The Lee Family: Celebrating our Favorite 4 Year Old!

A few days before her birthday I asked Olivia what she wanted to do and suggested a few ideas. She decided she wanted to go to the zoo for the day. So, we dropped Sofia off at school and returned home to make sandwiches and pack water and snacks before heading down to the Dallas Zoo. Originally I was hoping we could meet up with CK, but he was in Odessa for the day so we hung out at the zoo longer than we normally do and had a good visit.

Once we parked and were inside the Dallas Zoo, I asked her what animals she really wanted to see and where she would like to go first. I always like to start off with the Giants of the Savanna to see the elephants, zebras and feed the giraffes before it gets too hot for them to be out and active. She said she wanted to watch the dinosaur show "like last time" so we had nearly two hours before it started. We headed over to the Savanna and saw the lemurs, warthog, elephants, zebras, ostriches and giraffes. Unfortunately the giraffes weren't feeding since they were doing work in their enclosure. We were able to watch the cheetah, who paced around and walked right up to Olivia. Such a beautiful animal!

After the Savanna, we stopped off by the elephant play area so Olivia could climb onto the metal elephants and run around. That is Sofia's absolutely favorite spot in the whole zoo and Olivia enjoyed having it mostly to herself. After playing for a bit, we headed over to look at the flamingos and the birds of prey, which are all such gorgeous animals! We then headed over to get a good seat for the Dinosaurs Live show. Since it isn't summer or a weekend, the zoo is full of mommies with their 3 and 4-year olds and usually a small baby in a stroller or strapped to their chest. There weren't a lot of kids at the Dinosaurs Live show, so we got a good seat in the shade and Olivia ate half of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich while we waited for the show to start. The show was fun, but not as long or involved as the last time we saw it with Sofia. After it was over, we were all invited back to "meet the dinosaurs" and get our pictures with them, which Olivia really looked forward to doing. She held the baby dinosaur, stood in front of the T Rex, and sat with me in front of the triceratops and smiled so cute. She brought her big Ariel baby doll that has bright red hair and held it when she stood in front of the T Rex, but it just looked like something bright red.

After the dinosaurs, we headed up toward the reptiles and amphibians. Olivia loves the zoo, but her very favorite is visiting the snakes and alligators. We walked through and found all of the snakes hiding in their enclosures and then visited the alligators. The zoo has two alligators together in an inside room enclosure which always makes me want to break them out and free them. They look miserable - as miserable as alligators can look. Olivia loves looking at them though. After that, we headed to the Giants of the Jurassic play area where we got a Dippin Dots to share. It had become a pretty humid day and it felt good to enjoy something cool. Olivia then looked for dinosaur bones in the sandbox and the dinosaur nest.

After, we headed back to the entrance where Olivia rode the merry go around before heading back to our car and heading home. Olivia was asleep after about five minutes. Once home, I made Olivia's birthday cake which is similar to one my Mom used to make for me when I was little. It was a strawberry jello poke cake with cream cheese frosting. Once CK got home, he frosted it while I made dinner. I made a turkey noodle casserole to use up smoked turkey breast from Monday's dinner CK hosted at the house. It turned out to be really good, although Olivia wasn't a huge fan unfortunately. After dinner, we sang Happy Birthday to Olivia and enjoyed her delicious cake with vanilla ice cream.

After birthday cake, it was time to open presents! Olivia had presents from her sister, my Aunt and Uncle, my college friend Sian and her family (who ALWAYS seems to remember all of our birthdays), and us. With a little prompting from Sofia, Olivia decided to open her present from her sister first, which was a Fancy Nancy Mermaid book and a paint your own animal figure set. After, she opened the present from Aunt and Uncle which was two mermaid books that we are sure to become favorites of hers. She opened the gift from us, which was a box of new clothes and a My Little Pony house, since the girls love to play with their little My Little Pony figures every day. Then she opened the gift from Sian and her family which was really for both girls to share. The box was full of all sorts of goodies - movies, books, pens and activity sets, and a huge stuffed mermaid, about the size of Olivia! So sweet and she loved all of her gifts! Unfortunately, I'd put the camera on manual when I made the video of us singing Happy Birthday and forgot to put it back on Automatic focus, so all the photos of her opening her presents are out of focus. What a fun birthday and we are so excited for what Olivia's 4th year has in store for her!

We are ready to explore the Dallas Zoo!