Australia Zoo

May 3, 2010

I can't believe we got to go to the Australia zoo! It is somewhere I've wanted to go for quite sometime. I leaned a lot more about it when Steve Irwin passed away. So here is a little info for those who don't know about the zoo or the Irwin family. The Australian Zoo was started by Steve Irwin's parents. The zoo started very small as a place to bring animals that the Irwin family rescued on their family adventures. Steve is famous for his show The Crocodile Hunter. A show that featured crazy Steve capturing crocodiles and saying CRICKY! He would catch crocs that were causing problems in areas. He saved the crocs lives because they would have just been killed. Steve was nine years old when he pounced his first croc!

The zoo raises not only money for but awareness about these wonderful animals and what we need to do to save them.

Ezra ready for a fun!

Our family with a statue of the Irwins.

When you first walk into the zoo they have animal handlers with animals you can touch. Ezra really liked the baby alligator!

He liked him a little TOO much!

As Ezra was patting ( that's what they call petting) the alligator he decided to squish his tummy. Do you like the reaction on my face? I sure hope Ezra learns how to be "soft" before the babies come!!!

So crocodiles that could eat Ezra in one bite he loved but a man in a crocodile suit FREAKED him out!

Feeding the kangaroos was AMAZING! You are walking around in their habitat and you can walk up and pat of or feed any of them. The nice thing is that the kangaroos can go into "no touch" areas if they want a break. I think that is so great! As you can tell there were plenty of kangaroos out for us to play with!

On a bad day this might not sound like a bad option......Ha ha ha!

We all got a chance to feed the elephants.

Ezra was amazed by the bird show at the crocasium.

If you keep a croc in a cage and just throw in food they would die because they wouldn't get to use their instincts. At the zoo they make them work for their food. It keeps the crocs happy and it's fun to watch! The Crocodile Hunter car is one of Steve's old cars.

Ezra is signing bird.

After all the animals were feed it was time to feed the people.

Ezra liked smooshing his face on the stroller canopy. He looked like a little spaceman.

Daddy and Ezra with the Red Pandas

Most people refer to Koalas as koala bears but they are not bears they are marsupials. Marsupial young are born immature and they develop further in the safety their mother's pouch.

Sweet baby!

When we found out we would be going to Australia I knew one thing I wanted to do for sure, and that was.....

hold a KOALA!!!
Look at my face..... I was SO excited!

They are so soft, kind of like a bunny.

These tigers are some that the zoo is trying to save. The handlers are using milk to get them to show off. Something that is very apparent at the zoo is how much they truly love and respect these animals. They really work with them a lot! The Australia Zoo is the only place in the world where handlers can get blood samples from the tigers without it being sedated. That is amazing! Not something I want to try, but amazing. Another example of love was with the Tasmanian devils. As we were getting ready to leave the zoo we saw a worker going into the Tasmanian devil habitat. She said each day, morning and night, they are cuddled. There she sat cuddling a little devil!

More kangaroos

This crocs name is Casper because he is white. He is not a albino. Albinos lack pigment in their skin Casper lacks only black pigment-he is called leusistic.

CRIKEY!

May 1, 2010

We started the day at the Eumundi Market. It is a huge market where all the locals bring things to sell...... Food, clothing, woodwork, crafts, art and everything and anything else you can think of. There are also people playing music. We had fun walking around and enjoying some Australian culture. If you don't know what a didgeridoo sounds like just watch an Outback Stake House commercial. Listen for the wa wa sound. Now playing the didgeridoo isn't as easy as you might think, it takes skill. To play you must buzz your lips while the didg is touching your mouth. Try buzzing your lips, now take your fingers and make a OK sign and put it up to your lips. Not so easy right? Now that's just to make a sound come out. If you want it to sound good/cool at all you have to move your tongue around or say words while buzzing. My little brother Alan has been playing since November and he is really good! People at the market would stop to watch him play. They would say "Look, it's that kid playing." I wanted to give it shot, and what do you know.....I'm a natural. I could even do a couple of tricks! I still have a LONG way to go before I consider myself good but it was really fun. My problem is I don't have enough breath support so I will have to wait till after the babies are born to really start practicing.

The Australians are very friendly! All day long you hear "G-day" (good day) "good on you" and "no worries". As I was standing in line for "the toilet" (that's how they refer to the bathroom) I had a lady say "Oh, you have such a lovely bump!" The bump is what they call the pregnant belly. It's also how they refer to your unborn child. Then the other ladies in line stared taking to me as well telling how wonderful I looked. They were all very excited about the twins! They were all so positive. I LOVE them!!! I'm so used to hearing "Wow, your huge!" or "Oh, twins....I feel sorry for you!" mostly negative things. What a nice change! I found Australians to be more positive than Americans in general. Australia is the place for pregnant women!

