Happy Birthday, Jenna!

Today, my little girl turned SEVEN years old! It's hard to believe how fast they grow up, and yet it's hard to believe there was a time when they weren't in our lives. I'm sure every parent out there knows exactly what I'm talking about. :)

We decided to go to the Denver Zoo for her birthday. Our day started out pretty early with opening presents and getting ready to go to Denver. Jenna got some fun presents which she was very excited about. What topped the list, I think, was her new bike! She has outgrown her old bike, so we got her a new one(20" wheels). She hasn't really been able to ride it because we were in Denver all day and it was raining a bit when we got home. She can't ride it tomorrow because it's Sunday, but I'm sure that come Monday she will be zooming around!

We had a great time at the zoo. It's so much funner when your kids are old enough to really enjoy seeing the animals. When they are younger it's kind of just like taking a long, hot walk. But we got to see some really good close-ups of some of the animals, and everyone really had a good time. I had to include this picture of the tiger, because the tiger was my favorite part. He was right by the glass, and at first he was just looking at us. But soon he seemed to get irritated and he reared up on his hind legs and was kind of beating/clawing at the glass. The flash of the cameras bothered it, I think, and he was showing how displeased he was! It was very cool to see up close.
Here are the kids in front of giraffes... (duh :) )

We packed a lunch to enjoy at the zoo, and Adam covered himself in chip dust (you know, the flavorings on the chips) and oreos.

Jenna and Will (and Joel) rode the carousel and loved it, of course. Joel said Will wasn't sure how he felt about it going up and down at first, but it didn't take him long to have a great time. You can tell by his face! (There weren't any good pictures of Jenna on the carousel, she was too far back)

Joel developed a little crush on the gorilla sculpture!

Jenna liked the sculpture as well...

Will wasn't as excited about the sculpture as the rest. :)

Playing the bongos...

When we got home from Denver we ate dinner at Burger King, at Jenna's request. After dinner we had birthday cake. Jenna wanted one of the little cakes from the bakery at Walmart. So she got her own little cake, and I made another cake for the rest of us to have. Jenna tasted both and said the home-made one tasted better (it was just from a mix, but still not surprising. They put so much frosting on those cakes at the store!)

Singing Happy Birthday...

Blowing out the candles!

She finally got them all blown out, some of them kept lighting back up!

Happy Birthday, my Jenna!