We spent some time this week exploring some new parks.  Jack discovered a ton of pine cones.  He really enjoyed these.  I think he thought it was a field of toys just for him.

Isabella and I made chex mix, for about the 5th time since we have been here. It was a fall favorite when I was growing up and so I think it will be the same for my kids.

On Saturday, we had the pleasure of meeting up with our friends Spike and Vanessa from business school days.  They live out in San Francisco but have family in Kansas City.  We were thrilled to meet baby Winston and catch up a bit.  We met at a local park that was about 4 miles from our apartment and close enough that Spike and Vanessa walked.  Not only were we all in the Kansas City area but we were within about 5 miles of each other...what are the odds? 

Vanessa and Winston and Nick and the kids

Isabella took this...not bad really!  We are all in the picture!

 The next day we headed over the Kansas City Zoo.  It was a pretty chilly day but it was sunny and beautiful. We loved the Polar bear...certainly one of the highlights of the zoo.

 Diego was also visiting the zoo that day and Isabella enjoyed saying hello to him.  He was much bigger in person than on TV.

We got to see the seal show, what a fun show!  The seal would come around really close and the kids loved it (ok maybe I loved it more).

Watching the seal

 They had this cool elephant habitat, that included an Elephant Run.  It was a long skinny area where they could walk for a ways, but it was great because they were so close to us.

Jack loved the elephants

They had a large Africa area, that really transported you to Africa.  It was absolutely gorgeous landscaping.

After a long day at the zoo we headed over to the Royals and Tampa Bay game (remember we got free tickets from the KC pumpkin patch).  We were there for about 4 innings...we stayed for the 7th inning stretch.  Jack was pretty tired and fell asleep for about 3 minutes in the ergo carrier. Isabella enjoyed taking in the sights and singing "Take me out to the ball game"

That evening we walked to a pizza place across the street from our apartment called Spin.  It was really good and they had a special event for dogs on the patio.  We got to eat on the patio which was fun for the kids.  Isabella and Jack shared an after dinner chocolate gelato.  

A couple cute pictures of the kids together.  They are really enjoying playing together now, but they also equally enjoy fighting together.  Lots of referreeng these days.

We also went out to dinner later that week with my friend Dana's family.  Isabella and Danika sat next to each other and had a blast.  They were in their own little world.  It was adorable!