Boordy with Gabby and horses

We invited Gabby and Kim and Gina to Boordy.  Andrew and Tony bowl on Thursday nights and Michael had an event so it was a plan.

Before Kim or the other adults realized it, Connor was kind enough to give Gabby her 1st taste of chocolate.  It was a chocolate chip teddy graham and she definitely liked it.  We had to keep a close eye on him because she obviously was willing to eat more and he aims to please.

Jackson only stays with us for a short period of time before heading down to check in on the band. 

Gabby girl working her fine motor skills while balancing on a hill.

Connor loves her so much and wanted to make sure he got extra kisses.

Jackson, on the other hand, looked at her exit as a way to get up close and personal with the band.

On our way out, the boys were adamant that there was a horse fence so we stopped to check it out and they were right.

Horses grazing in a meadow are a beautiful sight at sunset. 

What a fun way to end our night at Boordy. If these smiles do not say it -- horses are a big hit with the Stanley twins.  They LOVE it at Boordy.  There is music, the big hill to run up and down, the ice cream and the horses....what else could you want.

Guided tour of the Maryland Zoo at Baltimore

We were at the zoo, which is in our general rotation of places to go, and the boys requested the following photos to remember our day at the zoo.  Our route is the same every time that we go so it makes it easier when we get separated by a bit.  Connor spends more time at the exhibits than Jackson depending on the animal but they both still thoroughly enjoy the zoo.

If we do not check out the Children's Zoo, we head up the hill to check in on the polar bears. We are always hoping to see the polar bears swimming as they always show pictures of the bears swimming.  We have not gotten lucky yet but we will continue checking in on them.  We do a lot of encouraging for our part in the adventure.

We got the opportunity to see the new Eagle.

The boys went under the rope to negotiate a closer view of the  eagle.  

Next up were the rhinos and ostrich.  Unfortunately, the zebras were not visible. 

We ventured in to the aviary to catch up with the spoonbills and ducks.  Fairly confident that the only reason that the boys request to walk in is to find some more poop from the spoonbills.   I do my best to give them as much information on the other birds as I can squeeze in during our time in the aviary.

The zoo just added a hornbill to the exhibit with the kudu and gazelles.  The bird is beautiful and often hard to find since it tends to spend time close to the wall. 

We spotted the cheetah along the gate and what happened next confirmed the best reason to take pictures requested by the boys today. The cheetah put on a display of walking around the perimeter of his exhibit and spent some time walking in front of the glass.  Everyone near the exhibit stood in awe as it was awesome to see the cheetah that close. 

 We stopped by to check in the penguins on Rock Island before they moved in to their new exhibit.

After the penguins and a quick view of the camel, which we some how never have any money to be able to ride (wink wink), we checked in on the elephants. 

After the elephants and a snack, we walked to the lemur island trail to check out the red ruffed and ringtail.  The lemurs are always putting on a show.

After the lemurs and missing the siafakas, who were off exhibit, we moved on to find Hasaan. 

After a bathroom trip and recovering from the disappointment of not seeing the lion cubs, we explored the monkey house. 

The frogs were moving around every time that the boys moved their hand.  

An awesome view of the crocodiles before exiting after spending some quality time with the sea turtles too.   Connor is ready to move on the chimps and we have to pry Jackson away from the crocs and the turtles. 

It is a good thing that we go so often as it is hard to handle two boys in two different exhibits.  As Connor is now strong enough to open the door to the monkey house, which is heavy, I often find him chatting with a volunteer learning more information about the chimps or asking questions about the other animals. 

We couldn't find the situangas on the way over to the rhinos and ostrich.  We got lucky and spotted them on the way out to the car.