Thursday, August 27, 2009

The Big Zoo

Sophie will be starting Preschool soon (be still my heart), so I took the kids on a somewhat last-hurrah outing to the big zoo. We had a really great time!

Here is Daddy's favorite, the moose.

Caribou...I love their coffee.
The wagon ride out to the farm.

Some goats inside the building were getting a check-up from doctors. They were screaming! The kids (and me too) were fascinated with the poor goats' plight. The goats had their hearts listened to and were getting pokes, just like people do.

Sophie said, "I can see her udders!" She said this about the goats and the pigs as well.
Little chick #1
Little chick #2

The zoo has a fun water area that we have only seen during the winter (sans water), so this was our first time to experience the fun of it.

Mommy was smart enough to bring swimsuits and towels, though we likely could have done without and been just fine. My kids don't like water outside of the bathtub. And even then, if it touches their faces, they're done.

See, they're staying on the perimeter. No splashing for them.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Here's a renegade, though. She's thinking about getting wet.

You can tell she wants to.

She did it! And she was very proud of herself!

We visited the butterfly house. They like to eat watermelon too!

Pretty!

We were told not to touch the butterflies but that if they landed on us it was okay. Sophie kept providing them many opportunities to land on her finger. No takers, though.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Gang's All Here

My parents invited Greg's parents to come to their neck of the woods for a visit with us, so we made plans to make that happen. Meanwhile, niece Aubrey decided to get baptized in the lake by Grandpa, so Courtney's family planned to arrive for that as well. That included Courtney's in-laws also. And Cassie and Gerrit, not ones to miss out on all the fun, came for the weekend too! The kids and I got a few day's headstart, followed by Greg and his parents. Then the rest of the gang showed up, and we had a wild and crazy time. It was great fun!




We visited the wild animal hospital and got to see many birds (falcons, eagles, owls, etc) that were too injured to be rehabilitated and sent back into the wild. We heard there were several baby bears and deer on the premises, but they were going to be sent back into the wild, so we didn't get to have contact with them.



The kids tried out their new sprinkler. Mostly they used it to fill up their buckets and not to actually get themselves wet in.





My mom's flowers are always so pretty. The kids liked helping to water them.


Sophie was good at helping to clean the corn

Breakfast with the two sets of grandparents at Paul Bunyan's. I worked there in highschool, and I have to say the uniforms are greatly improved.

Pontoon ride on the chain of lakes. The kids did great.

Sophie got to drive a few times.


The cousins finally arrived. This is "the sleeping game." It's my new favorite.

Some crazy-good prime rib that Marty gave us. Thanks, Marty!
Church

The day of the baptism was quite dreary, but it was fun to get to celebrate this special day with Aubrey and the rest of the family.


Here, Dad is asking Aubrey if she's asked Jesus to forgive her for her sins and if she's accepted Him as her savior.
She said yes, so he dunked her in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So exciting! My Dad's baptized me and my sisters, and now my niece too.

But I'm not dead yet!

That's a Monty Python quote...from a man who was being hauled off to be thrown on the dead-body pile. I think it's approriate now, in my long blogging absense. Don't give up on me, I'm not done blogging!! We're just having a particularly hectic life. Both Greg and I are spending a lot of time working on the computer, but we can't do it at the same time. So, I HAVE to get my work done during naptime so that Greg can work in the evenings. And, therefore, blogging has taken a backseat.

Here are a few random pictures from this past month...

Irish Fair



That's the remnants of a (FREE!!) ice cream treat

Babysitting Lydia & Drew...the beginnings of a sleepover

Our first-ever tomato harvest

The kids were super excited
But whoever said that kids are more likely to eat something they help to prepare or grow was lying. Even Greg won't eat these. More for me!!


Ice cream cone cupcake...no freezing required

Stay tuned...more to come!