We had a lot going on during the month of April, including a lot of fun stuff! This post will cover our Easter activities, our day trip to Nashville, Brooklyn’s spring field trip, and Savannah’s birthday.
This year, Easter fell on April 21st…pretty late into spring compared to some years. The day before Easter was unseasonably cool though. I think the weather was in the 40s and 50s all day. It was chilly enough that I decided we would skip the big Easter egg hunt at Dublin Park. I was really looking forward to taking the girls, but maybe it will work out next year for us to go. This year, the Easter Bunny left just a few things: a new book for each girl, markers, notebooks, stickers, and chocolate :)
Brooklyn is always the first one up on Christmas and Easter morning ;) She lives for surprises!
Abigail didn’t really understand what was so special about the morning, but she got excited because the other girls were excited :)
I figured this could be the last year that Brooklyn will wear a smocked dress/match with her sisters, so I splurged and ordered them all matching Easter dresses. They have little lambs on them and were adorable! Cici made them matching hair bows too :)
These pictures were all taken in our front yard before we left the house Easter morning. It was a cool morning, so the girls didn’t want to take too many pictures before going in to warm up…
We took a few more pictures at Cici’s house before lunch. I thought these of the girls turned out pretty good!
For whatever reason, Savannah decided she was OVER it when I wanted to take a family picture though…haha. These are classic Pookie scowl!
This one is the best…ha!
We decided to leave Pookie out of this one ;)
Daddy and two of his girls :)
We attempted a cousin Easter picture inside, and this time it was Abigail who ruined it. Sometimes, you just can’t win :)
After lunch it was time for the much-anticipated Easter egg hunt! Cici had two sections in the yard: one for the big kids (Brooklyn, Carter, and Savannah) and one for the little kids (Luke, Barrett, and Abigail). There were plenty of eggs for everyone!
Michael was sweet to help Abigail figure out what to do since this was her first egg hunt. It didn’t take her long to catch on to the idea of picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket.
She even figured out how to open the eggs to see what was inside!
Luke and Barrett were old pros this year!
This picture cracks me up. They look so serious!
It was a fun afternoon! We always enjoy the annual cousin egg hunt!
Brooklyn had the Monday after Easter (April 22nd) out of school for a weather day. It worked out perfectly for us to take a day trip up to Nashville to go to the zoo. We had given Savannah the choice between the Nashville Zoo or Disney on Ice as her birthday celebration (in lieu of a big party), and she chose the zoo. We were all excited to check out a new zoo. I think Travis had been there as a kid, but none of the rest of us had been before. It took a little longer to get there than we’d anticipated due to a wreck on the interstate, but we finally made it there around 10 AM!
The Nashville Zoo has a relatively new Vet Center where you can see inside through a wall of glass windows. If you happen to go by at the right time, you can even watch them doing procedures or check-ups on the animals. We didn’t get to see anything like that, but we did see two small leopard cubs in the nursery! The picture isn’t great, but they were so cute. They were smaller than our cat and all snuggled up with blankets. This was one of my favorite parts of the day!
The girls were fascinated too!
Off to the next location! The weather was PERFECT that day.
The rhinos were all sleeping in the shade :) One thing we liked about the Nashville Zoo was how there were multiple spots to view most of the animals. If you couldn’t see them well from one spot, there was usually a different place you could walk around to and get a better view.
Giraffes!
There were the rhinos again…on the move this time!
We decided to eat lunch before everyone got too hungry/cranky ;) Savannah stayed with me while I ordered our food, and Travis took the other girls to find a table outside. Savannah was checking out the map to find all the other areas we needed to explore…
This goose must have heard it was lunchtime! He was eating popcorn that someone had spilled on the ground :)
All three girls enjoyed honking at the geese, and the geese honked back! Abigail was especially entertained :)
The kangaroo exhibit was really neat. They were all in a gated area, and once you got inside the gate, you could walk along the sidewalk and get so close to them…within just a few feet sometimes!
A lot of the kangaroos were lying down and resting, but a couple were up and jumping around :)
We loved the kangaroos!
The zoo also had a new tiger exhibit that had literally just opened a few days before our visit. When we first walked up to the glass, the tiger was pretty far away…
…but after a couple of minutes, it started walking right toward us!
It walked back and forth RIGHT in the front of the glass!! Everyone was excited to be that close!!
Abigail was so excited when the tiger came up that she ran straight into the glass and fell back on her bottom…haha! I wish I’d gotten that on camera!
“I thought that tiger was going to get me!”
The inside of the tiger exhibit was really neat! The girls enjoyed watching a video and seeing the pictures all over the walls.
Being small has its advantages!! Abigail was eager to sneak right up to the glass in front of all the tall people ;) I think this was the bear exhibit.
Looking at the fish is always fun!
I was surprised when Savannah enjoyed walking across the rope bridge so much that she asked to do it a second time. Brave girl! :)
Flamingos!
We spent a while watching these huge tortoises. It was really interesting – a big tortoise was chasing a little one and trying to sit on it. The little tortoise was “running” away (as fast as a tortoise can do that) and climbed up over a log, and the big one couldn’t fit through the tight space…haha. We were all fascinated!
Brooklyn and Savannah enjoyed petting the pigs and goats in the petting zoo area…
Abigail was interested and kept trying to get as close to the animals as possible, but she wasn’t brave enough to touch them :)
This area had zebras, ostriches, and antelope. We saw some big ostrich eggs right out in the middle of the grass. Brooklyn was amazed that the mommy had left her eggs out in the open and wasn’t even close by!