Speaking of pregnant women.....May 1, 2010 marked 25 weeks

Here is a picture of "The Bump"

After the market we stopped at a park to make lunch. Every park in Australia has electric grills and they are very well maintained. So what do you grill when you are in OZ? SAUSAGE!!!

Ezra LOVED It! We tried kangaroo sausages called kanga bangas. This was our first and only time eating kangaroo meat! Not because it tasted bad, it was good. The reason is knowledge..... Ryan read Steve Erwin's book and we learned more about kangaroos and how we need to protect them. Sorry Steve....we didn't know! I have to say this was the best lunch I've ever had made in a park!
In America we have pigeons as wild birds. In Australia they have turkeys. Ezra had a blast chasing them! he got pretty close too.

Noosa was beautiful! Blue water and white sand........ need I say more? Oh, the sand squeaks...... yes, SQUEAKS! When you walk on your toes you can hear it. Crazy! Ezra liked the sand not only to play in but to eat too! He had a great time knocking down the sandcastles Bethany and Alan made. Ezra did NOT like the water! He cried when the waves came up. Ryan and I LOVED the water, it felt great! The water in Australia is way more salty then the water here in America. I wonder why???

Beautiful!!!

That four wheeler car thing drove across to beach selling snow cones and ice cream.

The Big Pineapple is a pineapple farm and tour that is famous for a huge fake pineapple. Inside the pineapple you can take the stairs to the top to take a picture. On your way up there is a bunch of information about pineapples. Did you know it takes about three pineapples to make one regular sized can of pineapple!?! Impressive fact, no?

Last stop of the day was the beautiful Mary Cairncross rainforest. It was getting late and it was raining so we didn't get to say for long. I am glad we went at that time because we got these beautiful pictures.

The amazing thing is as you are driving to a rainforest the sky will be sunny and it isn't as green. As you get closer to the rainforest it gets greener and all of a sudden you hit the rainforest and it rains. I guess that's where they get their name. the mountains in the distance are the famous Glass House mountains. From certain angles the one on the right looks like a squatting gorilla.

Our first taste of Australia

April 30. 2010

In order for me to be able to get around and enjoy Australia and not over do it I needed a wheelchair. Luckily there was a rental place right down the street from my parents house. We were able to rent a wheelchair for the whole three weeks for $60......money well spent!

As we were strolling down the street we smelled something amazing and had to stop.

Cornish Pasties

They were delicious!!!!

In the middle is a picture of me with tomato sauce, Aussie ketchup.

Australia or BUST!

April 27, 2010

Passports, tickets, visas, diapers, clothes.....

After months of preparation the day had finally come we were going to Australia!

Ezra was Letting Grandma and Grandpa know we would be there soon!

A big thank you to our friend Ashley for picking us up (and all of our stuff) and taking us to the airport!

Our one hour flight to LA left at 6:00PM and was not bad at all. In LA we had a four hour layover which meant our flight to Brisbane didn't leave until 11:00PM. Now Ezra normally goes to bed at about 6:30, so he was really tried! Perfect, Right? No! There was so much going on in the airport that he wouldn't sleep and he was cranky. Ryan managed to get him to sleep before we got on our flight. We were hoping if we did this then he could just sleep on the plane. Well it was a good plan.... but it did not work at all! When the pilot turned the cabin lights on he immediately woke up. Ezra has sleep issues. In general he likes to be in perfect quiet and darkness. So here we go with a overly tried crying/ screaming baby on a THIRTEEN hour plane ride. Yes, our child was "THAT CHILD", the child you dread to be on a plane with. Luckily everyone around us was nice and seemed to have no trouble sleeping. I can't carry Ezra right now so poor Ryan had to take care of him. So we, and by we I mean mostly Ryan, spent thirteen hours with Ezra walking around, feeding him snacks, and doing anything and everything possible to keep him "happy" and not kill him. You think I'm just being a little dramatic? Just ask Ryan and watch him try not to twitch!!! Ezra did sleep...... for one hour...... total! Ryan, you are my hero!

Watching T.V.


At the end of the flight was breakfast. Ezra LOVED the orange juice!!!
Don't let that angel face fool you....... he really was a MONSTER 98% of the time! Even after him being SO horrible that little angel face melted my heart. Someday I will laugh at all this, right?

Ever Changing

I just wanted to do a quick post about my Ezra boy who seems to be always changing!

Everyday it seems he can do something he couldn't do the day before. So I'm sorry if this is just a rambling post, I just don't want to forget the cute things he is doing right now!!!

