A Day At the Zoo

Kevin has been away traveling again this week. When he is away, I find it even more important to be out and about keeping the kids busy. I know that the evenings will bring no help and no reprieve, so the days must be busy and fun to keep every one's spirits up! So, this week was no different. Monday, we went to a new, small zoo in a nearby town. Tuesday, we met friends for a movie and today, we went to a wonderful farm and conservation area.

I have more pictures than I know what to do with!

Today, I want to share the photos from Monday's zoo adventure. The zoo is called Capron Park Zoo. It is small, reasonably priced, and they have a wonderful array of animals considering the small size! They also have a wonderful playground area that we hit on the way out.

First up were the kangaroos.....

Next, we saw this Black and White Ruffed Lemur.......kind of cute, isn't he?

Next up was this little fella....I can't remember exactly what his story was though......

Then we were on to the Meerkats....remember Timon from the Lion King?! :)

And here are my two little Meerkats.....

And my two little bats.......

Remember the song, Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree? I never knew exactly what a Kookaburra was....and now I do!

And here we have a Llama....Bekah recognizes them thanks to Diego. :)

Here we have a blurry photo of an Asian Bear. I couldn't figure out how to get my camera to focus on the bear instead of the fence. I guess reading the manual might help.....

Here is my little cub......

Here is Noah, stepping WAY outside his box, in order to pet a Corn Snake! I was so proud of him! :)

A majestic looking White Lion....

This display was really cool. It showed wingspans of several different birds. Here is Bekah posing next to a Condor (above her). It's wing span is over 9 feet! She knows about Condors thanks to Diego too!

That pretty much sums up our day at the zoo! I'm sure we will visit this one again.

Milestones!

Three things.....

1) Noah tied his shoes, by himself, for the very first time this morning.

2) Rebekah can almost spell her first name...she is accurate about 50% of the time right now...the other 50% of the time she forgets either the 'k' or the 'a'. Pretty good for three years old, in my humble opinion!

3) Rebekah is wiping her 'hiney' by herself after going potty...only after the less messy of the two deeds...if you get my drift.... (is that TMI?!) :)

Sigh....they are growing up!

The Aunties' Visit - Part II

As I talked about in this previous post...my sisters were recently here for a visit. One of the things we did together was go on an outing to Salem, MA to learn about the Salem Witch Trials.

Bekah...hanging out with Noah and Auntie Heather while Auntie Patti and I made lunches for the trip......

Bekah and Auntie Heather sharing a laugh.....

Noah sharing the visit.....

Auntie Heather, in Salem with a wax dummy outside a haunted house.....

Noah insisted on having his photo taken too....no wonder the child has nightmares!

Our tour guide at the Witch History Museum.

Some history around Salem......

Information on the residents of The Burying Point can be found here.

Rebekah, near the memorial. Don't you wish you were this photogenic?! This child loves the camera, and the camera loves her!

Heather and Patti spending quality time with the pirate outside The Pirate Museum.

Salem was fun to visit....once. It was a bit high on the cheese factor scale....but the history of the region is interesting to learn about. Overall, it was a fun day!

Lost In Translation....

Since Noah started school, he has picked up many undesirable habits. Don't get me wrong...Noah has many faults that are authentically his...but he has picked up some new ones that I never had to deal with before.

I started hearing him say 'Oh my G*d' around the house a lot. I corrected him each time but it took quite a while to get him out of the habit. We had a chat about the 10 commandments and what it means to take the Lord's name in vain. The habit subsided...so I assumed the message got through.

Fast forward to last night. Noah has been attending VBS (vacation Bible school) this week. Last night he very seriously told me that at VBS that day they sang a song that had 'Oh my God' in it. Then he followed that statement up with, "but don't worry, I didn't say that part!". LOL!!

Beach Day!

This past Saturday we had our first ocean beach day. We went to White Horse Beach near Plymouth, MA. It was HOT...about 95 degrees F...for my metric friends that is about 35 degrees C....pretty darn hot. Despite the fact that the air was so hot...man, was that water cold! It was take-your-breath-away-cold when you first went in. I never made it past my waist the whole three hours we were there!

