The Zoo, the apartment complex, and others...

So I'm getting caught up folder by folder, these pictures are from the oldest folder since I last updated:

We got this floatie car for Edward for the pool. He really loved playing in it in the apartment, but not so much in the pool.


It got a hole in it on the second day and hasn't been used since :-P

One night we went to the hot tub because we didn't make it to the pool during the day. Looking above and beyond the apartment buildings I noticed letters appearing in the sky! It was so weird to watch. It spelled out "SEEK THE SIX". I didn't get pictures right away since I didn't have the camera with me at the hot tub. Here they are fading away...


I think the sky-writing was for Comic-Con that was going on that night. While I had the camera out, I took some pictures of the apartment complex.

Our pathway to the pool.


So these are sort of dorky pictures for me to have taken. They're some of the reasons I like staying here (aside from the pool). Overall I love our house, but a few things about apartment-living simplify life. Our mail is just steps away from our front door (our whole married life I've had to drive somewhere to get the mail), and just through the door in this picture is the laundromat. It's not the closeness of the laundromat that makes life easier (although I'm glad it is close and not as far as it is from other units), it's that I can get 3 or 4 loads going at a time and be done with it all at once! I would be more irritated with having to use a laundromat if we had to pay for it, but we're being reimbursed by Mike's employer.

and this simple trash can on the way to our door is convienient for tossing trash from the van on our way in...
...Speaking of trash, I also love that there's a trash room to dump our garbage (see the chute in the picture). At home we have to go to the dump and it can be a big ordeal if we don't keep up on it. (I also love that it says RUBBISH on the chute...it reminds me of my Grandma Dayes)

We have been so lame as far as doing any of the big attractions around here. We had big plans when we first got here, but so far we've only made it to the zoo. We've done plenty fun stuff, like movies, the pool, the beach, parks, etc., so I'm not heartbroken. Plus, hopefully we'll be able to come back in the years to come, so we'll always have another chance. We are planning to do one other big thing, and that's Legoland. I didn't want to do Disneyland this time because I'd be tied down with Edward, and Colette wouldn't be big enough for most rides. I've been to Disneyland twice...at 4 and 14. It was lame at 4 because I was too short for so many rides (It wasn't all bad, I loved the small world river thingy, but I distinctly remember being turned away from many rides).

So, here are some pictures from the zoo. My camera's battery died not too long into it. We didn't stay as long as we probably should have. We didn't see some of the main things we wanted to...Adrienne wanted to see the koalas, giraffes and the pandas. The panda line was ridiculously long, so unfortunately we didn't get to see them. We didn't see the giraffes either, but we did see a whole lot of sleeping koalas :-) On to the pictures...Of course the first one we got is the girls with the flamingos.

At least Adrienne got to be a giraffe.





The girls saw a lot of kids walking around with their faces painted. I said they could get theirs done before I ever checked on a price. I really should have checked on a price!! They already had their choices and Adrienne was sitting on the stool before I asked! The girls were so excited, so I went through with it, even though it was $15 for each of them!! We paid more for the face painting than their admission!






So we had to take lots of pictures to get our money's worth :-) Unfortunately my camera died shortly after this.

I didn't mention that we met up with some friends at the zoo. Apparently we didn't get any pictures of them. It was Mike's co-worker Dave, and his wife Ellen. Ellen has been so great to us while we've been here. She's been like a surrogate grandmother for the girls. And she helped me out when I got sick...TWICE! What a lifesaver. If you're reading this Ellen, even though it's been awhile...thank you again!

Well that may be all for tonight. I have 3 more folders to post pictures from. One of them is A LOT of pictures...the one from the Utah trip. This will probably take me all weekend. So keep checking back!