It’s hard to get a sense from the picture of how big the eggs were, but they were gigantic!
The zoo had a really nice playground, so we let the girls play for a little while before we headed back to the car…
This is one way you could enter the playground…through the mouth of a snake!
After the girls played for a bit, we got everyone ready to leave. Brooklyn and Savannah had to check the map to make sure we’d done everything ;) We really did get to see just about everything. We stayed until about 3 PM, so we were there about 5 hours.
Abigail was one TIRED little girl…
She fell asleep sitting straight up in the stroller just before we headed to the car and never even woke up when Travis moved her to the car seat!! She was worn out.
The other girls were asleep not too long after we started the drive home. At one point, Savannah woke up and piped up from the back seat, “I had a BWAST at the zoo!” Coming from the girl who only uses the adjective “good” to describe things she likes, I think she must have REALLY liked the zoo. It was a great day and a fun way to celebrate Savannah’s birthday!
Three days later, on April 25th, all of the kindergarten classes at Mill Creek went on a field trip to Lyon Family Farms in Taft, TN. Travis was able to take the day off, so we brought Savannah and Abigail and met Brooklyn’s class at the farm. If you want to see the definition of chaos, go on a kindergarten field trip. All the kids wanted to go down that inflatable slide as soon as they were turned loose to play ;)
I know this is shocking – Brooklyn was so excited that she was running from one thing to the next :)
Wheeee!
It took Savannah a few minutes to warm up to the chaos, but she finally decided she wanted to play in the corn crib!
Abigail saw a bumble bee flying around, and she couldn’t be more excited. She was pointing at it and trying to follow it everywhere…haha
Daddy had fun pushing all 3 girls on the swings for a few minutes. They enjoyed it too!
Next, we headed over to the big jumping pillow. Brooklyn and Savannah had fun running around and jumping as high as they could.
Savannah agreed to go down this big slide in Daddy’s lap. I couldn’t believe it!
She loved it so much that she wanted to try it again!
This time, she went down all by herself!!
Uh oh! Here come Daddy and Abigail!
Savannah had to hurry because Daddy and Abigail were catching up quickly!
Savannah got to play on these tires for a few minutes, and then it was time for lunch!
Mrs. Patterson had all of her kids line up for a quick group picture before we ate :)
Lunchtime on a field trip is about as short as it is at school. You have to eat fast, or you don’t get to finish!
Abigail ate her lunch in the stroller, which worked out nicely so that she could keep snacking on the leftovers once we had to head to the next area.
Savannah is our notoriously slow eater, but I think she’s getting faster. She did a pretty good job of eating quickly that day!
After lunch, we went inside one of the barns to learn about the different things that grow on a farm…
The kids all got to look at a beehive up close before we headed to the next area :)
Next, we toured the area with the animals. We got to see goats, horses, sheep, and pigs.
Abigail was gnawing on this apple while she sat in the stroller and ate almost the entire thing (including the core)!
Savannah and Abigail loved this little pony :)
I think the pony liked them too!
Next, we went to a pavilion where the kids got to plant seeds in divided containers.
They planted cucumber, onion, potato, tomato, and lettuce seeds! Brooklyn was so excited to bring hers home. Savannah got to make one too, but hers got misplaced before we left that day. We never could find it, so I’m assuming someone took it by mistake.
After that, we went on a tractor ride around the fields…
…and toured the “hamburger farm” where we learned about all the different parts of a hamburger and where they come from.
It was a fun but tiring day! We got everyone loaded up and into the car just before it started to rain really hard. We got lucky to finish at the perfect time!
Savannah turned FOUR on April 29th this year. Brooklyn was sick on the Sunday before Savannah’s birthday, so she and I missed Savannah’s birthday celebration at Cici’s house for lunch that day. Travis took some pictures for me though!
Scowling at her presents…typical Pookie ;)
Since Brooklyn wasn’t there, it looks like Carter stepped up to help with the gift opening ;) Savannah has been very interested in soccer since Brooklyn started playing, so she asked for a soccer ball for her birthday.
More sidewalk chalk is always a good gift idea!
I think she was pretty excited about a new kitty cat stuffed animal to be friends with Markey, the gray one that she got for Christmas. She named this one “Orange”!
The next day, Paw and Rae Rae came up for the afternoon to help us celebrate Savannah’s birthday a second time!
Still not sure about that fire…
…but she did a good job blowing out the candles!
I think she liked it :)
Yummy!
Savannah was excited to open her gifts after we finished eating :)
I let Brooklyn help me wrap Savannah’s gifts, so she knew what they were ahead of time. She did a good job not spoiling the secret before Savannah opened them!
Savannah was thrilled to get her very own scooter! She’s been asking for one ever since Brooklyn got one for her birthday ;)
Look who was the first one to try it out once we put it together. Oh boy! We definitely have our hands full with this one…
Savannah’s gifts from Mommy and Daddy were all copycat items that Brooklyn already has. Savannah is at that age where she wants everything that Brooklyn has. So we also got her a Melissa and Doug chore chart and an allowance jar just like Brooklyn’s. She was excited!
Other gifts included: PJ Masks plush toys, play food sets, books, a stuffed animal dog, and a new swimsuit :)
It wasn’t long before Savannah was zooming around the back patio on her new scooter ;) She had a great birthday, and it was a good way to end a month full of fun activities!
