To the Omaha Zoo Part One

We had an amazing time at the Omaha Zoo a few weeks ago with great friends.  We decided to go on this overnight trip as a homeschooling field trip and a final trip with our friends who are moving to KC in June.  Here are the highlights from the day…

Grace is pretending that this lion statue is ASLAN….riding just like Lucy!

Hannah was getting into it too…. always pretending! 

JP, Caleb and Danny

Off we go exploring the Zoo… Josiah James and Joshua James are best buddies.  This is how they went from place to place… holding hands, giggling and exploring! 

Morgan loves giraffes so here are Hannah and Morgan climbing on a statue!

Our group…7 children and 4 adults!  What a crew!

Best Buddies!

Can we get all seven kids to look at the camera AND smile?

For some reason Hannah just loved his gorilla… she wanted her picture taken!  I guess she thought that he would be snuggly… even if he was only a statue!

Caleb loved all of the water fountains and pools.  He splashed and splashed… making his sweatshirt pretty wet, but I did get smart and roll up his sleeves after I took this picture!

Next we headed to the Seal/Sea Lion exhibit.  They were cleaning their pool which they do once a week.  We egged the man on a little and he sprayed our kids.  They loved it…. well, Siah didn’t, but the rest thought it was fun!  We also got a kick out the seals… they were bending in lots of gymnastic or yoga positions!  The baby was SO CUTE!!

The Dirty Rhino….

And then the howling monkey-things….

And the cute bears… This one was my favorite… he had a great view!

Playing in the dino pit before lunch!

Back on the search for cool animals after lunch…

These are some cute caged animals….

Ring around the world….

Caleb was FASCINATED at all of the aquarium exhibits!

Spring planting

Now that I am sure that we will not be getting more snow, I headed to the store, bought some flowers, and got the kids to help me plant them.   It was a beautiful day on Friday, so I got out the tools and headed to work.  I didn’t anticipate that the kids would want to help like they did, but I was thrilled at their enthusiasm, diligence, and perfection! Now, if we can just transplant the hostas from the side of the house to the front so I can use that bed to plant veggies…

Let’s eat cake!

Last Saturday we celebrated Caleb’s birthday with a YUMMY birthday cake made by Grace and Nanna! It is just shocking to think that it has already been a year since he was born… it truly doesn’t seem real! He is just a fun little boy and is growing and growing everyday!  Yesterday he took 26 steps in a row!  YAHOO!!  What a little man!

Here is the CLEAN before face….

Hannah helped me carry the cake (with a lit candle) to the birthday boy!

He LOVED hearing us sing to him…

There was lots of help to blow out the candles!

Let’s eat!

Now that is how it is done!

Grace, am I doing this right?

Having a BLAST!!!

Hmmmm… what is this blue stuff, anyway?

Blowing raspberries on his arm… cute!

Me and the birthday boy… one year old!

Me and the birthday boy… on the day of his birth (at 2 am!)

It has been quite a year… we love you, Buster!

FEDS Softball

Our family LOVES to be outside.  Before kids, Danny and I loved doing things outside, and we hoped that our kids would follow our lead… They have. Thankfully! Ever since they were babies the outside would calm them down and they would stop being fussy.  It worked like a charm.  I remember last summer taking walks with Caleb after the other kids were in bed… it was the only way to give him a happy nap some evenings!  We love being outside as a family now and one of the ways that we do that is to go to Danny’s softball games… when it isn’t raining and when we have an early game!  Here are the highlights:

Cheering on Daddy like we were at a major league game!  He loves the chants of “Go, Daddy, Go!” or “Good hit, Daddy!”  It is NEVER quiet when the Lightner kids are at the games.  They cheer for ALL the players… but they have their favorite!  :)

Our friend, Todd, playing second base

Danny serving the team by catching… not his favorite position, 

but he served joyfully!

Adam plays short stop and is a great addition to the team… as long as his injuries are ok and he get pants for when he slides!

This little boy, AJ, loves to watch his daddy play, too!

Our fearless Manager Perry

Josiah asking Daddy questions through the fence between innings

Baby Joel even came to the game to cheer on his daddy…

Josiah sporting Daddy’s FED hat…

The Chingways… our buddies…

Hopefully we will have another nice evening AND an early game so we can get back out there! We love supporting our team!!  GO FEDS!