Productive And Fun Day

So, during nap time on January 14th, Emily completed her paintings for Everett's room.

The next morning, we hopped in the car pretty early and drove all of the way back to LA to pick up a few items from Terry's house (Uncle Rick's mom) that had been given to us.  Once those were loaded in the car, we stayed in the area and went to the Griffith Observatory.  Of course I had to get a picture of the kids with the HOLLYWOOD sign...

and then get some of the 360 view (though I really only photographed about 195 degrees).

After just a short visit, we raced back to the car...

and drove into Griffith Park to find the Old LA Zoo.

We found a big enclosure to explore...

and went up the steps to the zookeeper's access gate.

Don't feed the animals...

We moved on to some smaller enclosures...

 before viewing the zookeeper's access from the top.

We were all a little nervous because the stairs are STEEP - but I made them sit at the edge anyway.

Then we went up the hill to climb around in another big cage...

 and peek in the nooks and crannies.

The kids were very interested on the way up to see some young adults making a movie so they stopped to watch a little as we went back down.  

Then we walked back out...

and ran in to IKEA for a couple of frames on the way home.  Oh, and some ice cream cones.  :)

Once home, we put our new items on the porch (bench rocker and giraffe)...

and in the house.  (Terry collected giraffes and since Emily loves giraffes, we acquired many of Terry's.)

The last things on the list for the day were to frame Emily's paintings (IKEA frames)...

 and hang them in Everett's room.

Then it was bed time!  Whew!