Girls gone Wild... Kingdom!

What a fun weekend we had!  Two birthday parties where Evie got to flex her Explorer Extraordinaire skills. First up was Katie and Mason's birthday at Potomac Overlook Park, where we got to see a box turtle named "Stumpy" and three different kind of snakes.  Both Evie and Mommy were brave to try touching the snake's scaly skin.  

Then we went on a nature hike where we ended with a finding several frogs chilling in the pond.  Evie was very excited to point them out.  What a great celebration with Katie and Mason!  

 

Then, that night, we hosted an outdoor movie screening under the stars of "Toy Story".  Everyone came dressed in their jammies and had delicious ice cream sundaes.  But.. unfortunately we ended up being under the rain clouds, and had to move the party inside.  Ellie made the most of it, though, quickly turning her outdoor movie into a drive-in movie instead.

 

The next morning we headed to the National Zoo to celebrate Mia's birthday. We dropped Evie off, and then got to explore the zoo. Ellie was excited most about splashing in the puddles of the rain forest but she also liked see the pygmy monkey that was just hanging out in the trees.

 

We really liked getting up and personal with the sea lions, who would come right up to the window to give you a whiskery kiss. 

 

Ellie happily munched on goldfish while the sea lions swam by - actually, she seemed more interested in watching the other kids.  We later saw some otters eating some real goldfish... very surreal. 

 

After checking out the elephants, Daddy and Ellie pause for a Pirate's Booty break.

 

We later caught up with the birthday party getting a special tour of the zoo in their safari hats. Evie has her typical birthday look on... 

  

After the party we stopped by the new carousel, where Evie hopped on a pink flamingo while Daddy traveled on a seahorse. 

 

Ellie woke up from her nap and of course wanted to ride on a yellow frog.  

 

We decided to end the day with a trip to the playground and spray park in Arlington. 

 

Ellie loved following her big sister's lead.  

 

Here she is attempting to climb up Venus. 

 

Splash parks are the best!  And Mommy is too tired to come up with creative captions anymore.