Riverbanks Zoo

This last Saturday we got a chance to go to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia.  Alden has been asking to go to the zoo for the last month and we finally got a chance to go as a family.  I had actually gone earlier that week with some friends from the ward and then we got to go with Drew on Saturday.  We also got to meet up with a friend from Drew's mission which was a lot of fun!  Alden loved the zoo and loved having kids to run around with.  Anders enjoyed the trip, he just wished that we had let him out to walk around more on his own while we were there.

I have already realized, after being here for a week and a half, that the weather in Columbia can often get much hotter and more humid than I like but we got really lucky while we were at the zoo.  There was a storm coming in later that night but it meant that the weather was actually quite cool while we were at the zoo and the rain didn't start until we were leaving.  We had a great time at the zoo and it was nice to see an old friend!  Here are just a few pictures from our day at the zoo.

 We got to see the brand new sea lion exhibit the day after it opened.  Anders was tired when we got to the zoo so he was happy to rest in the stroller for awhile. 

 We found somewhere very familiar!  Drew and I found it funny that we traveled all the way across the country to see a couple sea lions in captivity when we can see tons in the wild all the time in California.

 The kids loved watching the sea lions swim around.

 The have a neat kangaroo exhibit that you actually get to walk through the enclosure with the kangaroos and wallabies.  They were all resting when we were there but I am excited to go back and hopefully see them jumping around.

 Sorry that the pictures are not very good (I forgot my camera and only had my phone).  These were some pretty cool monkeys.

 This is looking out at the elephant exhibit.

Alden got to ride on a little train with our friend's kids and he was so excited!

Daddy and Anders watched us go around on the train.

Then as we came off the train there was a snake in the middle of the trail that was poised ready to attack.  Drew had to get it to move out of the way with a stick.  Drew told us that this snake and a squirrel had been fighting while we were on the train.  He apparently had a great time watching them!

 The chimpanzees were fascinating while we were there.  They were swinging around and screeching really loudly the whole time we were there.  We all really enjoyed watching them!

 Alden was really happy to get a rid from Daddy later on.

 The tiger was not very active, but just resting when we first saw him.

 Alden was so excited to go on the carousel.

 They also have a giant splash pad at the zoo that we let the kids play on for awhile at the end.  Anders loved it and was not happy when it was time to leave!  He kept wanting to run back into the water again.

Our friend was nice enough to take a picture of me and prove that I was there too!

 When we left the splash pad we went to take the tram that connects the splash pad to the zoo but they told us it was broken so we had to walk down the hill back to the zoo.  We were just glad we were walking down and not up.

 The zoo was getting ready to close when we left the splash pad but we saw a couple animals on our way out.  The koala was just waking up and starting to move around a little.

 The tiger was up roaming around and Alden loved watching it for a couple minutes before we had to go.

This was the front plaza that was almost empty by the time we got back to it.  It was actually nice that the zoo was fairly empty on our way out.  We had a great time at the zoo and I am so glad that we got to spend the day there together as a family and with friends!

We Made It!

So, anyone out there who reads my blog is probably wondering why I haven't posted much...or pretty much anything for the last month.  Well, it has to do a lot with moving all the way across the country, from Washington to South Carolina and taking a two week vacation in the middle of that.  Although we had a lot of fun traveling I can now honestly say that I am glad we made it and are in our apartment, so that we can get settled and be stable...at least for a few months.

Now that we are here I will be going back and filling in the other blog posts but I wanted to get at least one up for now just to show that we arrived and we have our stuff.  These are just a few pictures from the day we moved in.  By the time they had brought everything in we felt like we were drowning in boxes!

This was partway through them bringing stuff in...the piles got higher :/ 

 When everything left our house in Washington they just loaded it on a 53 foot truck and it only took a little over half the space in the truck.  Then when they brought it to us here they brought it in crates and so it took 3 trucks...Looking at all the trucks Drew and I were both feeling like we needed to get rid of a lot. (Luckily some of the crates were pretty empty)

 Alden did a good job of helping to entertain his brother while Drew and I were helping to supervise the guys as they unpacked and brought everything inside.

