Zoos, Bears, and Gyms

I have a lot to post about so I'll probably put them into several posts. I'm currently posting from Racine, Wisconsin. We're here to attend Andrew's cousin Dyan's wedding tomorrow. There will be more on that and our time here in the future.

We had a lot of fun with B-pa at Como Zoo in St. Paul. The zoo is a free zoo and therefore, fairly small compared to the MN Zoo. Ella and Lily ran through it pretty quickly the first time, but we went around and looked at all the animals again and took more time. The highlights were watching the polar bear swim underwater and the seals/sea lions. The polar bear was doing laps in his pool and they had a glass window to watch him. He would swim right up to the glass and then flip around and go back. Ella's face was about 2 inches from the bear. She and Lily both thought that was the neatest thing. My dad used to take me to Como when I was little, the zoo seemed a lot bigger to me then. ;-) We used to go see Sparky the sea lion (I think they are probably on Sparky XXV by now). Ella wanted her picture taken by the statue. It was fun to take Ella and Lily to a place that I really enjoyed as a kid.

We had a friend come home from preschool with Ella two weeks ago. His name is P.B. Bear and he spends time with a different family each week and then the kids record what they do with P. B. in a journal by drawing pictures of their adventures. Ella LOVED playing with him. He helped us decorate our front window for Halloween, went to Barnes and Noble story time (where another little boy--not in Ella's class--recognized P. B.) and visited My Gym for open playtime. Ella attends a class at My Gym on Friday mornings and then both she and Lily can play at open gym on Wednesday afternoons. They both have a great time there. Ella amazes me with her athletic ability and her determination. One day, she was very focused on the monkey bars, she was determined she was going to go all the way across by herself. She tried over and over again, but didn't quite make it. Then on Friday, during her class she tried again and this time she did it! She was so excited. She also swings on the high bar and walks on the balance beam among other fun things. I think the gym is really good for Lily too because she attempts to do things she usually is afraid of and it helps her with her coordination and balance. We don't have her in a class right now, but maybe in the future. :-)