Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

On Friday we were lucky enough to be able to take advantage of the awesome weather by heading up to Madison Zoo. We could not have asked for a nicer day although we did think it was maybe a bit too hot but hey we'll take hot over cold any day. We've talked about taking Elle to a zoo for a little while becuase of her love of animals but now we were finally able to do it. If you haven't been to the Madison Zoo you should definitely go check it out. It's not a huge zoo but it does have some cool animals and best of all it's FREE!

Robby had been asking on the way to the zoo if we were going to get to see any bears and sure enough it was the first animal we saw that day!

It was such a beautiful day and Elle was great through the whole thing no crying or whining woohoo!

The lions were one of our favorite animals we saw that day unfortunately they didn't do much though they were just enjoying laying in the sun.

I'm not exactly sure what this next animal is....monkey, chimp or gorilla who knows I wasn't paying attention to what the signs said. Anyway he was very cute and he just sat there looking at us and this one was sucking on his toe, very very cute.

When we were all done checking out the animals we sat down and had a quick photo shoot.

Elle didn't spend much time in her stroller that day but I had to include a picture of her in it cause boy oh boy do we LOVE this stroller!!! Everyone who has a baby or toddler needs to invest in a BOB Stroller!!

On our way out Elle got to stop in the gift shop and pick out something. Elle picked out the lion right away we're guessing because of it's fun hair. We named him Larry the Lion...real original I know. Larry and Elle got to ride together on the way back to the car.

After a long day Elle and Larry got to snuggle on the way home....I couldn't believe she actually slept the whole way back. You can't see it in the pic but Elle held onto Larry's leg while she was sleeping.

We had such an awesome day together as a family we were so lucky to be able to spend the day together at the Zoo hopefully we will have many more fun filled days this summer.

Bunnies Bunnies Bunnies

Happy Easter Everybody!! We had a great Easter here at the Ludwig house in fact I think it was my best Easter ever and that has a lot do do with the fact that Elle was here to celebrate it with us.

Our Easter weekend actually started on Saturday and that was our busiest day. Our little alarm clock named Elle went off at about 6:15 and boy was she a happy girl...it's always fun to wake up to such a happy girl in the morning! So we got up and started getting ready and all packed up to head to Forreston for the Ludwig Family Easter. Elle got some fun presents and even snuck in a nap while we were there. Elle also got to have a photo shoot in a chair that belonged to her Great Great Great Grandmother which unfortunately I don't have pics of because we forgot our camera.

Then it was time to head to over to the Dorsey household where Elle got to participate in her first Easter egg hunt. Elle loved holding the eggs and we loved opening them because they were full of money since Elle can't eat candy. Of course there were more presents to open (since when did Easter become the second Christmas???). By the end of the night poor Elle was wiped out and ready for bed so we headed home and tucked her in.





Sunday morning we woke up and of course the Easter Bunny had brought some fun things for Elle. I was so excited because Elle actually took half of the stuff out of the basket all by herself. She got a few books, a veggie tales dvd, an outfit with matching hat and a swim suit.

Here is our little chunky monkey modeling her swimsuit. I know it's not as fun as a little strappy number but it does have 50 UV protection.

After we got done checking out all the presents it was time to get ready for church and of course then Elle had to model her very first Easter dress. I looked and looked for a dress I could wear that would kind of match hers but I was unsuccessful.

After church we went over to my parents house for a quick lunch but the highlight of the visit was Elle getting to play with an actual Easter bunny. She absolutely loved it and I knew she would because so far she's loved every animal she meets.

Don't ya love this pic I think Ted (aka the bunny) was trying to give her a little kiss.

Elle kept trying and trying to grab him so finally we just sat Ted on her lap and let her get a few fist fulls of hair!! He was such a good sport he took the abuse and didn't mind one bit.

We had such a wonderful weekend with our little family and I can't help but think how blessed we are to have such a wonderful little girl in our lives. She brings soooo much joy and excitement to our lives I seriously can't imagine even one day without her anymore. We hope that you all had a great weekend with your families as well.