For Shannon's 5th Birthday

Shannon turned 5 on January 13th. It truly is amazing to watch your child grow. They suddenly grasp concepts that we take for granted and they surprise you constantly, even when you homeschool, with the things they have learned and picked-up. For his birthday, we took him to the Mill Mountain Zoo. As part of his gift, we renewed our membership there and got him 5 tokens for the Zoo Choo. Justin took a half day, caught a ride to work with his father, and we picked him up at 1pm. Shannon only knew we were picking up Daddy, he didn't know we were going to the Zoo. We stopped by Texas Tavern for a couple Cheesy Westerns (for us) and some Little Cheeseburgers (for the kids). An adventure that begins with Texas Tavern surely can't go wrong!It was about 39 degrees outside, and we were the only visitors at the zoo, but it was wonderful. The air was crisp and most of the animals were awake and active. The zoo staff was great, they brought out the Zoo Choo for us (a very cold ride!) and fed the animals. We played on the playground and did lots of walking around. Here are some photos: A Zebu ~ or as Tristan called it, a "Beezu!"Curious Snow MonkeyOn the playground
Shannon on the Zoo Choo ~ the big boy gets a seat to himself! Daddy & Tristan on the Zoo Choo

View of the Roanoke Valley ~ taken while riding on the Zoo Choo

One of the foxes ~ normally they're asleep & hard to see!

Silly Shannon

One of the Red Wolves



You can see all of the photos from our trip to Mill Mountain by clicking on this link: http://flickr.com/photos/funkymamataney/sets/72157612535127491/