Gray's first trip to the zoo!

I turned 32 years old last Saturday. I am finally starting to not get mad anymore when people ask me what high school I go to. Anywho, Paul had been asking me for two weeks what I wanted to do for my birthday weekend. I'd told him, actually begged him, to please let us just spend the weekend getting the last of Gray's birthday party planned out, stuff bought, etc. I should have known Paul couldn't settle for that. Friday afternoon while I was out running some errands, he and Gray snuck off to buy a delicious meal for him to cook that night. We ate outside after Gray had gone to bed. Saturday morning Gray was up extra early so before we had even gotten out of bed I mentioned to Paul that I wanted us to go on and head to the Y for an early class. He told me to rest a little while longer and he'd go get Gray fed and dressed. Shortly after, in walk my two boys with a gift bag. I'd also told Paul NOT to spend any money on me. I opened up the sweetest, homemade card and some little wooden African animals that were literally from Africa (a pastor we know and love in Kenya ships my mom stuff to sell here) and it said "Zoo Animals" on the package.

I hope I smiled through the "I know I told him not to spend any money on me but this is really weird"look on my face. Paul kept asking me what I thought about them and I just smiled, kind of shocked because he is like the best, most sneaky gift giver ever (even when he doesn't spend any money). Apparently I was doing a horrible job of picking up on what was really going on so he told me to see what else was in the bag. Then I opened passes to the zoo and he told me we were going to spend the day there! I've mentioned several times over the past few months that I couldn't wait to take Gray to the zoo for the first time. Paul mentioned it to his parents and they bought us a year long family pass to the zoo and aquarium (so he really didn't cheat and spend money). I was SO excited! I took a quick shower, we packed up the car and were off. Gray was up so early that he was already so tired when we left and I kind of worried about how things would go. He has to be really sleep deprived to nap in the car so we weren't surprised that he stayed awake the whole way there. By the time we got there he was beyond tired and as my mom would say "ill as a hornet". Thankfully as soon as he got in the stroller and started taking in all of the sights the zoo had to offer, including all of the people watching, he was a happy camper and sleep was a thing of the past.

We started in Africa, of course.

 Gray loved the animals that were pretty close to us like the elephants, zebras and giraffes.

Have you ever just studied a giraffe, even for a minute? They are so amazing to me.

 We even got to feed the giraffes! I'm not sure who was more excited about that part, me or Gray!

The lions weren't active enough for him to really notice but we enjoyed watching Mama try to wake up Daddy Lion and we got to hear a great big roar.

 Mama won.

 But only for a second...

Gray fought napping in his stroller for the longest time. He finally fell asleep the second we walked up to get on the tram to ride to North America. Sweet boy wasn't even mad at us for waking him up and the tram ride ended up being his most favorite part of the whole day.

Just a few minutes after arriving in North America, Gray was fast asleep and slept for an hour and a half, which is a small miracle considering he was away from his bed.

He slept through lunch, crocodiles, turtles, black bears, grizzly bears, polar bears and bison, which couldn't have been more perfect because he wouldn't have really noticed them anyway.

He woke up in time for the baby chimps, though he didn't seem to notice them too much through the glass. The pictures are horrible since the glass made such bad reflections, but there were several tiny baby chimps and they were so precious!

He won't fit in the Baby Bjorn much longer but we were so glad we had it with us because there was a lot he couldn't see from his stroller and he is too heavy to carry for long these days.

I am so in love with these two boys and oh so thankful God gave them to me!

 

Gray is seriously obsessed with sharing right now. He held out his snacks to every single person that walked by. Bless his sweet little heart, no stranger took him up on his offer for a wet, slobbery Puff. But Daddy pulled through, as he always does.

Africa was definitely the better part of the zoo and I am so glad it's where we started and spent most of our time. We headed home about 2:30 because Paul had already planned for my mom to come over at 4:00 to babysit so we could still get some things done for Gray's party. And as if the day hadn't been enough of a surprise, he had also made reservations to my favorite restaurant, Arigato! Yay for another delicious meal and a Mama/Daddy date night!

That Sunday evening my Gram made one of my favorite Greek dishes and we enjoyed some time with family. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday.

Now today is our baby boy's first birthday! We had a wonderful time celebrating on Saturday and I hope to get a post up in the next week or so about his party. He goes to the doctor on Wednesday for his 12 month well check-up so I'm aiming for a post all about Gray at one year sometime this week.