The beginning of the school year is only 2 1/2 weeks away so we’ve been trying to make sure we find time to do all the things we want to do before summer is over.

Last week I took the kids to the zoo – we met up with one of my friends and the kids she nannies and set out to see as many animals as possible. The morning started off a bit chilly but quickly warmed up and we all had a blast.

I’m not sure when it happened, and it’s probably my fault, but my kids seem to think of the zoo as one long photo op. No matter how often we come to the zoo, their favorite thing to do seems to be posing for pictures at all the little cut out stands. We are kind of “staycation” pros in this way. It is fun to look back and see how the kids have grown since we first moved here.

Here’s a picture of MM at the zoo back in 2009 the month we moved to Wisconsin, just two months before little BB was born.

monkeying around

Another polar bear pic.

Jump ahead to 2010 – MM has grown by leaps and bounds, little BB is just about one year old here and enjoying her zoo trip mostly from the confines of her stroller.

But by the summer of 2011 she was moving a mile a minute, toddling all over the zoo.

Here’s MM and his friend at the same trip.

By 2012 we were going to the zoo almost every month of spring & summer. Here are some of the cuter pics from 2012 – they both had major growth spurts in 2012.

And now here we are in 2013! This is a shot from a couple months ago – hard to believe how much they have grown in four years! Hard to believe that another summer is almost over, but I think we are all looking forward to the coming school year.