the la brea tar pits

just obsessed with this wall photo.

we had a great time with mimi and grandpa at the la brea tar pits a couple weeks ago!  the girls loved running around and looking at all the "dinosaurs" (according to hazel), although they were really ice-age animals, like the wooley mammoth, saber-tooth tigers, and a giant sloth? (see statue below.)

i promise we go on outings other than disney...

venice

a few weeks ago, we wanted delicious breakfast sandwhiches, but they were a little out of our way.  so we decided to head up there anyway and make a day of it.  venice was fun.  it was fun to walk down the boardwalk and see all the street vendor's wares, watch the skateboarders and surfboarders, and play on the playground at the beach.  we had a blast.  but one can only take so much weed smell!  so it made me really glad of where we live.  if venice was the closest beach to us, i don't think i would ever go without john.  i'm so glad we live in such a family-friendly, beautiful area, and i can take the girls for a mid-week dig in the sand anytime.  we are living the dream.

santa monica.

well, it's funny how things start to make a lot more sense over time.  after my last blog post, i realized that i HAD A FEVER.  yep.  our house was 90 degrees and i was barely hanging on because my body was fighting something.  

any bug the girls get, i also get.  {or vice versa}.  it hit cora the hardest, but she is finally acting a little bit happier today.  {nothing we can do about that nasty cough though!}

so since we are pretty much stuck inside today, i am reminiscing about two saturdays ago, which was a day equally relaxing and productive and fun.  just how a weekend should be.  we did some unpacking, and then drove up to santa monica to enjoy the pier and 3rd street promenade.  hazel got to ride a couple rides and we visited the cute little aquarium.  we topped it off with dinner at our new favorite pizza place, 800 degrees.

the zoo!

we went to the zoo, and i'm obsessed.

brooklyn birthdays!

last saturday we went to brooklyn to celebrate our cousin claire and aunt janessa's birthday!  it was so much fun!  we rode jane's carousel, took pictures by the brooklyn bridge, ate at julianna's, ate birthday cake and just hung out.  hazel had the best time.  we feel so so lucky to have family living so close!  thanks for inviting us, brunts!

the best view of any city park, ever?^^^

if cora mae doesn't look happy in a photo, it is most likely a fluke.  she always looks like this^^^

the pizza dreams are made of:

 just a view of downtown on our way to brooklyn.  nbd.
also, we discovered on this day that cora knows how to use a straw.  what!?!

zoo days

here's a bunch of photos from our weekly outings at the zoo!

on the train - it's the first thing we do every time.

hazel loved holding the bird.  she was so calm and careful with it - it was sweet!

we love having friends come with us to the zoo.  

zoo for days!

when we first moved out here, i bought a zoo pass to the little zoo near us.  it's only a 15-minute drive from our house and the perfect size for a 1 or 2 hour outing.  plus, hazel asks to go to the "zooon!" every. single. day.  needless to say, we go a lot.  

these pictures are actually from two different zoo days.  a penguin came right up to hazel to chat, and cora got an up-close look at the fish.  (hazel also asks for "nemo" the second we get into the zoo.

"we're on the train!" - hazel

cora, smiling at her sister moving up and down on the carousel.
this time, hazel chose the tiger:

we are now securely in the phase of weird smiles when i tell her to smile for a picture.  it's amazing.

the turtleback zoo:

we have had such an amazing and crazy couple of weeks!  we have been going and going and i am pretty exhausted at this life trying to be a fun mom to my girls and sometimes i feel like i am going just fall over dead but i am so blissfully happy with this life of ours.  life is good, God is good.  anyways, we had a great time at the zoo last week.

hazel thought this giant cow was pretty cool, and loved standing up in front of it!

not happy at all ;)

and hazel chose the bald eagle on the carousel!

yesterday, we went to the zoo.

and it was so incredibly fun, and so incredibly hard.  my two-year-old is testing limits in every possible way these days!  but i love her to pieces.  who would have thought that a toddler would be more challenging than a 3-month-old?  not me!

 this is us, on the train.

hazel was in absolute heaven on the train, and she also loved "nemo" and feeding the birds!

but we were SUPER suspicious of the penguin chart.  it was too funny.  so glad we get to go to the zoo anytime we want and have these fun memories!  love my girls so much.

the dallas children's aquarium.

yesterday we went to meet john for lunch at one of the places on "the list" - meaning, a place we have to eat at one last time before we move on thursday.  eeek!

so since we were close to the children's aquarium, i decided on a whim to take the girls to it after lunch.  i am so glad i made the effort.  hazel is obsessed with animals and particularly loves things in water.  plus, she is repeating everything i say these days so i can teach her the names of things!  hurray!  we came home and watched finding nemo to solidify my teachings ;)

so i made a quick video of our little adventure.  it's not professional or even well-done, but it took me 20 minutes to make and i'll get to have our day recorded in a special way.  plus, hazel will watch it on repeat for an hour on my phone so i can get things done around the house ;)

The Children's Aquarium from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.