Words he says: Help, bird (and signs), up, down, water (and signs), apple, juice (and signs), ball, bubbles, cracker (and signs), Andrew, I LOVE YOU, or I love you too (Most of the time he says "I you"), bunny, what's that, what doing? (he says this all day long!!!), pancake, bread, fish (and signs), cheese (and signs), yes (and nods his head), baby (and signs) and lots more! These are just a few things I can think of right now.
Songs he sings: Happy birthday (he goes around singing "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!), The clean up song (he says some of the words and hums the rest), "Wee Wee" (a little song my grandma used to sing to me),The theme song to baby signing time, he hums his own little songs as well.
Counting: He can count to five.
Cute things: He swings his arms as he walks, especially when he is excited. Stretches his arms all the way above his head hand flaps his hand when he wants something out of reach. When he hears the blender he squeals for joy.....something good always come from the blender!!! Dances to the music during our car rides. When we play music at home he will stomp his foot to the beat. Gives kisses and hugs. After he gives a kiss he will say "I love you" he will also say "I love you" if he sees Ryan and I kiss. He gives kisses to the babies, rubs my belly and says "I you!" He asks me to watch his favorite show, which is Baby signing time. He just loves everyone!!!

I am so amazed each day by all the new things he says and does! He is such a sweet and happy boy and I'm so glad he's mine!!!!
I love you Ezra!

We're having a.......

A

BOY

and a.....

GIRL

That's right....

TWINS!!!

So here they are......

During the ultrasound I kept saying over and over "She looks like Brennan!" What do you think Grandma? My sister is totally beautiful so it's fine with me!

This is our little girl crossing her ankles.

The funny thing is I was doing this same thing right before we started the ultrasound and the lady had to tell me to stop. During the whole thing I kept having to uncross my ankles as I kept crossing them.


It was amazing to watch them interact with each other!
The ultrasound tech said she had never seen twins put their feet together like this. She was in just as much awe as we were.

That is baby Boy being SAT on by his Sister!

Poor guy!!!

In the bottom left picture you can see his arm bent back.

So how do we feel about this?

We couldn't be more happy!

We have had lots of questions......

"Are you shocked?"
"Did you think at all that is might be twins?"

"Are you so freaked out?"

"I thought twins skipped a generation!"

(They say this because my Mom had twins)

The truth is Ryan and I both thought we were having twins. I had the feeling quite early. Whenever I would think about the "baby" or pray for the health of the "baby" in my head I ALWAYS said babies. In fact I finally started praying for my babies. I figured it could count for Ezra and any future children just in case I was only carrying one. When we had the ultrasound we finally had proof for the rest of the world. In fact I would have been in shock if they said it was only one. I think I would have said "Can you please find my other child!" I/we are not freaked out at all! We are SO excited!!!! Triplets would be freaky...twins are not! Yes, of course it will be a lot of work. I KNOW.....I was 14 1/2 when my Mom had my brothers so I remember what it was like! The only thing we are "worried" about is getting all the stuff we need......Our car will NOT fit three car seats so we need a new car. Can you put that on a gift registry? LOL!!! Of coarse we will need other things but that will be the BIG ticket item.
Twins skipping generations is a Old wives tale. Fraternal twins (which is what are twins are) come from two different eggs. So any women with the gene to release two eggs can have twins. If it's in the family, it's in the family.....so your chance of getting that gene is like the chance of having blue eyes. Our daughter had a VERY high chance of having twins being a twin herself! We are so happy to have our little family of three become a family of five!

Dear Sweet Babies,

You are spacial. You are wanted. You are loved. We are looking forward to meeting you this August!

We LOVE you!

Mommy, Daddy & Ezra

* We had the Ultrasound Friday April 9th 2010.

Eleven years ago this day is when my Mom had her Ultrasound and found out she was having twins!!!!

Fair Fun!!!

I LOVE the

Clark County Fair!!!!

But really.....What's not to love?

There is

Food

fun

animals

and FOOD!

We started our day off by going to the pig races. Ezra was so freaked out at first!!!! Then he started signing......

BIRD? "No Ezra, that's a pig." DOG? "No Ezra, that's not a dog it's a pig." CAT? "No Ezra, that's not a cat that's a pig." He doesn't know the sign for pig so he didn't know what to call it. It was so cute to watch him ask us.

Waiting for the dog show.

Pinwheels

They have never had this at the fair......

We got to pet Stingrays!

This is where we spent most of our time.

One because Ezra LOVED the animals and two because it was indoors. It ended up being a warm day. The first really warm day of the year. A perfect day for a fair!

Petting a 5 day old porcupine!

This poor Bunny's ears are so long they fold over several times!

When the roosters got a little too laud......

This is where you would find Ezra.

It was so cute when Ezra started copying the rooster crowing!

Ezra loved all the birds!

He spent a lot of time by these little chicks. He would sign bird and he started putting his fingers in the cage to pet them.

I guess it's good to love the animal that gives you your favorite food!

Me holding a BABY KANGAROO!!!!!!

