The kids take pictures at the zoo

I have two Kodak Easyshare C813 cameras that I bought last year. One specifically for Kenzie for her 6th birthday, and one for Jia. I had no idea if Jia would be able to handle a camera or not when I bought it, but I thought I might as well go ahead and get it to be prepared for when I would be able to give her one. When we met Jia, it was (painfully) obvious it would be awhile before she could be handed over a piece of equipment, let alone some of the toys she would be given.

Even more unfortunate for her, she has this incredibly strong sense of what is fair and right and even - she believes whatever Kenzie has, she should have. It has taken the last 7 months (the 10th will actually make 7 months since we took her into our lives) for her to calm down and she has really taken to listening to us and what we say. She used to have this horrible problem with touching things she shouldn't or was told not to, such as, slamming her hand down on a cash register at a mall kiosk, or touching computer keys when she was told not to, or touching food on a buffet that she didn't intend to take and eat. So much of what we take for granted in our every day lives meant nothing to her - she had no point of reference or understanding about what was acceptable and what was not.

But she has shown a lot of growth - and fortunately for us, she can internalize the pain of a time out and it has helped her know that for her actions, there will be consequences...

So when we were all going to go to the zoo this weekend, Kenzie wanted to take her camera. Jia was begging "Please mommy? I want a camera, too. I promise I won't drop it." (Another of her behaviors that was hard to get over and is starting to sink in... some of it is accidental - but she also does it on purpose- such as accidentally knocking a utensil off of the dining room table, and then she puts that one in the sink, gets another, and then immediately knocks that one off, too, looking at us as though we should just bust out laughing at her. Um... I don't think so.) I made a deal with Jia. I would allow her to take a camera, BUT... she had to follow the rules. The rules were 1) you don't take out the camera without mommy to supervise; 2) you have to hold it exactly the way mommy tells you to, and 3) you do everything mommy tells you to do with the camera until I'm comfortable that you can handle it. It is NOT a toy. This is a real camera and you must not mistreat it.

Her eyes lit up - you could almost see the fireworks going off inside her brain as she understood she was going to get to take pictures with a REAL camera.

Here are her very best ones. I only supervised, but she took the pics and I loved her results. The only thing I've done is resize the pics and slightly sharpen them due to the blurriness that occurs with resizing. I would have to say, not bad for a little kid just learning about photography.

Kenzie's behind - butts are always a fascinating subject to 5 year olds.

If you can't quite make it out - it's a walrus.

This sky shot is intentional. I watched as she framed the pic all by herself.

Great pic of a polar bear.

Good pic of Kenzie

I have no idea who this goofy looking woman is. Pay her no attention.

Daddy. Always a kid favorite!

Now, here are Kenzie's pictures. I think she keeps getting better and better as time goes by. Some interesting perspective shots, too..

Daddy & Grandma Geri

This "little" walrus was attracted to anyone who had facial hair. Um... it's a little male walrus. Wonder what that says about the animal world....

Kenzie climbed up on some seats facing the water where the walruses were and took this pic. I really liked it - and thought it an interesting perspective.

There's that annoying woman in green again.

A closeup of a couple sea lions.

Great pic of Grandma Geri.

And now for mommy's pics she took with Kenzie's camera (mine ran out of battery pretty quickly).These were at the water park in the zoo. Jia was scared to death to get under any of the water until I tricked her - and then she got so we couldn't get her out of it.




Wow... what a day!

Chicago!!!!

We travel once a year to Chicago to visit with Grandma Geri. Now, we have been doing this for the last 3 years with Kenzie (we felt she was a bit young the first year she was home, so we didn't go then). We always marveled at what a great traveler Kenzie was, and how she entertained herself and didn't complain and oh my! Weren't we the luckiest parents!!!



Well, that all changed this year. We weren't even 15 minutes outside of Bloomington and we heard "Are we to Chicago yet?"

It was about every 10-25 minutes she would ask the same things.

"Are we to Chicago yet?"

"When are we going to be in Chicago?"

"Are we there yet?"

