I apologize for not posting anything recently. Summer has been getting away from me!
Two weekends ago BP, LP and I took a trip to PA to visit Nana and Pappy. It was quite an exciting trip with lots of "firsts" for the little guy!
LP was great in the car as usual. Even though he was awake for 5 out of the 6 hour trip he behaved well and didn't fuss too much which was great.
We arrived in PA on Thursday afternoon. Friday morning we decided to take LP to the Lehigh Valley Zoo. When I was little we used to go to the zoo pretty regularly, although it was called Trexler Game Preserve back then. It's pretty much the same now as it was back then, at least as far as I can remember. It's a small zoo, the most exotic animals they have are a few zebras, but they have a great petting zoo area and it's not crowded or overwhelming for a toddler.
Pappy and LP checking out the penguins.
A river otter showing off.
With Nana and Pappy
Petting the goats.
Brushing the goat's hair. I think this was LP's favorite part of the whole day!
Feeding the goats wasn't quite as much fun for LP- I think they scared him a bit!
We saw some mommy kangaroos with their young. The kangaroo on the left is actually the baby and is trying to get back into his mother's pouch. It was pretty wild to see him squirm his way in there. They actually let us into the enclosure where the kangaroos live- all that was between us was a single rope.
With Daddy- look at those rosy cheeks- it was hot hot hot!!
One of LP's favorite animals- the "zooey" (aka Zebra)
Looking at a sleeping camel with Mommy
After a long hot morning at the zoo (followed by lunch in downtown Bethlehem where we were unknowingly filmed by a television crew and on the local news later as "tourists staying at the local hotel") we spent the afternoon in Nana and Pappy's pool:
Little Paul and I are doing Mommy and Me Swim Class at the YMCA this summer so he's slowly getting more comfortable in the water. He LOVES playing in his bath or in the backyard with a bucket of water, the sprinkler, or the house but the pool is a bit overwhelming.
On Saturday we visited with Uncle Russ and Cousin Gayle (where I forgot to take any pictures- darn!) and then Pappy told us he had a surprise for Little Paul later in the afternoon. The only hint he would give us ahead of time was that it was loud, something that my brothers and I had done as kids, and something that made some of us cry when we were little. He eventually told us that we were going to take LP to the Tatamy Firemen's Parade.
Tatamy is a small town near where I grew up (technically it's just a borough I think, population around 1000) where they have a fireman's parade every summer. All of the local fire departments send their trucks over and they parade through the town, throwing candy to the kids and running their sirens. We weren't too sure how LP would do with the noise as it can be rather startling (not to mention really LOUD!) but thought we'd find out!
We got to Tatamy about half an hour before the parade was supposed to start as my dad was worried about the crowds. LP took the picture below (he's obsessed with the camera) which proves that there was really no reason to worry:
He took this photo of Paul too while we were waiting for the parade:
Finally, after staking out our prime spots on the curb for more than an hour (it's a veeerrrrry slow moving parade and we were sitting towards the end of the route) we saw the trucks coming!
LP was so busy eating the lollipop one of the firemen gave him that he didn't care at all about the noise.
And he got a little excited about the trucks and the parade but was mostly just focused on his candy:
Unfortunately we'd forgotten that the parade moves really slowly and had parked on the inside of the parade route and so couldn't leave until the parade was over. The parade lasted more than 2 hours which was a bit more than some of us could really take! (If we ever go again we'll keep this in mind and make sure to park OUTSIDE of the parade route and to sit closer to the start of the parade).
And so LP had his first trip to the zoo and his first parade while we were visiting Nana and Pappy. We all had a great time! Little Paul behaved nicely in the car on the way home too!
Two weekends ago BP, LP and I took a trip to PA to visit Nana and Pappy. It was quite an exciting trip with lots of "firsts" for the little guy!
LP was great in the car as usual. Even though he was awake for 5 out of the 6 hour trip he behaved well and didn't fuss too much which was great.
We arrived in PA on Thursday afternoon. Friday morning we decided to take LP to the Lehigh Valley Zoo. When I was little we used to go to the zoo pretty regularly, although it was called Trexler Game Preserve back then. It's pretty much the same now as it was back then, at least as far as I can remember. It's a small zoo, the most exotic animals they have are a few zebras, but they have a great petting zoo area and it's not crowded or overwhelming for a toddler.
Pappy and LP checking out the penguins.
A river otter showing off.
With Nana and Pappy
Petting the goats.
Brushing the goat's hair. I think this was LP's favorite part of the whole day!
Feeding the goats wasn't quite as much fun for LP- I think they scared him a bit!
We saw some mommy kangaroos with their young. The kangaroo on the left is actually the baby and is trying to get back into his mother's pouch. It was pretty wild to see him squirm his way in there. They actually let us into the enclosure where the kangaroos live- all that was between us was a single rope.
With Daddy- look at those rosy cheeks- it was hot hot hot!!
One of LP's favorite animals- the "zooey" (aka Zebra)
Looking at a sleeping camel with Mommy
After a long hot morning at the zoo (followed by lunch in downtown Bethlehem where we were unknowingly filmed by a television crew and on the local news later as "tourists staying at the local hotel") we spent the afternoon in Nana and Pappy's pool:
Little Paul and I are doing Mommy and Me Swim Class at the YMCA this summer so he's slowly getting more comfortable in the water. He LOVES playing in his bath or in the backyard with a bucket of water, the sprinkler, or the house but the pool is a bit overwhelming.
On Saturday we visited with Uncle Russ and Cousin Gayle (where I forgot to take any pictures- darn!) and then Pappy told us he had a surprise for Little Paul later in the afternoon. The only hint he would give us ahead of time was that it was loud, something that my brothers and I had done as kids, and something that made some of us cry when we were little. He eventually told us that we were going to take LP to the Tatamy Firemen's Parade.
Tatamy is a small town near where I grew up (technically it's just a borough I think, population around 1000) where they have a fireman's parade every summer. All of the local fire departments send their trucks over and they parade through the town, throwing candy to the kids and running their sirens. We weren't too sure how LP would do with the noise as it can be rather startling (not to mention really LOUD!) but thought we'd find out!
We got to Tatamy about half an hour before the parade was supposed to start as my dad was worried about the crowds. LP took the picture below (he's obsessed with the camera) which proves that there was really no reason to worry:
He took this photo of Paul too while we were waiting for the parade:
Finally, after staking out our prime spots on the curb for more than an hour (it's a veeerrrrry slow moving parade and we were sitting towards the end of the route) we saw the trucks coming!
LP was so busy eating the lollipop one of the firemen gave him that he didn't care at all about the noise.
And he got a little excited about the trucks and the parade but was mostly just focused on his candy:
Unfortunately we'd forgotten that the parade moves really slowly and had parked on the inside of the parade route and so couldn't leave until the parade was over. The parade lasted more than 2 hours which was a bit more than some of us could really take! (If we ever go again we'll keep this in mind and make sure to park OUTSIDE of the parade route and to sit closer to the start of the parade).
And so LP had his first trip to the zoo and his first parade while we were visiting Nana and Pappy. We all had a great time! Little Paul behaved nicely in the car on the way home too!
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