in the tall grass.

Playgroup at our house

Today was our day to host the playgroup. Sorry but no pictures....I was too busy chatting and playing hostess! Lauren did really well today with 6 little visitors! This was a first having multiple kiddos playing with her toys. It was good that the cousins were here this last week to help prep her for today! Lauren was ready to leave this morning. As we were getting ready she kept saying "Buh Bye?" And I had to explain to her multiple times that her friends were coming here. It wasn't until they started showing up, that she finally got it! She was fine until the kids started taking stuff out of her toy box she hasn't played with in months. Then she of course wanted to play with it! But we powered through it. There was lots of jumping on the trampoline, riding horses and block building. And as every playgroup, Lauren attached herself to Logan. She loves it when he scares her...and he finds it equally amusing. It was great and mommy is getting her own social time. It's been really nice to meet some wonderful women. I'm finally feeling part of their circle and it's nice to have some acquaintances in Washington now! Hopefully next time I'll get some pics!

Is Papa Famous??

So last night daddy and mommy were watching a movie. Lauren woke up from a cat nap and started pointing at the t.v. saying "Papa Eddie! Papa Eddie!" Turns out she thinks that Papa Eddie is really famous movie actor......get ready for this.....Bruce Willis! And let me tell ya, Papa Eddie was really kicking some butt in this movie! I can kind of see what she was talking about...except for the fact that Papa Eddie has facial hair.

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium Visit

Friday, Lauren and I took Cousins Sydney and Sam and Auntie B to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma. Very neat place...smaller than most....but VERY clean. We couldn't have picked a nicer day! It was blue sky and made it too the mid-50's.

Here's Lauren and I at the Zoo. We actually took this picture at the end and Lauren desperately needed a nap.

Here's Auntie B and her kiddos, Samuel and Sydney. This was taken at the beginning and they were amped to get started! Lauren calls Beth, Auntie B....but on this trip somehow she turned into "More Mom". I guess it makes since I'm "mom" and Beth has kids so she's another mother!

Lauren with the elephants. At home elephants are all she can talk about....but they were pretty lame at the zoo. They were sleeping. Most animals were sleeping in the sun. Since we haven't had a lot of it, they were enjoying it while they could!

They were Asian elephants which are also smaller than the African ones....looks like we are going to have to go to a bigger zoo.

Here's the Sumatran Tigers. Jaya is the mommy and she has 2 ten month old cubs, Bima and Mali. They too were sleeping. Super cute though!

Lauren checking out some Asian porcupine and some monkeys. The porcupines walked right by the window which was pretty cool.

Leaving Asian and on to the aquarium. Sydney was a good extra set of hands to have on deck!

The North American aquarium was one of Lauren's favorite exhibits. She kept saying "Fish! Fish!"

We then went to a salt water aquarium trying to find the sharks. It was a very neat set-up so that the kids were eye-level with lots of fish.

Then we found the sharks!!! This was Sam's favorite and Lauren enjoyed it too. But she started screaming when the sharks would swim by her or at her. Everyone thought it was funny so of course she was "performing" for awhile. It was like we were in the movie Jaws!

The water was so clean and the sharks were very healthy. It was great for the kids and I don't think they really wanted to move on.

A seahorse. Weird little creatures. When I told Lauren it was a seahorse, she said "Horse?" As if to say "That is not any horse I've ever seen!"

Getting ate by a great white!

Everyone meet E.T. He was huge! We got there just in time for feeding and saw his do a few "tricks". He has lived at the zoo since he was found in Alaska by oil riggers abandoned in 1982. About a year ago he weighed 4200 pounds. But last summer he got two new girlfriends, Joan and Basilla, delivered by FedEx from a Chicago Zoo. So he has lost a 1000 pounds!!! They are in hopes to start a breeding program. But since a walrus has a gestation of 16 months....it will be awhile before we find out. We will definitely be back to see the proud papa if that happens. He had a soft spot in mommy's heart!

A seal from a different tank. The water looked so inviting!

Here's ET under water. He was awesome. I don't know about the kids...but I could have stayed down there with him all day!

At the walrus tank! Finally a good picture of all 3 (with a little help from photoshop!).


E.T. being shy! You gotta love this guy!

More sleeping animals!

The frogs in the Arctic fox exhibit were VERY noisy and active though!

The Arctic Fox. We decided this one looked like Biscuit and we called it a "she". She was really interested in Sam and at one time we questioned the length of the mote!

This is a huge debate in our house. So...to be clear....scientifically speaking Reindeer and Caribou are the same critter. However, they are called different names based on where they live....so North American ones are Caribou and the rest are Reindeer.

Muskox. These were the first Muskox Sam had ever seen...and of course now he wants to hunt Muskox.

Finally we hit up the carousel. Sydney on her Beluga whale.

Samuel on his horse!

Lauren on her pony with Auntie B. If I would have know what was going to happen next....I would have been on there with her.

The carousel started going and on the second rotation, she screamed "MAMA!" Then I saw her bright red face and tears. Then she started pointing to the lady running it when she pass her and said "OFF NOW!" It was short and Lauren lived! But we won't be doing that again any time soon! Sorry Auntie B!

It was a great trip. The kids all had fun. It was a beautiful day. And we got to meet a super cool walrus named E.T. Thanks guys for visiting! We'll have to do it again this summer.

