The Baccus Family

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

August 13th - The Minnesota Zoo

Today we went to the Minnesota Zoo. With Holly and Espen as our guides, we first checked out the new exhibit - Russia's Grizzly Coast. The bear exhibit was beautiful. They would swim and wander right up to the glass. The leopard was beautiful too.

We took a trip on the monorail as well. Before our trip, I had told Jack all about the monorail at the zoo and that we would go right over the animals. Then in Dallas during our layover, we took an elevated train to the terminal of our connecting flight. When we got off the train, Jack was very upset. I stopped to ask him what was wrong and he said, "But I didn't see any animals!!!"

When we told Joel about our trip to the zoo, he remembered that my Dad's business made some parts for the monorail. He remembers our Dad talking about walking on the monorail track before the zoo opened way back in 1978.

We had to check Jack's wingspan - not quite as big as a Canadian Goose.

The boys loved setting up the kiddie chairs like a train.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

August 12th - Minnesota trip day 1 - Flying

Today we flew to Minnesota. We flew through Dallas and had enough time over the layover to have a nice lunch. Jack and Ronny sat in the row in front of Charlie and Mommy, so this was often the view from the back row.

We downloaded some TV episodes from iTunes so Jack was able to get his in-air Dora fix.

Ah, happily back at Grandma's house...

Grandma got out Uncle Joel's Matchbox cars from the 1970's and the boys had a great time playing with them.

Grandma had this great little trampoline that the boys fought over every day. It was a good lesson in sharing.

August 10th - Your backyard friends, the Backyardigans

We went to see Backyardigans Live. It was a fun show - styled just like a musical with changing scenery. The TV show on Noggin is one of my favorites. Each show has different music in different styles like tango, polka, or zydeco. Each show starts and ends in their backyard and then they travel to imaginary places for the rest of the story.

Jack has developed a fear of loud noises, but he feels much better wearing the muffs that I bought for him for last year's air show. It makes all the difference.

August 9th - Baccus Birthdays

We went to Nana and Papa's house to celebrate some Baccus birthdays - Shelley's on the 1st, Papa's on the 8th, Ronny's on the 9th (today), and Nana's on the 12th.