We had a great time.  Here’s us gearing up in the parking lot.  Woo hoo!

You can already see Tessa eyeballing Nora’s toy.  Get ready for grabfest Kansas City-zoo-style.

The elephants were awesome.  We got so close.  They were “painting” pictures by spraying paint with their trunks on paper held by the zookeeper.  Cool.

Birds.  Lots of birds.

There was this cute little shelter with a big wooden rocking chair overlooking the lake.  Who needs to travel to Lake Tahoe for a vacation if you have the KC Zoo!?!

Sooooo fun.

We got some snacks.  Yum, keys at the zoo are delicious.

Those were some FAT hippos.  Likely they had too many snacks, too.

The zebras, giraffes and a rhino were all in one, relatively large area.  The giraffes kept charging the zebras who were just trying to get to the lake.  It was fun to watch the animals RUNNING around but it seemed a little stressful for the zebras.  I don’t think Zookeeper Bob got the memo on African rivalries because at one point the giraffes had the zebras cornered and we weren’t sure they were going to get to have a drink that day.  Yikes.

More fun—paci-style.

Check out that kitty cat.  Meow.  This was the ultimate stare-down.  Tessa blinked first.

By the end of the day we all fell asleep.  I highly recommend the KC Zoo to anyone who enjoys walking.  The zoo was beautiful and we got to see a lot of animals but a hot day would probably be tough on the parents and the kids.

After hours and hours of “peek-a-boo” the girls have caught on and are playing it on their own!  Check it out…

Where’s Noooooraaaaa???????

THERE SHE IS.  Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee.

Where’s Noooooraaaaa???????

THERE SHE IS.  Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee.

WHERE’S NOOOOORAAAA????

This goes on for hours.  So cute.

Sometimes they don’t actually cover their face but just put their head down and close their eyes.  So very cute.

A couple of weeks ago we were at a restaurant and some guy was really upset about his meal and making a scene at the restaurant.  The girls started playing “peek-a-boo” in their seats and it put the whole place in a better mood.  Loving this…

First off–the race is definitely on.  Tessa is army-crawling along at a rapid pace.  And even though the girls are genetically identical Nora has a totally different mode of transportation.  We call it “the inch”.  She’s really getting good at it.

It begins much like the “plank” position in Pilates.

Then she pulls up her knees so she’s on all fours.

Then she pushes off with her knees on to her belly (oof!)

And volia!  She’s reached her destination.

We call her “inchy” for short.  It’s cute.

For awhile we donned our head bows, but they were too tempting to grab (plus Tessa got a headache–just kidding).  Check out the BOOTIES!

We had a test drive of the bows before gearing up.

We got to hang out with Aunt Gana, too!  So fun.

Hope everyone had a terrific weekend!

However, I will leave you with this little gem:

Does anyone feel a breeze in here?  Who put this diaper on this baby?  You are just asking for an explosion.

We try never to disappoint…

A stellar prize to whomever can guess the baby in this picture (photographer guessing excluded!).

We have a few million things going on after our long (but fun) Easter weekend including: a gut remodel of our main hall bathroom while Barbara tries to care for the kids at home, two cavity fillings today (me, not the girls, although they have enough teeth to buck a horse—I don’t know what that means), a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Herring, meetings, meetings and more meetings, real estate closings, closings and more closings, preparation for a “pseudo-vacation” next week, not to mention laundry, grocery shopping, car-washing, potato-peeling, car-racing…where was I going with this?

Oh, Easter pictures forthcoming.  Thank you for your patience…

All things considering (which is a lot in Frankie’s case), Frankie has adjusted fairly well to the newest members of the Herring “pack”.  Frankie has always been a pretty mellow dog and so he mostly just wants to be around all of us.  Until now, the girls had very little interest in Frankie—occasionally watching him mosey across the room or out in the backyard.  But now that the crawl is ON the girls like to, um, gently pet Frankie.

Hello, Nora.  Playing on the floor?

Yes, mommy–I’m just hanging out.

What’s this?  Frankie?  My, he is close.  Close enough to…

GRAB A FISTFUL OF HAIR!

Frankie took off behind the couch.  (No photo captured of the grand escape as the camera was thrown to the floor to prevent further bloodshed and/or a snack of doggy quaff.)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Easter!

We’ll see you on the flip side.

…the ol’ stand-by “the reach” had failed her…

…she complained, she grouched…

…desperation set in…

…and then Nora dug her heals in…

…and pushed off!  Nora crawls!!!!

Congratulations, baby Nora.  We knew you had it in you.

In other news…mom and dad are freaked!  TWO CRAWLING BABIES!!!