The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs is wonderful.  A whole bunch of us went–cousins, aunts, uncles, strangers we picked up on the way.  The fact that the zoo is built on a mountain side means you also get your cardio in too.
Strider, Ruby, and Moxie sit on a creepily still and concrete like elephant.

Watching mom feed birds.

Quick water break in the double wagon between animal wresting matches.

Ryan finds the perfect mask.

End of the zoo kiss.

Moxie, Ruby and I got to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll.  Super. Freaking. Cool.  Strider was in Colorado defending his dissertation so us girls made the trip.  We rode the metro, ate food truck food, and waited in really long lines.  Seriously.  The lines were longer for this than the inauguration.  We got to see some performances and also ate Peeps.  YUM.

Ruby is a veteran Easter Egg Roller so she showed us the ropes.  Moxie liked the grass and my water bottle best.  My favorite part was the dance off I had with the President.  I won.

Going down the elevator.  Moxie is in outfit #2. Blowout on way to metro.
Ruby and Moxie attempt to stay strong while waiting in line. 

Waiting in line. At least it wasn’t raining.
Post food truck lunch deliciousness. Ruby-pizza, Jess-Korean tacos, Moxie-grass

Just one more set of lines.  I promise.

This woman said, “you are almost there!”

Two concerts. Ask Ruby who we saw.  One was a Disney star and the other a British Boy Band.

Hundreds of hoopers.

Quick snooze.

Baby wrestling.

Group photo.  Taken by Barack Obama.

Smooch.

Mama and Moxie.

Hop to it!

Moxie’s favorite part: my water bottle.

Secret service tracker.

Moxie and Ruby blooms.

The goods.

Return of the water bottle.

Hmmm.

Moxie ate White House grass. 

 Well folks, here we are just finishing our second Monday with everyone back at work.  Postings will likely be a little less frequent but we will try to fill them with triple awesomeness.  
After surviving our first full week of daycare and full time work we got to celebrate Hanukkah with family and friends.  It was wonderful.  

Bibi helped Karen as she wrapped up the latkes.  Having never had them before–YUM.  We had ours with homemade apple sauce from Tony.  

Luckily, our first big week of everyone going their own way hasn’t driven the punk out of Strider.  Tony and Karen spoil him by always having Strong Bow cider on hand. 

 You can tell by Ryan’s facial expression he believes everything I say–as he should.  It was really great to have time to chat and catch up with everyone–we hadn’t seen people in a few weeks.

Moxie got time with Hannah (congrats for recently graduating college!!), Jacque (immediately below), Ruby (pictured above), Doug (not pictured), and Karen (way below).  Moxie put on a show for everyone by standing on Jacque’s lap.  Her balance is crap but she’s got some strong legs.  In the first picture here you can really see Moxie’s hinky ear (her left).

Before we ate Ruby lit the candles and everyone said a prayer.  during the candle lighting we all got to wear cool glasses that either showed Stars of David or “Shalom” in the candle light.  See below where Strider attempts to capture the cool effects (also notice the bad ass salad Jacque and Hannah brought).

The meal was amazing: brisket, latkes, green beans (Strider’s fav), homemade apple sauce, and for dessert–donuts.  These people know how to party.

Doug joined us a little late–he was a little sick–but, as you can see below, not too sick to make faces at Moxie and Karen.

 Moxie takes her holiday seriously.