I'm ready to be the next Indiana Jones!

I crossed the rope bridge all by myself!

Furry monkey!

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

::clap clap::

Like this guy, we hung out for a little while

We enjoyed monkeying around.

Welcome!

This is right at the entrance. Naturally, I demanded to sit on the lions. I poked them in the eye, too.

Henry Doorly Zoo!

Omaha has an excellent zoo. Mommy and daddy went for the first time several years ago. They liked it so much that they knew they just had to take me, too. So we scheduled a few days at the end of the trip to spend in Omaha before our flight back home.

We met daddy's cousin, Amber, her husband, Dana, and their adorable little girl, Emerson. I really enjoyed looking at the silly animals! The next several posts will feature photos from our day at Henry Doorly.

Break time

I took a break from fishing to sit on a log. I told Great Aunt Barb and Grandma Beard about Malibu. I love Malibu.

Gone fishin'!

While we were visiting Great Aunt Barb and Great Uncle Edwin's farm, I took a break from my busy horse-riding schedule to go fishing in their lake. The interest was short-lived, though. After a little while, I wanted to splish splash in the water instead! Daddy told me that was for another time - like when we're in Malibu, where the water is clean. Fair enough.

I'm such a horsie fan that I'll even ride a wooden one

Proof.

Uh-oh... allergies

I spent too much time with the doggy. And when mommy wanted to go wash my hands and face right away after the doggy licked me, she was mocked for being overprotective. It turns out mommy has a good reason to be overprotective -- I'm allergic to dogs, just like mommy and daddy are! I ended up getting pretty sick. Mommy and daddy took me to the clinic to be on the safe side. It was not my favorite part of the trip, but I let the nurse practitioner do her job. But next time, we're definitely washing me up right away.

And a doggy too?!

Holy moly, I'm in heaven! So was the doggy. He loved belly scratches.

My cousin Abby and I took the donkey for a walk

But he was slow! No wonder his name is Ketchup.

NEWSFLASH

We take a break from our regularly-scheduled programming to advise you that I AM GOING ON A DISNEY CRUISE! Not now, but soon. Don't think I'm not counting down the days.

Our family friends are going and asked if we would be interested, as well. Since mommy and daddy really like them, and I really like their kids (my little playmates, Katherine and James), mommy didn't hesitate before saying YES! And thank goodness she didn't. I would have had some words for her if she had turned down the opportunity to set sail with Disney. And those words would not have been "thank you."

Hooray!

After they behaved so well, I gave the horsies a treat

HE LICKED ME!

I shared my horsies with daddy

But it was with the understanding that it was my turn again as soon as I demanded it. He understood my terms.

A lesson in horsie riding

First, you tell them where they're going to go.

Next, you take their leash.

Then you lead him in the direction you want to go.

And then that's the direction the horsie takes you! Ta-dah!

My name is Caroline "All Horsie, All the Time" Ries

This is Princess. We spent lots of quality time together while visiting Great Aunt Barb and Great Uncle Edwin's farm. I did not share -- nor was I expected to. They said it was only fair - I came from the furthest away.


This is my cousin Shelby. She was kind enough to help lead Princess for me. She did a lot of walking!

Before long, I was asking for the horsie's leash.

Great Aunt Patty showed me how to lead the horsie. I did it all by myself!

Oops! Not a horsie.

First, let's start with the plane ride

We left early in the morning, which means that daddy wanted Cinnabon for breakfast. When mommy and I went to Cinnabon at LAX to get daddy some breakfast, I saw that they had MINI-bons, too! Of course, I wanted some. Mommy and I have a theory that little food tastes better, and I wanted to test out that theory!

Not surprisingly, I enjoyed eating my little food. I also ordered some Orange Juice - and the stewardess put a top on so I could pretend I was having coffee with my Cinnabon! Mommy said I look like a little business executive and snapped this picture.

Whoa! That was a heck of a nap...

I took a very long nap. And Amma, Baba, Scott and many of my other loyal followers let mommy know how they felt about my blog not getting updated! She is redressing this wrong RIGHT NOW. Apologies (from her) for the unreasonable delay.

We're back from Omaha!

Boy was that a tiring trip. Naptime! My posts over the next few days will summarize our trip.

Christmas in July!

Merry Summer to you!

SOMEONE loves her ballet slippers so much she sleeps in them

Who could that be?

Another pizza creation

What do you think? Bunny or Scottish Terrier?

Torture!

Oh Jamba Juice, why why whyyyyyyy do you do this to me? You should leave the frozen yogurt to Golden Spoon and stick to smoothies. On a related note, Dear Golden Spoon, please come here. Kthx.

Crepetastic!

Mommy learned how to make crepes (kinda). We buy ready-made crepes but fill them ourselves. Since strawberries are in season and we always have bananas and great quality chocolate on hand, we combined the three to make... deliciousness. I approve!

Wildlife Learning Center

Last weekend, Aunt Cody and Uncle Kyle came to visit me and we went to the Wildlife Learning Center! We had heard that it was a really cool place where you could get up close and personal with animals. I like getting up close and personal, so it certainly sounded like it was the place for me!

As we walked in, we saw the monkeys in their cages. Mommy said something about me acting a lot like them, whatever that means. There were also some bobcats napping in the cage across from the monkeys. There were some very colorful birds, including large parrots, and some less colorful birds, like the owl. I also got to see some baby foxes and other fun animals. There was something called a prairie dog, but he didn't look at all like a dog. False advertising!

The truth about how dinosaurs became extinct

TODDLER ATTACK!

Preschool is amazing

Every week has a different theme. Last week, our theme was animals. We had a petting zoo come to us on Wednesday and we got pony rides on Thursday! You'd better believe I ate my breakfast FAST on Thursday to get to the ponies sooner.

As we walked in to the preschool yard, we saw that the ponies had just arrived. I was literally jumping up and down and clapping with glee. It was hard for mommy to get a non-blurry picture! The next day, my teacher told mommy that I got THREE turns on the ponies because some of my other classmates were intimidated by the animals. Their loss. More for me!

Kid sandwich!

After parachute spinning, the dizzy bunch laid down for a minute... and one enterprising dad declared that it was kid sandwich time! Oh noooooo! (And "AGAIN!")

Freeway closure party!

What do you do during "Carmageddon" - the weekend when they close the 405 for expansion? You throw a party in the park and invite everyone you know, naturally! We did exactly that.


Some dads ran around in circles so we could sit in the parachute and spin until we were silly with dizziness!


"Again!"

Mommy's friend, Lana, joined us and brought PugMonster Mango. The Mangster loves watermelon.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get 67 people together for a group photo? It's more difficult than getting them to all look in the same direction for the photo. Here's about half of us anyway. Daddy took the picture, so he's not in the photo, but he was there for all of the festivities!

Who knew that West LA had its own zipline adventure?!

I can flyyyyyyyyy!

And then I dove into the ball pit!

Squee!

Parachute time!

We all took turns running around on a parachute as the other kids made waves!

Here's an easy way to make kids of all ages happy

A bubble machine + a fan = joy.

Birthday parties feature circle time too!

We pretended like we were skydiving!

Party ready!

When you have a busy social life like mine, you always need to make sure you have a pretty pink dress on hand at all times. If it's new, it's even better!