New Year's Eve trip to the Zoo

So much of this Christmas 'break' was spent preparing our house for a party or with all of us majorly sick, that we finally just threw caution to the wind and took a trip to the Oakland Zoo.

Thankfully our dear Dusich Clan did not find our snotty status as a drawback.  So with tissues in hand, we headed out early Friday morning.

Our masterplan was two-fold. 

Spend the day with family and friends.

Then leave the exhausted kids at home so we could Ring in the New Year like adults!

Our efforts were not wasted as you can see on the smiling faces of our brood. 

A trip to the zoo with our membership is a normal sort of outing for the kids and I, but

it was certainly a treat to have dad tag along on our ventures.

And the animals were in rare form that day. 

We witnessed quite a bit of playtime......the elephants even threw Christmas Trees at each other!  

Man, and I thought OUR sibling rivalry was bad!

The Plaid Pink Tigress was a bit fiesty: 

And the carniverous mammal exhibits were frightening:

And our favorite exhibit featured this little guy we dubbed the EuroPunk Rockstar:

Some years I dislike the week after Christmas that Jarrod is required to 'take off' from work.

It means less pay at a time of year that we could really use it, without the benefit of an actual 'vacation' for us to get away....

But this year we basked in the downtime.

We joked that we just bought our 'vacation home'....

So after a month of marathon moving/party planning/Christmas spending, etc.....we pretty much vegged and tried to make this new house our home.

But by New Year's Eve, this outing with daddy was exactly what the Dr. ordered.

A little get-away with friends: 

(There is something striking in these two pics....of our 6 year olds followed by Shali's parents, and that's all I'll say about that ;) 

The cold kept us bundled up, but not too miserable, unless you translate mommarazzi (that's me) attacks as torturous (Ian is SO over his mom taking endless pictures) 

Talia found her favorite hands on exhibit in this pig pen. 

What was God thinking when He gave me such an animal loving daughter?

I'd rather have a stuffed pig.  Or a slice of bacon.

Or one of these toddlers.  

Because I know he gives good facial massages: 

Here's to more frequent posting on the blog in the New Year!

Cheers to wrapping up 2010 with dear friends:

May 2011 be filled with as many smiles!