although it may seem like all we do is vacation…by the immense number of posts about them…i will reassure you…we do work. It just isn’t as exciting to post pictures of me at the reference desk of the library or my husband in his cubicle doing whatever it is he does there… 

We went to Des Moines to visit some good friends, and some of the hubby’s fam for the second half of our vacation extravaganza…and man, what a good time!

we took in THE ZOO! and the SCIENCE CENTER! and the Des Moines Farmer’s Market…which is way cooler than any farmer’s market i’d been to – not that the local one isn’t nice…it is…this one is just massive!!And, it gave me inspiration for my new jewelry obsession. You gotta love that. The hubby probably doesn’t like that it takes up whatever free space we had left…but it makes me happy, so there. Maybe posts about jewelry are coming soon…we’ll see what i get excited about in the next couple days. :) 

For now, enjoy the pictures 

the little one last year – so afraid of the “big thing”   

what a difference a year makes! She still didn’t want to pet it, but since we were very into feeding the animals…feeding the “big thing” was okay, 

 
although a little snotty. Here is Ellie telling daddy “i got snot, because it had a runny nose.” How cute is that?  

feeding “llama, llama red pajama” We didn’t ask to see his red pajamas…we just assumed it was him. :)  

and feeding the fish…  

She thought the swinging bridge was awesome. If only you could drive a stroller over it, I’m sure Ev would have thought so too. 

 A group shot before departing…Ellie said we had to get one of our backs, and since one knows never to argue with a 3 year old, we obliged her.  

Later that day…onto the science center. The pushpins were a favorite…of all! 

 

Even baby Ev got into it. Literally.   

There was so much great stuff to do there, and so much stuff that is meant for kids to touch. There just wasn’t enough time that day. Its one we’ll have to return to soon.

Enough vacation for now…hopefully more posting soon! Thanks for hanging in there with me through the blog-drought.