GR Abby

This is week 4 of my sister-in-law, Amy, working in Grand Rapids. We missed our week to have Abby last week because she was sick, so when we found out that she'd be in GR with my parents for a couple of days, it was decided that I'd schlep the kids over for a day. All in all, it was a good decision, though I must say in hindsight that my decision to stay the night was questionable. It was great to have time to talk with Amy, but the combination of the kids not sleeping all night, Benjamin screaming for 45 minutes straight on the way home and Ella basically having a 3-hour knock-down, drag-out tantrum tonight kind of killed the joy of last night.

Mom, Dad and I took the kiddos to the John Ball Zoo (SO much better than Detroit's zoo... we all loved it) and then after naptime (which Ella refused to participate in -- missed clue #1) we took the kids to the mall and Grandma treated them to Build-A-Bear. Ella, having made a bear at the Cherry Bowl Drive-In with me last weekend, was a pro and not at all afraid to see her puppy begin stuffed as if he was having reverse liposuction. Abby, on the other hand, was appalled. Ella did her best to walk Abby through the experience and both girls were very happy in the end. Thank-you, Grandma and Grandpa for a great day! Benjamin's highlight of the day was detailed in my previous post.

P.S. I downloaded Firefox so my posts aren't all upside-down anymore... didn't really help. So my pictures are in reverse order of the events. Grrr.

Ella, Ana and George. George is sometimes a boy and sometimes a girl, hence the bows on his ears. Usually, "He's a girl, mommy!" Sorry. How could I possibly be confused?

The crew leaving the mall.

Ella and George, the soccer puppy. I had no idea we would have to pick a name before leaving the store... that is a lot of pressure. All I could come up with for names were Becks, Rex and George... poor kid, I was not much help. Ella must have been taken off guard as well. She named Ana herself earlier in the week.

Making faces at Grandpa.

Giving her puppy a fluff and a brushing.

Abby and her bunny,who was later to be named Ariel and get dressed in a purple satin evening gown.

The girls and the gorillas... I could not believe how close the animals were. You can hardly even see them at the Detroit Zoo.

Checking out the fish.

Abbs and the penguin.

Getting ready to go into the zoo! They usually demand to be dressed alike.