Zoo

Last weekend was beautiful so we took the kids to the zoo (and Ms. Rose joined us too)!  Sully wanted to see the tigers...they were sleeping and Sully's remark was "Night night, tigers!" 

A brief thunderstorm rolled in so we hit the aquarium next...the sting rays swam right past us!

Sully liked the manatee!

Riley humored me with a pose by the manatee.

Next it was Riley's favorite -- the penguins!

There was a playful penguin swimming around.

Sully got right up to him to say "Hi penguin!"

When Sully saw the pink birds he actually knew what they were and said "Hi flamingos!"

Our last stop were the bears -- polar bears...

And brown bears!  The brown bears were very playful and wrestling with each other...it reminded me of my dogs.

The kids enjoyed the polar playground.

It was a fun day at the zoo!

Fire Station Tour

As part of a birthday party, Riley and Sully got to take a tour of the Fairborn fire station.  We got to see where the fire fighters eat, sleep and workout in the station.  Then we got to go into the truck bay and see the vehicles!  First vehicle...the ambulance.

 The kids even got to walk from back to front and look at all the equipment.

Then it was on to everyone's favorite...the fire truck!

The fire fighter explained the truck and all the equipment located throughout the bays on the sides...

And we even got to see the "Jaws of Life"!

The fire fighter put on all his gear and gave all the kids a high five...this tour was also a chance for the fire fighters to get the kids comfortable with them and their gear in case the kids ever need to be saved then they aren't scared.

We attempted a picture of all the kids on the fire truck...this is the best we managed.

At the end of the tour, each kid got a hat, some stickers and a coloring book!

It was a great idea for a birthday party and the boys had a blast!

Sawyer's 4th Birthday Party

We celebrated Sawyer's 4th birthday a couple of weeks ago...it was an angry birds party -- and he wanted the mustache pig on his cake!

A family photo before opening presents!

Then it was time for Sawyer's favorite part...presents!!! 

 Who wouldn't love Angry Birds gummies! 

Declan loves cake!

Jace put Pez on top of his...

Sully and Riley opted for the straight up sugar rush!

 Sawyer's favorite gifts...angry birds and bricks!

Happy Birthday, Sawyer!!!

Learning to Read

We've been working with Riley the past couple of months with some beginning reader books.  He has known all the letters and the sounds they make for a couple of years now (thanks Leap Frog!) and was starting to show interest in sounding words out. 

For anyone with beginner readers in the house, I highly recommend this series...

Twelve books in a set and they get progressively harder with each set of colors.

The red set starts like this...he made it through those four very quickly.

Pink then green look more like this...that took a little more concentration and focus.

Riley made it through the whole box with just a little prodding...

  It's amazing how motivated this kid is when a favorite Star Wars Lego set is the prize! 

Ouch!

Riley is a little on the clumsy side...now I know I'm not super graceful but I have to admit he doesn't get his klutzy nature from me.  Just sayin'!  He came home from school a couple of weeks ago looking like this:

Apparently he took a face plant on the playground -- ouch!  And last week he collided with a classmate on the playground and came home with another band aid behind his ear.  He's been unlucky on the playground the past couple of weeks, that's for sure! 

The Fields Museum

Finishing up the last of the Chicago pictures...on our last day we tried to go the Aquarium.  However, we didn't know it was one of just a few "free" days they offer every year so the line out of the door was at least a couple of hours long just to get in.  After waiting in lines most of the weekend, we were so done with that so we decided to go next door where there were no lines to the Fields Museum.  The T-Rex skeleton right in the atrium was pretty awesome!

Sully liked the "ele-pants"!

We walked through the museum and saw lots of "stuffed" animals...

Hmmm, where should we go next?

Riley and Sully liked comparing their hands to the big ape...

Look at that big fish!

The kids favorite part of the museum was the kids laboratory...they had a lot of opportunities to hold interesting objects,

measure things,

check out the world,

and examine interestings bugs, skulls, and skeletons!  What's not to like?!

Turtle shell on your head?!  We need to work on Riley's hat selection. 

We ended up heading home right after the Fields Museum but I can't leave out pictures of the kids favorite part of the trip...the hotel pool!  Riley brought his Atlantis Legos down to play in the water.

Sully liked sitting on the side and watching his big brother swim.

Riley practicing his freestyle from the stairs to Sully and daddy...

We were only there two nights but Riley managed to make it into the pool four times!  Other highlights from the trip...the brisk walk from our hotel to the Navy pier, building Legos in the Navy Pier McDonald's while we waited for the Children's Museum to open, and seeing some Disney Channel tween stars as we left the Children's Museum.  It was a fun trip and I think the kids had a blast!