We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

The Pharaon family took a trip to the zoo last weekend and had a great time! We started at the children's zoo portion and then headed over to the new African safari section - two sections where we've (surprisingly) never explored before.

We got to see bats, pet goats, "raffs," "noceruses," monkeys (chimps) and even play some bongos! And of course no zoo trip is complete without a ride on the train.

Here are some photos from our trip. And be sure to check out the video at the end. It's worth it just to see the chimpanzee charge the glass at us. Fun!

Snow Day!

We were supposed to head down to Houston this afternoon for a funeral, but before we could pick up the kids and head down, it started to snow! So the trip was off. At first, the flakes were huge and if it could "pour down" snow, that would be the best description of what it looked like.





We picked up Noble from school, and he was really excited about the snow.











We picked up Kayci and headed home to bundle up and play outside in the snow. At first, we just played on the deck, where we found out that Noble and Kayci are both ridiculously good at making snow balls.







Then we noticed that the snow had started to accumulate, so we moved out to the hill behind our house. The kids seemed to explore it at first as if it were the surface of an alien planet. Then Noble charged across the hill.



Pretty soon, the exploring stopped and the playing began:











And, of course, a snow ball fight broke out...





Then Kayci wanted to make a snow man. (Actually, it turned out to be a snow girl, but more on that later...) The snow had accumulated to about an inch, so Kristi suggested that we try to roll the snow on the ground like we see in movies. It worked! So were able to make the biggest snow man any of us had ever made before!













And finally, Kayci made a snow angel before we headed in for dry clothes and hot chocolate!



What an unexpected, fun day!

Kayci's All-Star Pop Star Slumber Party

Last night was Kayci's friend party. We decided not to have a huge friend party like we did last year - it was just too overwhelming. Kayci invited a few friends over for a Pop Star Slumber Party.

There was pizza and games and plenty of Hannah Montana. In fact, the whole idea started out very simply as just a do-it-yourself pop star party, but somehow morphed into a very Hannah Montana affair. But that's okay. The girls loved every minute of it.

One of the major events of the evening was the making of a music video. Kayci picked "The Climb" by Hannah Montana to make the video to. Originally, it was supposed to be "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," but that changed at the last minute, also. But the girls had a great time singing and dancing while making the video. There was even a fog machine...

Here's the result of the video shoot (click on the video to play it):



The girls painted their nails and generally had a great time. And to my surprise, no one went home. I just knew that at least one of the girls would melt down in the middle of the night and I'd have to drive them home. But they all did just fine.

The girls all slept in the living room - most of them on a big air mattress and a couple in sleeping bags on the floor. In the morning they played and had a cereal buffet for breakfast.

And one of the best parts is that Noble made himself a part of all the fun. He was right in the middle of everything being a big kid and doing a lot of flirting with the big girls. As one of the girls' fathers said, he's going to love it when Kayci is a teenager and has a constant stream of teenager girlfriends over.

I'd say things went better than we expected and that everyone - including Kristi and I - had a great time! But most importantly, Kayci is really excited about turning six and feels like a rock star starting out her year.

Playing Fetch with Kayci and "I'm done!"

This is a long clip (4 minutes), but it's worth it. Kayci got to feed Noble yesterday, and to our surprise he ate better for her (with less mess, even) than he does for either me or Kristi. We've said all along that Kayci is Noble's favorite person in the world, so this is just further evidence.

But that didn't stop him from repeatedly throwing his spoon on the floor and making Kayci fetch it.

But the best part of this video is at the end where Kayci tells him to say "I'm done" ... and he does.