Weekend Outings

Weekends are the time when I really notice that it's just the two of us here.  I try to plan activites to keep us busy and seeing friends.  My school district had a five day weekend for President's Day and I took advantage of the time off.  It was nice to come back from maternity leave and only have to work one full week and then have a two day work week to follow.  Easing back into the routine.  On President's Day, Annika and I met up with some friends at the Point Defiance Zoo here in Tacoma.  It's about a 10 minute drive from my house and really a nice setting for a zoo.  There are good places to run out at Point Defiance park and I plan to return on a sunny afternoon. 

 Annika was not yet impressed by the peacock.  She did want to be out of her stroller and able to look around.  She doesn't normally complain about being pushed in the stroller but she wasn't very happy unless I was carrying her while she looked forward.  I think she especially liked seeing the fish swimming in the aquarium.

 We stopped for a picture by the penguins.  I think my favorite was watching the walruses swimming in their tank.  We didn't make it to all areas of the zoo because it started getting rainy and pretty cold.

 Here is our little bear looking out at a polar bear.

We went up to Seattle later in the week to meet up with fellow St. Olaf Alumni for happy hour.  It was especially fun because we met in our old Eastlake neighborhood.  Annika created a bit of a challenge because we were originally meeting in the bar area of the restaurant but no babies were allowed.  Because it was the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, the seating in the restaurant wasn't busy, so the group moved over to where we had to sit.  Every place should offer family friendly happy hours :)