Tuesday, January 1, 2008

The First Post of the New Year!!!

The kids pose with Mr. Gorilla at Como Zoo on New Year's Eve 2007
We spent New Year's Eve with our family at Como Zoo for the Countdown to Noon! Radio Disney sponsored games, crafts and fun at the zoo, as well as a ball drop into the Polar Bear enclosure as we counted down to noon! Very fun (though a bit chilly!). The kids love animals...and though they don't watch a lot of TV, they already know how to ask for Animal Planet channel in English! Michelle - you'd be glad to know that Crocodile Hunter has long been one of their FAVORITE programs! We had a great time at the zoo...Juancho's favorite animal by far was the male lion - he went running towards the lion enclosure shouting 'Aslan!' Laura's favorite animal was probably the cute little black howler monkey and Angie was rather enamored by the 3 month old baby giraffe (that was already taller and weighed more than Robert or I!). Fun stuff...we look forward to going back in the spring/summer!
We walked through the 8th floor display at the downtown Macy's store, which was "The Nutcracker" this year. It was quite a cool display, and even though Juancho was a bit dismayed at first to learn that we were going to see a ballet display, he was quickly intrigued by the fighting mice and the Nutcracker that came to life! By the Sugar Plum Fairy land, Miss Angie was quite overtired and a bit hungry and not the least bit interested in taking a photo as you can see here! It was a fun excursion...or at least Mommy thought so!



These two previous pictures are from the Koi Ponds at the Como Conservatory, which is connected to the zoo we went to on New Year's Eve. We walked through and enjoyed all the plants from the tropics to the Midwest and more...though the kids were definitely most interested in the large koi fish that would surface near them, mouths open...they've obviously become used to being fed by passers-by! It was fun walking through the area that featured plants from South America - Juancho and Laura pointed out several that they remembered from Colombia.


PJ knows several tricks and often will perform them to get a treat. The kids enjoy pretending they are PJ's competition and will perform the tricks alongside PJ for a treat! In these two photos they tricks they are performing alongside PJ are 'Darme Cinco' (Give Me Five) and 'Bang Bang' (Play Dead)...PJ is bilingual and helping the kids learn as well! Don't worry, the 'treats' were animal crackers...NOT doggie treats!


Daddy & the Girls...What Cuties! (all three of them!)

Laura dressed up Angie one day before we cleared out all the Christmas wrapping elements...and we felt this look completely captures our feeling this season...that Angie, Laura & Juancho are the BEST gifts we could have received!



The kids love playing with their Play-Doh set and colors, and the above pictures show them working on their creations. The final picture shows what happens to a wine rack now that kids are living in the house! :) We love it!


Saturday Night after the Nutcracker display at Macy's, we came home to make homemade pizzas! The kids favorite kind of pizza is pineapple and ham and they loved making their very own pizza! We think we'll be making this a regular tradition!
There's the most recent 'Update In Pictures' from the Dressel Familia. Juancho & Laura start school on January 2nd and are both excited and nervous...and Mommy feels the same way!
You'll see us again soon here!
Love, The Dressel's!

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