"How much longer before we're in Chicago?"

"Are we in Chicago yet?"

And on and on and on. By the time we got north of Lafayette, I started answering "YES! We're in Chicago, Honey!!!"

She would look around and say, "I don't see any tall buildings..."

And I would say, "Well, then... do you think we're in Chicago yet?"

"No. We're not in Chicago yet."

"OK - then you know we aren't in Chicago without having to ask. When you see big buildings, you'll know we are in Chicago."

"Sooooo... when are we going to be in Chicago?" (Want a little cheese with that whine, sweetie? And the trip lasted about 6 1/2 hours. Uuuugggghhhh...... )




When we finally made it to Chicago, we went to our favorite evening restaurant to see Grandma Geri, Uncle Dan and his girlfriend Jane, and Cousin Elaine. Elaine brought her daughter Deborah this year, too. We always meet at the Omega (on Golf Road in Des Plaines), which has great food, even better service and it's so reasonably priced - we don't go anywhere else to eat for supper while up here. We love the Omega. If you're curious and want to try it out, the Omega is at 9100 Golf Road in Des Plaines. It isn't real fancy food - they keep it simple. But I'll say this much - for the money - if you're hungry - this is the place to eat.

I have some pics to share from the evening. If you want to see full size photos, just click on the picture.









The next day, we went (predictably) to the Lincoln Park Zoo. I believe this is the only free zoo in the country... and it is quite a nice little zoo. It isn't fancy, but there's a lot there and they are trying to improve their exhibits whenever they can. I have a few pics from that day...

Here's the main entrance. Click the pic for the full size photo and more detail.

Our daughter, the showoff...

Can you find the rhino in the pic? Click on the pic to see the full size and the rhino.

A couple of pics of the beautiful city scape from the park.

Ever hear of a Patogonian Cavy? This is it...

Now, before you jump to conclusions - this is not what it seems. NO, this isn't two turtles copulating. All the turtles in the exhibit were male. And this happens to be their way of establishing dominance amongst themselves. Looks like humans aren't the only ones who try to compensate for their "shortcomings". Napolean complex, anyone?

This was probably the most exciting thing we saw at the zoo. A baby rabbit that was outside the zoo as we were walking back to the van. It stayed very still and wasn't too afraid of us. We were probably about 4 feet from this little bunny, and I got some nice pics. (Click the pic to see a closeup.)

The next day, again predictably, we went to Navy Pier. Actually, it is a fun time. And the Children's Museum is actually quite good. I heard from my mother-in-law that Mayor Daley wants to move the museum to a park (was it Grant Park? - something like that) and there's a huge number of people who are opposed to this. I'm one of them. There's no parking at the park for families, and the residents around this area of Chicago are against it because of the traffic and other unpleasant activities that would follow the move. Navy Pier is easier to get to and has parking and - well, it just fits. I have some pics of Kenzie doing her best to show what it's like to be working in a pizzeria. She loves that exhibit.







And then, the very best of all... Navy Pier has a HUGE ferris wheel. Kenzie has been begging us to go on a ferris wheel all year. I have no idea why she wants to do this - but it seems to be a big deal to her. So this year, as she begged (and I mean BEGGED) to go on the ferris wheel - guess who was the lucky parent who went with her. Yup. Me.

Now, I am not afraid of heights unless I'm in the act of falling, so going up the ferris wheel wasn't going to bother me height-wise. The only thing I worried about was how fast it would go. But I found that it takes about 7 minutes for it to make one revolution (which is all you get to ride it for anyway - and by the way - that cost $6.00 per person). I had nothing to worry about though. The trip is so slow that if you didn't notice the horizon changing and being able to look out and see for miles around - you would never have known you were on a ride at all. Here are the pics.












No - she's not getting ready to throw up. This was close to the end of the ride and she was just so excited... she was giggling like a girl would. My daughter simply loves life and wants to experience everything she can.... and to her, this was like a dream come true.

I can't wait to let our second daughter experience these things as well! Next year, we'll have a different family portrait to share.