Circus

We went to the Greatest Show on Earth this past weekend... the Circus!

They have a pre-show, before the big show gets started and anyone with tickets can go down to the floor and walk around. There are clowns and jugglers interacting with the crowd and I'm not sure what else there was because we got there right when the preshow started and were able to get close to the area where they bring out some of the animals to tell everyone about. They started with the dogs that catch frisbees, then they brought out two llamas and ponies. The final one was what we were waiting for... an elephant. Here is what Noah looked like as the elephant was coming through the curtain right towards us.


The elephant actually paints a picture that someone in the audience gets. Since we were at the front of the crowd, we were probably only 15 feet away and Noah loved it!


Here we are on our way off of the floor up to our seats. You can tell Noah was starting to get really tired.

Noah was really captivated by the whole show. I wasn't sure how long he would last because I knew it would be dark and loud and he doesn't usually go for that. But he just sat in our laps and watched almost the whole thing. Below is a family shot during intermission. We stayed long enough to see the tigers, but he fell asleep by the end of it.


As someone I used to work with always says, "May all your days be circus days!"

Elephants!

We've been talking all week about seeing elephants. The circus rolled into town today and they always walk the elephants from the train station to the arena (maybe half a mile). When I worked at the arena, I remember people coming out to watch, so I thought this year it would be fun to take Noah and watch together. We got there in plenty of time to get a good spot on the sidewalk so they'd walk right in front of us. I got my camera out and Noah is saying "elephants!" because we've built this up so much. And after all the anticipation, they took another route this year and we missed them. Yes, somehow we missed 10 African elephants walking through the streets in downtown Nashville!

To try and make up for my mistake, we spent some time this afternoon at the zoo. It turned out great because he's been slightly obsessed with giraffes in his coloring books and so we got to see them as well. They were so close, Noah was excited to just watch them and didn't want to leave.



Besides the elephants and giraffes, which were obviously big hits with Noah, we also saw tigers, jaguars, monkeys, and then we went to the petting zoo. There are sheep in the petting area that roam around and then some small camels, llamas and donkeys behind fences, but if they come up to the fence you can pet them. One camel really took to Noah and was smelling his shirt and kind of bumping his head into his tummy (I think he was trying to scratch his head). Even though I was petting the camel on his head, Noah got a little scared every time he bumped his belly or his arm. I was trying to get a picture with Noah next to the camel, but you can see below that the camera caught the camel bumping into Noah and Noah's apprehension about it. We didn't stay at the camels very long!


I got a video of Noah in front of the elephants talking about our visit to the zoo so I hope to get that uploaded soon.

Easel

A while back, Nana and Poppy gave Noah an easel.  It has a roll of butcher paper, but also a chalk board on one side and a dry erase board on the other side.  We hadn't gotten it out much, but in the last few weeks Noah has really taken to drawing and coloring, so we got the easel out this morning.  He absolutely loves it!  We've probably gone through 10 feet of paper already!

Noah Playtime

So sorry for not updating in a while, but we just haven't had any big happenings in the Sylvester house. Here are just a few snapshots of some new things Noah likes to do.

One of his new favorite activities is coloring. He loves to color in his coloring books and on blank white paper. But we also have several large pieces of cardboard that we have turned into something like graffiti boards and Noah loves to put them on the floor to color and then crawl around on them to find new spots to draw on.


His other new favorite activity is yoga (but he just calls it stretching). When it's really cold outside and we can't get out for a run, we'll put in our yoga dvd and just recently, Noah has started to join in with us. I think these might have been funnier if David or I was in the picture so you could see what he was trying to do, but neither of us wanted to be in pictures that early in the morning!

A Second Christmas Celebration

We were fortunate to have my parents visit right after Christmas so we were able to have a Christmas celebration with almost all of the Rosses together! It was great fun to see all of the grandkids together. Noah is enamored with following Kim around and both of them seem really captivated watching baby Emma.




We packed in lots of fun things while Nana and Poppy were here. We played a lot with the new toys the kids got for Christmas, went to library storytime together, shopped together and had great fun!

Christmas in Illinois

We spent Christmas in Illinois with the Sylvesters and had a terrific time! The roads were icy as we drove to get there, which made us think we might be in store for a white Christmas. But once we got there, all it did was rain and rain and rain. This was the first Christmas Noah was really aware of all the excitement and was able to fully participate. From opening the advent calendar each day throughout the month of December all the way through opening presents on Christmas morning, he was so thrilled about it all! (And only slightly disappointed to find out that there wasn't a chocolate advent calendar for the month of January!) Here is just a glimpse of our trip...

Noah was mesmerized by Nana's elaborate decorative candleholder that spins once the candles are lit. It has the nativity scene in it and Noah loved watching the camel and sheep turn while it spun around.

This ball was one of the favorite gifts (thanks Aunt Sarah!). Besides rolling it around, he likes to sit on it and roll himself around. He thinks it's hilarious when he falls off and exclaims "Funny Noah!"

The train proved to be a favorite toy for the whole family. Noah loves to build "up high bridges" and tear everything apart once he's bored, but David is also hooked on trying to build the most elaborate track configurations. I'm not sure who enjoys it more!

Like father, like son. Apparently David used to play with this very same colander and wear it as a hat, just like Noah decided to do while playing with it at Nana's house.