Long Over-due Pictures

We've been busy since March. Here are a couple of highlights.

Graduation in May was very exciting. Zola already calls herself "Dr. Zola."





























We left PA and headed west. We were lucky enough to spend some time in Jackson Hole.




































But the most exciting thing was Zola's birthday.





























We are loving Cedar City. Zola gets excited about the petroglyphs - almost as excited as Dave.






























Since moving back to Utah we've really enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Zola went with her cousins to the Children's Museum in SLC.















We also got to visit Zola's great Aunt Zola.
Zola was so excited and kept saying, in disbelief, "two Zola's!?!?"

















Our Thunderbird pride is growing strong.















When Zola sees the mountains she screams, "RED ROCKS!"
















Zola is crazy about her rain gear and is a little disappointed that it hasn't rained or snowed more.

















One of the reasons we chose the house that we did was because we wanted Zola to have lots of friends around. Halloween was fantastic with all the neighbors. Who knew Buzz lives in Cedar.

Spring Break!

Zola and Dirk hit The District for a couple of days earlier this week. Here are the highlights. As usual, click on individual pictures for a closer view.


Looking for dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.





No sudden moves, and maybe we'll get out of this jam.



The butterfly garden inside the museum was spectacular.






This enormous butterfly has little transparent windows in its wings.




The next morning, Zola decided she wanted a beard. Then she rolled her eyes at me.




We hit the zoo first thing. Zola loved the Pandas



But she spent most of the rest of her time imitating the animals.
(I'm sorry these orangutan pictures are so poor; it was quite dark inside and I avoided the flash to prevent any "Congo"-type reaction.

Monkey see; Monkey do.






(The crocodile-photo was taken at the national aquarium on a different day.)




Inside the bamboo tiger-cage







Dinosaurs at the Zoo?! No way.



Well, apparently they do have dinosaurs at the zoo. Who knew?




And what better way to cap our little trip than with crazy blue cotton-candy-flavored ice cream?

With sprinkles.

January and February 2010

I know it's March. It's a little weak, but here's a quick summary of what we've been doing since Christmas.

We've been really busy around here. In January we visited California. In February we played in the snow and speculated wildly on the continued existence of the sun (findings were inconclusive). Here are some photos.

Christmas Day with Tyson and Kelsie




Visiting the Tide Pools with Natalie and her parents




Although she was a little intimidated by the incoming tide, Zola actually had a pretty good time. I chose to post this picture, though, because it actually lives up to the cliché: it's worth a thousand words.



That's right, this starfish is giving you all the bird.

(I think a seagull got to him first; we found the poor guy on the sand.)


Zola and Natalie loved Grandma's playroom.




Even if there were some hazards. Luckily Zola was okay.





We spent a couple of days at Disneyland.
















Zola's favorite attraction was "Small World." Since it was the first week of January, the ride was all decked out for the holidays.







Directly in the middle of this photo is the ride's main attraction.
It's extremely small. Click on this photo to see an expanded version.
I've zoomed the central figure below.




That's right. It's not Christmas in Hawaii without the King.



Ed and Mimi drove down to spend some time with us.



Everything was going fine until a giant whale ate the girls. So sad.

Leviathan always wins.




Don't ask.




After beautiful southern California, it was really hard to come home to this: 16 inches of snow in the first week of February.




But Jana made everything better with her Valentine's Day surprise. Those are cakes in the shape of those little candy message-hearts that are made of a chalk-like substance.




There's not much to do around here in the winter time.



Except train for a career in Mousketeering. Just like Britney Spears. Yikes.

The Booger Song

An original creation intended, so Zola said, to cheer up her old man.

It worked.

Zola now will only answer to "Maestro." I managed to convince the Maestro to perform an encore for the camera.

The Ruler of Rome

I believe Zola is staking her claim to the Roman Empire.

There are worse people to emulate than Marcus Aurelius. I'm pretty sure the philosopher-king wore Mickey Mouse ears on occasion.