Nina Visits Part I

As you may remember, Jana surprised Elisabeth by coming to visit us the Sunday before Christmas. Because the trip was kind of last minute, we didn't really have anything planned. Just kind of a go-with-the-flow trip.

The weather was beautiful during the day on Monday, so we went to the park.
There was swinging.

And climbing.


And making cute faces.


And leisurely hanging out at the end of the slide.

Elisabeth was a monkey and wouldn't let me take her picture.

But, I managed to get a few.




Then we headed home because I had found out that the zoo was having a special night time extravaganza...



Winter WildLand!!!!

The zoo is open from 5:30-8:30PM and has Christmas lights throughout the zoo with special activities like making gifts for the animals and getting to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. Plus, and this is the bestest part, they had a military price that was only $4.00 per person! So, we totally went!

Our first stop, as always, was the giraffes.



Then we found a snake to pet.

The large cats were all awake and active, which made me the happiest Virginia in the world!!!

We saw a gecko.


And Julia fell in love with this scorpion (because she is a weird, weird girl).



Mrs. Claus stopped by to take a picture with us.




Oh my goodness, we had so much fun. It was cold, but the wind wasn't terrible so we weren't freezing. The girls loved it, and even though we didn't get home until 9:15 and ate a very, very late dinner, it was totally worth the trip!!!!