Randoms from the weekend

Friday night, daddy got home from a unusual week on the road. At about 9 p.m. we had a power outage....no wind or storm and we still aren't sure exactly what happened. But as soon as I pulled out the candles, Lauren said "My Birthday!" So we pretended (what else are you going to do during a power outage!) and blew a few of them out. I think she's viewed the original Disney cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland and all of the "Unbirthdays" they have!


Lauren also has a little bit of OCD already. She normally lines up all of her magnetic letters on the refrigerator to make a "choo choo". However lately she's even been color coding them in rows. I only wish the living room and her bedroom stayed this neat!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

When Papa Eddie visited last week he brought Lauren this "Irish Princess" crown. I'm sure that Nana Julie gets the credit! She thinks it's funny to wear....but hysterical when Daddy wears it!

Lauren's First Haircut

Can you believe that Lauren is 2.5 years old and just had her first haircut tonight? Well believe it. It needed evened up so she had an all over trim. The place I found in Tumwater was so cute. It's called Jack and Jill's and is just for kids. They have TVs playing cartoons everywhere and Wonder Pets just happened to be on! Lauren got to choose where she wanted to sit, which she chose the very girlie Barbie Jeep.

Kimber did a GREAT job with adjusting to miss antsy pants! She was extremely patient and it was a joy to take her there.


And the finished product! Lauren got a little bow in her hair and some "pixie dust" just like Tinkerbelle (aka glitter).


Very happy with her new style! I love that her curls have more bounce! Notice Dougie riding shot gun. He sat with her about halfway through. He even got a matching bow on his ear!!

Since she was so good she got a "cake"....it was a strawberry shortcake dum dum lollipop.

She likes her hair so much, that I can't give her a bath tonight. So it looks like the Pixie Dust will last another day!

Preschool Already? Not quite.....

On Monday, Lauren and I attended a Preschool open house for one of the local co-ops. With Lauren's birthday falling where it does, she will always be one of the older kiddos in her class. So if we started preschool next year, she would be there for three years. The open house was verification that she's not quite ready for that type of setting. She had a lot of fun and didn't want to leave....but she wasn't ready to be "instructed".....she's still being a typical toddler!

She did 2 different paintings....here's the progression of this one.


She liked making different colors with the primary colors.


She was very pleased with herself at this point.

Telling me to "look" at her painting.

Beautiful Lauren....very abstract.

At the end of the preschool, they were able to go outside once it stopped raining. She had a lot of fun on the play equipment as always!

We may go back in August for the next open house to see if she's progressed, but then again we'll probably just wait another year. There's always multiple trips to the Children's Museum AND play groups opportunities for socialization!

Riding Bucky

Just thought I'd share what we are doing on this rainy windy miserable day. Lauren has yet to name her spring horse, but I think mine was Bucky...so that's what we are going with for now. Not sure if you can hear in the video but she says "Yee Haw!" And if anyone knows where to pick up a more appropriate sized cowboy hat for our cowgirl....please share!

It's funny because I can hear her get on Bucky in her room but after a few minutes I hear "MAMA, HELP DOWN!!!!"

Our busy Tuesday

Yesterday we had our play group in Olympia. The house we were at had made homemade play dough which was much better than the store bought stuff. Lauren loved it. As always she had a lot of fun and didn't want to leave. We ran a couple errands in which Lauren took her nap in the jogging stroller in a store since she was so wore out from playing with the other kiddos.

Once we got home she had already power napped, so she was ready for the rest of her day. We had bought Bambi in which she wanted to watch. Here she is laughing at the part where baby Bambi falls in the pond....I love her laugh. But once the part happened where Bambi's mom died (sorry for that spoiler for those of you who have lived under a rock since 1942!)....she pointed at the t.v. and said "OFF!"

Here's a picture that Lauren drew. I tried to get her to explain to me what it is of, but she was pretty vague even in her own language. There was some "green" and "blue", so I'm assuming it was grass and sky, but she has a GREAT imagination so who knows!

Lauren fell asleep in her bean bag chair in the early evening. Too much fun and not a long enough nap. Which was sad because she was asleep when daddy and Papa Eddie got home from their concealed weapon class and didn't even acknowledge they were home. But she was up this morning for breakfast with them. And 2 hours after Papa Eddie left she asked "Where Papa Eddie?" In which I told her that he went home. Lauren replied "Papa Eddie" all whiny and sad. Poor kid!

Work Day

We've already been outside today picking up limbs and brush. Daddy got Spring Fever yesterday and dumped a few trees that were cluttering the back acre. So this morning we were outside picking up the mess. Lauren was helpful at first picking up limbs and throwing them on the pile. But the hill was too much to climb (it's not a hill but our drain field build up!). So instead she played with sticks saying "Heya!" when Daddy or Mommy approached her and she'd say "Touchdown" when Daddy or Mommy threw another limb on the pile. She's seen the old Karate Kid movie too many times and watched too much NFL this year!


Lauren was ready to work with her Wonder Pet gloves on!


But then a glove fell off and I helped her put it back on she was shaking. I said "Are you cold?" She didn't answer. So I picked up her up and went to take her inside.....in which she responded with a pat on my back and said "Thank you mama!" So polite. She didn't want to interrupt our work day!