We celebrated early with my family on December 19- then we went to church on Christmas Eve. Rachel was thrilled to sing her two favorite songs- "Hark the herald angels sing" and "Away in a manger". Santa did bring the hair salon- all is good! Have a very merry Christmas!
We went to Beckwith Apple Orchard today with Rachel's class and it really rained. So we had an inside apple orchard tour. It was still pretty fun but cold. Rachel was happy to see all her school friends.
My poor baby girl had to have her tooth pulled today and we didn't even get to keep it. We had to write the Tooth Fairy a note instead.
Rachel's 4th birthday party- she wanted a princess theme again and a pinata!
First day of school- 2nd year of preschool- same school, new teacher.
We visited the Columbus Zoo and got to the see the baby elephant Beco that was just born a few months ago. It is a nice zoo but very big and Rachel got tired out after lunch and a trip to the play area for climbing. Rachel got to pet a flamingo! I think she liked the lions and tigers the best. We stayed at the Chase Suite Hotel and I would recommend it- very close to the zoo. We got complimentary pizza and pop and free breakfast in the morning. The rooms are all suites.
Today we went to Miller's Dairy Farm for a tour of the farm and we got to see lots of animals- baby duck, baby skunk, baby rabbit, newborn calf, horses, goats, alpacas, geese, peacocks, pigs, cows, roosters, chickens, etc. Rachel got to have a try at milking a cow and we had a hay ride and some ice cream. It was a fun day!
Monday we had a tour of the Green fire station- which Rachel did not enjoy very much. Then we went swimming even though I had a sore throat. By Tuesday I was miserable and we missed our Tuesday play group. We are still having a fun summer vacation!
A stray cat had kittens in our (weeds) backyard. They are very cute- there are four kittens and a mama cat. They won't let us get close at all. We felt bad for mama cat and put some food and water out.
Today was the first official day of summer vacation. We went strawberry picking at Greenfield Berry Farm (it was a nice cloudy day). And later we went through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to see the Everett Covered Bridge. 
We went to the zoo over the weekend and the weather was great and it was not crowded at all. Rachel loves to play in the zoo keeper's "kitchen". Here's a photo from the butterfly garden.
We had to have our family cat put to sleep today. She was 18+ years old and lived a great life. She just took a turn for the worse about 2 weeks ago and went downhill fast. It was very sad for me.
Rachel wasn't feeling too good this week, but she does not have strep throat. She is, however, facinated with all things "doctor". She got to have her throat swabbed- which she didn't like very much. Here she is with her doctor kit.
It's almost Easter- we got Easter pictures taken- doesn't she look grown up? (such attitude already!) Hope you and your family have a blessed Easter.
Our first trip to the Zoo of the season. Rachel really liked the rock wall in the Jelly Fish area and the animal feeding play area by the lions. It turned out to be such a nice day with our play group.
We planted some bean seeds in a cup to see what would grow- they have sprouted on the window ledge.
Nothing says winter like playing in the snow and having a indoors tea party! We went outside after that huge snowstorm and later tea was served to Daddy and the stuffed animals.
