Cousins at the Zoo

We always look forward to visits from my brother, his wife Chelsey, and their adorable daughter Audrey. They live in Boston right now until my brother finishes up his schooling in May. On this visit of theirs I think that we managed to pack in a lot of fun stuff to do with the kids. So, here's the first of several posts that will show mostly the cousins. A day at the zoo! My mom & brother Josh were there along with our family, and Chris' family. Here are my cute boys and my darling niece at the beginning of our adventure. Leave 'em in the stroller as long as they're happy, right?
Audrey.

I am not quite confident enough to step away from Noah while he's holding Lincoln yet...he doesn't understand why it's a problem to just move or walk away when he's ready to be done holding him. I like how Noah is patiently waiting for me to take Lincoln away, Lincoln is watching Audrey, and Audrey seems a bit sure about the whole thing altogether...

After lunch there was no coaxing the older two back into strollers, so they walked. We just couldn't help ourselves from snapping a few of Noah and Audrey holding hands, it was sooo cute.


Noah sobbed at first when we got onto the carousel because he had his heart so set on riding the elephant...and someone got to it first. However, once I was able to talk him into how cool it was to ride a gorilla too, things were a lot more fun for both of us!

We tried to get a quick shot of Noah & Audrey on the polar bear that Audrey rode, and all that Noah could think about was that he wanted to go over to say hi to the elephant (on the carousel). Our Noah definitely has his own likes & opinions, and while that can be difficult at times, I love that about him!

Chelsey & Audrey.

This is my favorite picture from the whole day! Maybe it's because it was always tradition to take a picture like this when I came to this zoo as a kid...but I just can not help but smile when I look at this picture! You've got a ways to grow still, squirt :)

Here's Noah checking out the gator. He really thinks alligators are cool (in fact, you probably can't tell, but his shirt even has one on it!). This is a white gator though, it's very rare - in fact one of only 10 known in the world! They've called it the Ghost of the Bayou, and it's on loan from a zoo in New Orleans (who knows, maybe it's good that he's here and not there right now...I guess we'll find out what kind of punch Gustav packs when he hits land tomorrow).

Our little Lincoln. He was such a trooper, he just ate and slept on the go all day. Love you, little buddy. Oh, and the day we went to the zoo was actually the day he turned 9 months old.

And, just before leaving we took a quick ride on the train. Poor Audrey was so tired, look how good she was though just drowsily sucking her thumb.