However, Anders is getting much more mobile and so we had to keep a pretty close eye on him the whole time.  He got himself stuck like this when I turned my back just for a second.  I had to take pictures because it was a little funny. 

It was really cute because even when he was stuck like this he would still turn around to try and play with his toys.  It was definitely an eventful day getting everything delivered but all of our things made it here and we are just glad we can now get unpacked and feel like we have a home again...even if it is only until October.

Cross Country Drive

With Drew now being re-stationed to Fort Jackson in South Carolina we got to do a drive across the country to get there.  When I first thought of doing this with two little kids it seemed very daunting, and if you asked me to do it again I would feel the same way, but we did it and we did it without a ton of issues.  The biggest thing was that Alden got bored pretty quickly.  I can't say that I blame him because we were in the car for an average of 6 hours a day for 6 days.  We did make a lot of stops to get out and stretch our legs and look at different things but it was still long.

It was so nice that my mom offered to come with us on the drive so that we would have one extra driver to rotate with so that there could always be someone helping the kids while the other two people drove.  It would have been so much harder without my mom and I am so grateful for her help.

In the course of our drive we drove through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and then finally South Carolina.  We drove to Utah in two days before our trip to Hawaii and then when we got back to Utah we left from there and drove the rest of the way in 6 days.  We traveled through 14 states in three weeks.  It was definitely a lot of traveling but it was an interesting experience and I am glad that I got to drive all the way across the country at least once in my life.

We made sure to stop at a few interesting places along our drive including the Gateway Arch, Liberty Jail, Fort Bridger, and the Biltmore Estate.  We also stopped at a lot of rest stops and enjoyed the pools at a few of the hotels that we stayed at.  It was a memorable trip that ended up not being as bad as it could have been with how much driving we had to do.  Here are a few pictures from some of the stops along our drive.

This was a stop in Laramie, Wyoming that was freezing cold.  At one point this monument marked the highest point on the Lincoln Memorial Highway.

There was fresh snow all over and still very, very cold.  We hit a hail storm soon after we left this stop.

Anders was excited to get down for a little bit in the rest stop in Wyoming.

These are some pictures of the scenery along the highway in Wyoming.

Alden had tons to snack on and do while we were driving.

This was some of the very boring scenery from Nebraska.

One of the hotels we stayed at had a really nice pool with a blocked off shallow end.  The kids loved splashing around in the water and playing!

Almost every night of the drive Grandma would sit down and read a couple stories to the boys at the end of the day.

Alden enjoying breakfast at one of the hotels with his owl from Mimi.

Anders found a new favorite book on this drive that he liked having Grandma read to him.

Alden got tired and annoyed after a few days on the road and would hide under his blanket.  However, he was pretty well behaved considering how much driving we did.

We stopped at Liberty jail in Missouri one day and toured the site there.  It was really interesting and cool to visit such a special place.

We went to an Italian restaurant one night and the boys just wanted to eat the bread sticks.

Alden with his bread stick.

We drove past the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  We didn't have time to stop but it was cool to see it.

Driving over the Mississippi River.

We finally made it to Tennessee...Just 3 more states.

The night we stayed in Knoxville, TN Alden decided he wanted to have his own space and so he decided he wanted to sleep in the closet.  He was so excited to sleep there!

 Alden's headphones broke about half-way through the drive so we had to get him new ones.  Luckily, these penguin ones were on sale and he liked them.

Anders loves bath time but since we didn't have any toys we let him play with empty soda bottles.

We had a deck at our last hotel before we got to Columbia and the kids enjoyed sitting out there with Grandma in the morning.

I finally took a picture of Anders sleeping when we got to Columbia because I thought it was really cute and a little funny.

After we got to Columbia but before my mom left we decided to take her to a Southern Barbecue restaurant.  It was yummy and a good way to end our time (for now) with Grandma.  I am so glad that she was able to come help us drive across the country and that we all made it safely with no big mishaps.