April Oakland trip

In April, we had many wonderful special family times. The most memorable weekend was when we took Claire to the Oakland zoo. While we live close to the aquarium, and have taken Claire many times, we hadn't yet taken her to a zoo. Needless to say, she absolutely LOVED it! For days afterwards she asked to go back to the zoo and talked about her memorable experiences.

There's a children's zoo section which included lots of hands on things to play on and learn from. There was also even a petting zoo portion there.

There was a train ride that goes through part of the zoo. We rode the train and had a blast. She still talks about riding it and going through the tunnel. This is her funny expression as we got going. Hee hee.

Even though our heads are a little cut off from my self photo shot, I love the picture of our little blue eyed family. :)

This is a view of the city from the train ride. So pretty!

On the train!

At the zoo, they had a little kiddy ride area. We weren't really sure if Claire would like going on a ride by herself because she tends to be very cautious, even at the playground. She said she wanted to go, so we gave her a chance. She was JUST tall enough, and LOVED it. She still talks about riding that car ride.

After we left the zoo, we ate some pizza for lunch and headed to the Oakland Temple. Chris and I took turns in the temple. When it was my turn to watch Claire, we walked around the visitor's center and all around the temple grounds. I took lots of pictures of the beautiful views, flowers, and most of all, my beautiful Claire. There's a big terrace up a flight of stairs kind of on top of part of the temple that was fun to check out too. Here are some of my favorite pictures of my sweet little girl.

A view of temple grounds from the terrace.

Claire on the terrace with the pretty view of the city in the background. "I've got one hand in my pocket..."

Smelling the pretty flowers.

Posing for me.

The view of the bay area from the temple. So pretty!

Claire got a goody bag from the neighbor girl's birthday part. She LOVES to accessorize.

Claire loves to play with Jaxson. I walked into her room and found them like this. Too cute. :)

Claire and daddy cuddling on the couch.

We decided to take advantage of one warm day and went to the beach. Claire HATES how the sand feels, and I'm trying to get her over that aversion. She was fine until I took her shoes off. Then she sat on the blanket and reached over to the sand. Baby steps I guess. We had fun though.

My little cutie before heading to the beach.

When Chris practices his horn, Claire wants to be a part of it. Chris has an old junky horn (that works) that he gives to Claire when he's praciticing, so she can have her own horn. How many 2 year olds have their own horn? She knows to put her hand in the bell and put her mouth on the mouthpiece (and tries to do so at the same time, though it's a stretch.)

Speaking of Claire playing the horn, she also loves to play the piano. I look forward to teaching her someday. :)