The Zyriek Zoo: April happenings and catch up

I have gotten way too behind on the blog and thought I could catch up by having several things mentioned in a catch up post. April was a busy month for the Zyrieks. Several items were big and will have separate posts such as Anna's birthday and her first upper school play-Charlotte's Web (here). Otherwise, here we go!!

The day after Easter was April 1st and we enjoyed a fun afternoon at the zoo with friends. The stingray exhibit was fun and the girls enjoyed it. This exhibit seems to be a traveling exhibit that we saw in St. Louis when we visited their zoo two years ago, but stingrays always pique the interest of the kids since they are new and different. Beautiful day that far outshined the awful weather we had on Easter weekend.

caroline with her buddies

enjoying the stingrays exhibit

the birminghams, davis', nobles and zyrieks

Gary and I enjoyed the Third Day concert at Hope Church on Friday night April 5th.

Taste of Harding was April 6th and I posted separately about that fun night here.

Anna turned 10 on April 10th!! Since her birthday was right in the middle of Charlotte's Web, we had her birthday party later in the month and enjoyed friends for a slumber party.

in front of the banner we hang every single year

so excited to be double digits

birthday lunch

yummy birthday lunch

dinner at swanky's and muddy's cupcakes after play practice

Western Day for Caroline was April 12th. Our last Western Day to celebrate since Caroline will be moving up to first grade in the fall. She enjoyed it except for the game where she was sweeping the balls on the floor and hers became renegades and went under the bleachers and a few classmates were laughing. She took it way too seriously and needed some cowgirl mom intervention to stop the tears.

the cowgirl herself

having fun with the activities

last year at western day

nina, ava and caroline

Gary turned 42 on April 13th. I'm sure he loved me mentioning his age, but the Zyrieks do age well and he definitely has good genes! His mom even has blonde hair well into her 60's...He enjoyed a birthday dinner at Perkins complete with the cast from Charlotte's Web and their parents. It is tradition for the cast to go there after their final dress rehearsal. It just happened to fall on Gary's birthday. Better birthday dinner before Grizzlies game later in the month!! He was a great sport.

Anna had several parts in the upper school production of Charlotte's Web. After 2 months of rehearsals, we finally were able to see the play the afternoon/nights of April 14th-16th. We love our spider baby Joy!

I ran the inaugural Youth Villages 10-miler on Saturday, April 20th. I was not as prepared as I should have been for this race, but nonetheless, I shaved over 5 minutes off my time from the last 10-mile race that I did, so at least I made progress.

Having participated in Charlotte's Web, the upper school Theatre teacher asked all the elementary kids to perform a one-act play for Elementary Fine Arts Night on April 23rd. Anna enjoyed being back on the stage and even had a piece of art work on display in the lobby as well.

The Grizzlies made the playoffs and we were thrilled. Our wallets are definitely getting thinner after we went to games on April 25th (gift for Gary's birthday) and April 27th with the girls.

gary and i with floor seats for his birthday gift

top row with the kids

mandy and me after a win over the clippers

caroline and nina playing after the win!

On April 28th we joined some friends for a tour of the Dinstuhl's candy factory. Such fun to see the behind the scenes look!

the group waiting for their tour time

anna andi with the jelly belly

We wrapped up the month with Anna's 4th grade field trip to Elmwood Cemetary and Mud Island. Definitely great places to visit and learn about our local history.