Asheboro Zoo

We spent a glorious Saturday at the Asheboro Zoo with our dear friends Carrie, Charlie and Clara Taft. The weather was perfect and the kids were excited and cooperative. Only our camera tried to spoil the moment by needing a battery charge after only an hour or so. I nabbed most of these pictures from Carrie, which explains why I am actually in quite a few!

The Asheboro Zoo is located about 75 miles outside of Charlotte and is enormous! It took us over 5 miles to walk from one end to the other... North America to Africa.

We compared the zoo to Disney on this beautiful day. We had to hoist the kids over the crowds so they could see the animals. They didn't mind though. They are still talking about their experience!

Scott and I forgot Graham's stroller when we did our car swap before our trip, so we rented a park stroller. He was rather content in his seat and even gathered rocks along the way...

So few tables and so many families... like vultures hovering!

Carrie and Clara!

Charlie and Clara in the monkey house...

Grahamy and Daddy looking at the elephants!

Magnificent elephant!

Mommy and Grahamy... and Graham's rock!
Carrie and I are showing off the zebra bums in this picture (right above my head)...
Beautiful giraffes!
After over 4 hours of walking, we chose to ride the tram back to North America and our car.

Pre-Zoo Excitement

A few moments of play before a long ride in the car...
Such excitement! Graham knows he's about to see REAL polar bears, monkeys, lions, giraffes and elephants. He can barely contain himself!!!

HESKAMP-MELLON-STAGE RENDEZVOUS

Scott, Graham and I drove up to Hendersonville on Saturday and spent a lovely day with G&G, Nana, Papa, Becca, Steve, Hannah and all the critters. I'm going to post a few pictures from our day together below, but first, check out the picture of the kiddos in their jammies. Hannah, following in her mommy's footsteps, is teaching Graham how to properly brush his hair!

Grahamy plays with pebbles and a bowl of water in the back yard...




Hannah loves to push her stroller around and around in circles!
Becca and Hannah play ball while Steve and Grahamy watch... Becca is beautifully pregnant with her second child and never slowed nor uttered a single complaint during our time together. She is the definition of glowing and we are thrilled about the upcoming arrival of Baby Bubbles!





Here are Grahamy and Hannah "sharing" a ball back and forth. They were such sweet playmates. Both so unique and darling. Both so precious!

Welcome Becca and Hannah Stage!!!

Yeah! Cousin Becca and darling little Hannah came to Charlotte! It has been almost four years since I have seen Becca and until now, the little cousins have only known each other by photograph. Hannah is delightful, well behaved, extremely adaptable and SO funny! Grahamy tolerated her as well can be expected. It really was enjoyable to see them together. It was difficult to capture the kids in the same picture, but here are a few from our days together. We are driving down to Hendersonville this weekend to share the baby Mellon/Stage experience with my parents and G&G, so I'll post more pictures at the end of the weekend.

DAY WITH DAD

Here are a few new pictures, but no Easter pictures. Scott and I returned from NJ with a nasty virus, though we feel blessed because Graham didn't come down with the slightest sniffle. Graham has grown a mighty immune system in his *nearly* second year. This is the second virus to hit only Mommy and Daddy this year. Graham missed his Easter celebrations, Easter egg hunt and dinner with friends. I managed to dress him in his outfit anyway and then actually allowed him to play outside in it since he was so bored. Needless to say, his new outfit has mud-soaked knees. He has been a trooper through it all, though I know he's ready for the return of Fun Mommy. We'll post more pictures soon.
Grahamy likes to help me make the bed because he gets to tug the sheets and bounce around on the pillows...
Graham is speedy!!!
Here's one wet, muddy little boy! Our pretty landscaping has turned into Graham's playground, but he's not complaining!

Airplanes, Aunts, Grandparents, GG and the Grahams

Even though our first flight is canceled (check out the line of disgruntled passengers-to-be in the back of the shot), Graham is excited to fly!
Big rocks and lots of water on the Atlantic City Pier...
We were a little unprepared for the nip in the air, but even the cold and windy weather couldn't keep us away from the water!!!
Aunt Hannie picked us up from the Philly airport, drove us to our condo and spent the night and most of Saturday visiting with us. We called her our chauffeur, but we were SO happy to see her!!! Graham is still talking about his Aunt Hannie...
Here is Graham visiting for the first time with some Mellon cousins who came to visit...

Graham loving on his GG...