Happy 1st Birthday to Rachel

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since Rachel was born. I remember last April 16th like it was yesterday.


Here's her big birthday cake that Rachel shared with everyone else.

For your enjoyment, here's the video of everyone singing Happy Birthday to Rachel.

Here's Rachel thoroughly enjoying her first birthday cake!

Swan Lake

One of my favorite places back home is Swan Lake. This is the same gardens where Isaiah and I got married. We took Rachel there for the first time during our trip for her first birthday.

Rachel's birthday present

We will be leaving for SC in the next few days to celebrate Rachel's first birthday with the family. We decided to go ahead and get her birthday present this weekend to try out.

We picked out the Mickey Mouse 4-N-1 Ride Along. While she is little, it has a safety bar to keep her contained, and I can push it down the street. When she gets a little bigger, she can push it herself.

She really seemed to like the new toy. If you listen closely at the end of the video she is going "weeee".

Rachel "talking"

Rachel was talking up a storm this morning, so Isaiah decided to video it. Please excuse her hair - it got washed the night before, she had just woke up and we had been outside first thing and the Kansas wind had blown it everywhere.

Rachel eating spaghetti

Rachel loved her first bowl of spaghetti! If you listen closely you can hear her slurping the noodles down.

Sedgwick County Zoo - March 12, 2011

On March 12, 2011 we decided to check out the Sedgwick County zoo for the first time. We got annual passes so we didn't have to rush through any of the exhibits and can come back whenever we want. The zoo was really nice, alot of their exhibits are in large enclosed building, but nonetheless extrememly large and spectacular.

We didn't see everything the first trip, but here are the pics we got so far:

Flamingos Rachel checking out the flamingos.

Giant tortoise: these guys stood so still and moved so slowly they almost looked like statues.Rachel wasn't really interested in them.

The Jungle building was really neat, because they had the birds, mammals and other animals mingling amongst each other and us. There was a walking path for us, but the animals would come right up to you.

I don't remember what this bird was called but it was right next to us and kept making weird noises.

Rachel was checking out the weird bird.

The swan wanted Rachel to feed it.One of the grizzly bears was sleeping, but this one put on a show for us. He kept playing in the water, grabbing his feet, chewing on his paws and playing with a ball in the water.

Turkeys...

Bald eagles

Mexican wolves

Rachel and the buffalo

Mountain lion right in front of us

Rachel thought the geese were funny!

Wichita Garden Show - March 6, 2011

On Sunday, March 9, 2011, Isaiah, Rachel and I decided to check out the Wichita Garden Show at the Century II Center here in Wichita. It's an annual event that has many exhibits, gardening techniques and gifts for purchase.

Every year they have a theme and this year's theme was Into the Movies. I hope you enjoy the photos:

Rachel and Isaiah with Elvis at the entrance sign.

Pirates of the Carribbean exhibit.

Rachel playing with the survey next to an herb garden.

Jurassic Park exhibit!

The movie Up exhibit

Alice in Wonderland exhibit