Minnesota Zoo (cont.)

We found a nice spot in the grass to enjoy a picnic lunch.

Mom and Dad enjoyed the relaxing break, but Mallory was ready to explore more of the zoo.

We wandered through the tropics exhibit.

And then found the fish. Mallory was absolutely in awe.

She sat and stared at those fish for quite some time. It was absolutely amazing to watch her discovering a whole world she had never seen before.

Minnesota Zoo

We made our first family trip to the Minnesota Zoo. We headed to the farm exhibit first.

Mallory was in awe in the cow barn at how large the animals were. She wasn't so sure about being so close to them but she sure did practice her "mooo"-ing.

Next we visited with the goats. Mallory was a little hesitant to get too close.

But she sure told mom which ones needed a little snack and deserved our attention.

After seeing the big momma pig and her little piglets (only 6 weeks old at the time), Mallory was ready to move on. Dad could barely keep up ...

Planting Flowers

In order to spruce up the front of the house, Mallory and Jamie decided to plant some flowers to put near the front deck. Mallory gave a close inspection to the flowers to make sure they were worthy of going in front of her house.

Here she is giving Mom the shovel to make sure she gets enough dirt in the flower pot.

She was also quite good at transporting dirt from the bag to the pot. Looking at her mouth, you can even tell that she was so dedicated to her craft that she even tasted some of the dirt to make sure it was good enough.

She helped Mom crumble up the dirt...

...and pack it in the pot nice. And three weeks later, the flowers are still going strong!

Bike Helmet

One of the most recent purchases in the Held house is a Burley, so the family can go on bike rides this summer. So of course, Mallory had to get a new bike helmet just like Mom and Dad.

At first, she isn't too keen on this new hat (despite having more cash than both her parents).

But maybe this helmet isn't so bad...

Lance Armstrong, watch out!

Iowa Trip

In early May, Jamie, Mallory, Jodie, and Judie drove down to Iowa to visit Aunt Jill.

They found the one tree in Iowa and decided to play...

...Peek-a-boo!

After a quick time out to play with Aunt Jill's running shoes...

...they headed to a playground. First it was a quick ride on the ladybug. Then...

...it was time to crawl through some tunnels. Aunt Jill was having problems keeping up.

Apple Pie

A few weekends ago, we allowed Mallory to stay up a little past her bedtime. This meant that she was able to indulge in some dessert with the rest of the family: apple pie and ice cream.

It didn't take her long to fully clean her plate.

But that only meant the next step was to pick up the bowl and...

...make sure the bowl was fully cleaned before going into the dishwasher. Quite the helper.

Wagon

On Thursdays, Mallory spends the day with Nani Flaherty. When the weather cooperates, they spend a lot of time out in the driveway.

One of her favorite activities is to get pushed around in her wagon. Over, and over, and over...

Samson is waiting for an invitation into the wagon that is never coming...

Hollywood, here I come.