nana visit

nana arrived yesterday and picked a great weather week to be here. since madelyn was in school on monday, today was our first day to get out and about. we did go down to the park after dinner. i forgot how nice it is to have sunshine after dinner to get out and play. it was also nice to see our neighbors that we haven't seen since the fall. its like everyone goes into hibernation and comes back out with the spring thaw. madelyn could not have been happier to see "all my friends" at the park.

today we took nana (and daddy because he took the day off) to the zoo to see our favorite animals. it was a nice day to be outside.

nana brought madelyn an ariel bag and she loaded it up with gear (a sweatshirt, sunglasses, and a camera) to take to the zoo. the amazing thing was that she carried it the entire time! even when we would ask to carry it for her she was very sure that she did not want to give it up.
as always, madelyn wanted her picture taken with the baby gorilla statue. i included it because she was sharing her water with the gorilla.
to our surprise the train had already started running again, so nana asked madelyn to join her on a ride around the zoo. the train whistle startled mason so badly that he shook the whole stroller when he jumped and then he burst into tears. poor little guy.

we ate lunch out before heading home where everyone napped except for madelyn and i (i had to work this afternoon). once mason woke up from his nap i took the kids outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. it was mason's first time being on the grass. he took to it better than madelyn did her first few times (she cried and tried to pick herself up off of it). madelyn gave her bike and scooter (a Christmas present) their first rides of the year.

slowly, nana and daddy woke up and joined us outside. there was some kind of emergency nearby so we got to see fire trucks, news trucks, ambulances, and helicopters.

and this last picture is my favorite one of the day from dinner tonight. we went to a new restaurant and they gave plastic "chopstick helpers" with the crayons and kid's menu. they won me over right there! madelyn loved that she could finally use chopsticks to pick things up.

tomorrow will be a quiet day again since madelyn will be off at school and mason will be napping. we have more fun planned for thursday when matt and i are both taking the whole day off. love.