The birthday girl is now officially three years old! On the walk up to bed the other night, we told her that when she woke up in the morning she would be three. She asked, "When will I be two again?". The more I thought about it, I realized that I won't ever have a two year old Meredith again. Sigh. We celebrated her birthday with a trip to the St. Louis Zoo. To say that she was excited would be an understatement. She couldn't wait to see the "big" animals - giraffes, rhinos, hippos, and elephants. We have a nice zoo here in town, but not near the variety as this larger zoo could offer. We had a great time! The Perry grandparents and Uncle Derek were able to join us also. A beautiful day as well: 78 degrees, sunny, and no rain!
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| This was taken before we left town, at the crack of dawn....okay, well 7:15 but same difference :) I found this hat for her at a consignment shop. It has a super wide brim, which I thought would be good for day-long outings such as this. |
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| The birthday girl with the Perry family. |
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| Meredith didn't want Daddy to "touch her" in this picture. Can you tell we let the birthday girl have her way on her special day? |
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| I was so thankful for the three extra sets of hands for this day. My only regret was that I didn't bring the double stroller. It would have come in handy later in the afternoon when both kids wanted to rest at the same time. |
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| Isn't she such a big girl? |
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| Pelican! I love his/her spiky hair :) |
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| Luke was getting in on the action. We had him in the stroller quite a bit of the day, but once we got to a new animal he would get fidgety and grunt which meant he wanted out to see the animal. |
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| I love this girl! |
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| I love this picture! I captured it just as she was coming off of seeing a gorilla. |
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| Getting out to stretch! |
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| Watching the gophers. |
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| Grandma Perry and Meredith |
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| Mommy and Baby Elephant. Absolutely adorable to see! |
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| Luke would never fully fall asleep (until the drive home), but came pretty close! |
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| Daddy, Meredith, and the elephant. |
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| Meredith had her first ever ice cream cone from start to finish. She loved the strawberry flavor. I first got her dip n' dots, but it was way too cold for her and she said she wanted my ice cream cone instead....okay, anything for the birthday girl. |
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| Meredith loved counting the humps on the camels (probably because of her Dr. Seuss book). The camels were shedding, which was extremely weird to me. |
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| Zebra! |
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| Lions! |
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| We were so close-up with the ostrich. Really neat! |
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| Love her face here after walking through the mist (on the far left). |
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| What better display of God's creation/creativity/coloring than the flamingo. I have less nice things to say about their smell, though :) |
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| Ended the day by test driving her new ride before heading back to Bloomington. |
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| She was pooped! |
Grandpa and Grandma Prentice came over the next day to help us celebrate Meredith's birthday at home. She loved seeing both sets of grandparents this weekend.
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| Luke followed Meredith around, wanting to "help" her open her gifts (also known as: playing with wrapping paper.) |
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| Before Grandpa and Grandma left town, we played in the backyard. I love the way Luke was walking around - with his belly pooched out...hehe :) |
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| What a sweet way to end her birthday weekend - picking a bouquet of dandelions. I guess it's time to weed n' feed the backyard. |
