Here comes the rain again. And again. And again...

Nah, it's not that bad. We have a lot of things we can do indoors. And fortunately, the rain doesn't come down in buckets usually so we can sneak outside every now and then. The Point Defiance Zoo has a great aquarium that the girls like to walk around in and see the different kinds of fish. Lately, Ellie has been asking nearly every day to go. So we pack up some snacks, grab the juice boxes and away we go. I was in the kitchen cutting up an apple and Ellie asked me if we could feed it to the sharks in the big tank. That might have been fun but a little scary. One of the other cool things about the aquarium is the strong emphasis on local fish and water flora.

We discovered on Monday that the zoo has two Sumatran tigers. The area behind Ellie in the picture usually houses one but another habitat over my shoulder had another one. We didn't see any staff around to ask questions so next time we go, we'll try and find out more about them. Ellie still isn't real keen on looking at the elephants that are there. She had a scare at the Rainforest Cafe when we first moved here.

During busy hours, the zoo staff will be on the grounds showing some of the smaller animals. Ellie saw an armadillo this summer and thought it was a dinosaur. They have a great amphitheater where they do their Discovery shows and I think both girls will be ready for that next year. Jennifer and I were discussing an overnight trip to downtown Seattle. We want to hit the Pike Place Market and the Seattle Aquarium without having to spend 3 hours driving back and forth. Winter's as good a time as any to do it.


Campbell is about ready to walk the zoo on her own. She can't really get into any trouble but when she's in the stroller she has a better vantage point. I think she still enjoys being chauffeured around even though she normally hates being constrained. And I like it when Ellie walks it. We have an awesome front/back stroller but when Ellie is in front, it's HEAVY!

I'm debating about taking the girls for a day trip out to Mt. Rainier this week/weekend. There's plenty of snow out there now and I think they'd have a blast playing in it. We're only about an hour or so away from the base of the mountain. With the overcast skies, we don't get many chances to see the mountain during the winter so maybe getting in the car and seeing some snow close up would be fun. Or I could be asking for trouble. Ellie could start bugging me daily to go make some snow angels.