So I really must give some background to this picture. As I said before we spent a lot of time in the small animal area. The first two times the the kangaroos were not out.....I didn't even know they had any. Then I saw them and I was in LOVE! They were letting people not only touch them but hold them too! So I patiently waited as many children held the kangaroo. More and more kids kept coming up and their parents would take their picture. So I waited and waited. I knew they were getting ready to put them away and give them a little break but that was ok because I was next. Then this dumb teenager girl came and took the joey from this little girl just as I was about to have my turn. Then one of the ladies in charge said she needed to put them away. I was crushed!!!!! I asked her when they would be back out and she said 15-20min. That didn't happen. We left and did some other stuff. Then we went back and they were out again! YAY! So I asked the boy if I could take a picture. He said yes and he looked like he was handing the joey to me but when I tried to hold him he said I couldn't. The adults were on break so that must be the rules. Oh well I thought.....At least I got a picture touching a joey. But really I was still bummed! So we were getting ready to leave and I decided to go see the animals one last time. That's when I got my chance to hold the joey!!!!! It was really cool! They are so soft, like a bunny. So that's the story of me waiting all day to hold a baby kangaroo. It was totally worth it!!!!!

Because it was later in the evening most people had gone home so we were the only ones by the animals and Ezra could finally get close. It was also the end of the day so he wasn't afraid anymore.

Yes, in that center picture Ezra is holing hands with the monkey!

All the animals out to touch was a new thing this year. I thought it was great!

We did get to see Ashely & Ivy for a little while. They got there late because Ashley worked part of the day. We shared a cotton candy and a HUGE curly fry. I had to wait to eat them with my sister!

We'll see you next year!!!

Easter

As a child I always received TWO Easter baskets! One from the Easter Bunny and the other from my Grandma & Grandpa (Mom's parents). Spoiled I know!!! Well, I STILL get TWO Easter baskets. All these years later my Grandad and Aunt carry on the tradition. Now Ivy and Ezra get to enjoy the LOOT too! Yes, Great-Grandad makes them baskets!!!
Last year the kids were too young to know what was going on, but they sure had a great time this year.

It was different not having my parents and younger sibling there. We were a much smaller group than normal. My Cousin Stephanie came down from California (Yes...Easter is that big of a deal to our family). Stephanie is my only cousin as her Father (my Mother's only sibling) Steve died when Stephanie was only three years old. We ate lots of food and enjoyed our Family traditions.........

Egg hunt, baskets, and penny hunt.

What's a penny hunt? Well the grownup in charge (I am not a grownup yet......I still hunt) throws a bunch of pennies on the lawn and we search for them. Whoever get the most pennies wins.This is really hard because the grass "eats" the pennies. If you don't believe me try it! We still do the regular penny hunt but we now also do a hunt with chocolate gold coins. The different sized coins are worth different amounts of money. Yes, we get cash prizes at our party! Ezra and I got TEN dollars this year! Oh, and I must say that I won the penny hunt this year! This is something that never would have happened if my brothers were there.

Just for a little history my Grandma started this tradition with the neighbor children when they first moved to Las Vegas. The house they lived in is my home today. My front yard was the first penny hunting grounds.

On Easter Sunday Ezra and I spent the day watching Conference and spending some time Grandma Gail (Ryan's Mom). When Ryan got home from work we had a yummy chicken dinner with homemade biscuits (made by Ryan). It was a relaxing day!

The Easter Bunny Brought Ezra: his favorite organic bunny crackers Mommy: lots of Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, red nail polish, jelly beans, silly string and a Princess coloring book and Daddy: Cadbury eggs and homemade chocolate chip cookies (Somehow the Easter Bunny got me to make them for him.......Lazy Bunny!)

Of course this would not be a Petersen post with out TONS of pictures so here they are.......

Ashley & I made the bunny Baskets for my Grandad and Aunt. I made the girl and Ashley made the boy. These are made out of milk jugs. My Mom taught us to make these many years ago.

Hunting for eggs
He liked it for a while but then he just wanted to play in the rocks.

So here's a little bragging....

I made Ivy's dress out of on of Ryan's old shirts! Look it up online....It really fun! I being a bit of a over achiever decided that I needed to add a little more so I added a tie and the flower. Look up fabric rag roses. I also made my headband.

I was really hoping to get some good pictures of the kids while we were at my Grandad's house but there was way too much going on! Still wanting my pictures I dressed the kids up a couple days later and did a photo shoot. I wish I had someone there to take a video because It was funny! Not the kids...ME!!!! Trying to get a one year old and a two year old to stay in one place AND look pleasant is hard! Good luck if you want a smile!!!! My trick......Raisins and a stuffed frog that sings "Ladies Night" Are you getting the picture of how funny this was?

So here they are........

The G.Q. Look

My happy boy!