It was a fun day for Kevin and the kids...and a lot of work for me! LOL! Between the packing, lunch making, and then unpacking and laundry when we got home....the beach isn't usually my favorite thing to do. Add to that the fact that the sun and I are not exactly best buds, and I would probably rather be doing something else! :)

Anyways...on to the photos! The first is myself and Rebekah with her net trying to catch fish...LOL.

Noah and Kevin in sandcastle building mode.....

Noah rolling in the waves...........

Wow, that's COLD!!

Waiting for the waves to crash at her back......

Arghhhhh....here it comes!

Overall, a fun day and nobody got a sunburn despite the intensity of the heat! We will go to the beach again...despite my complaints! I am counting the days until we get to go back....yeah, right! I know there will be a day when I will have forgotten about the laundry and I will just have these photos as memories of that day....and then I will be glad I went to the beach in 95 degree heat! :)

It's Been Three Years!

We recently had a visit from some 'old' friends from our days in Geneva. My friend, Marian, was the very first friend I made in Geneva. She also, until she moved back to the USA a year later, was my closest friend. At the time, she had two little ones....a boy and a girl...just like us. After her move back to the USA, she and her husband added another little one to their clan...and I was chosen as her Godmother! I was thrilled!

Marian and the children came for dinner the other night while Kevin was away on business and while Marian's husband was at a conference in Boston. It is the second time we have visited in New England in the year since we moved here. It was short but sweet....and it was fun to get all five kiddies together too!

Is it humanly possible to get five kids to look at a camera and smile nicely?!

Try number two......

Marian's three little bambinos......aren't they cute?!

My Goddaughter and I...our first picture together......

Marian and I.....with Noah behind the lens......

Ahem....this was one that ended up on the cutting room floor... Can you guess why?!

Overall, we had a great visit with some great friends. I look forward to seeing Marian and her family again...hopefully soon!

The Aunties' Visit - Part I

Last week two of my sisters were here for a visit. They drove here from Canada....just the two of them....no kids, no husbands! We had a great week, and it was nice for me to have the extra pairs of hands to help with my two munchkins.

One of the things my sister, Patti, did while she visited was bake bread with Noah. Recently, Noah has become fascinated with yeast. It sounds odd, I know. We did a science experiment with yeast, sugar and warm water. Noah got to watch the muck grow bigger and bigger. He then attended a math and science camp where they did a similar experiment. This just reinforced the interest. When I told him that Auntie makes bread and the dough grows big because it has yeast in it...he was sold on making bread with her.


So, here are the pics of the big baking day............

You've got to have enough flour......

Shaping the dough into rolls.......

A close up of the handsome boy smiling during his lesson......



Working away........

I think kneading (and punching) the dough was Noah's favorite part!

Overall, I think Noah really enjoyed learning to bake bread. He loves to help me in the kitchen, so I figured it would be a hit. Now I guess I will have to learn to bake bread too.....

A New Addition

No, it's not a baby! It's a tadpole!

Our family has expanded by one....one low maintenance pet. Noah inherited a tadpole from his kindergarten class. All of the kindergarten classes did a unit on the life cycle of frogs. As part of this unit, the class had two tadpoles in the classroom to observe. Well, at the end of the school year, the little guys still hadn't become frogs and the stream where they were to be set free had dried up. So, the teacher sent home a notice with a blank ballot saying that she would enter the children's names in a draw (pending parental permission) to 'win' one of the tadpoles. I instantly said 'no' but Kevin talked me into letting Noah enter the draw. Noah was so excited about it!

Guess who won?! You guessed it....out of 20 children.....Noah won a tadpole. Oh yeah.....

So we had to go on a hunt to find an appropriate habitat for the little fellow. We ended up with a mini aquarium. It was the only thing we could find. Apparently, this is a bull frog tadpole..... which can take up to a year to fully develop! I found that out after we had already won the little guy. Once he starts breathing air....we will have to remove some of the water and put a rock in there for him to sit on.

Here is Noah setting up the tank......

Practicing scooping the poop....yes, tadpoles do poop. Funny...Noah has only had the tadpole for a few weeks, and the novelty of this task is already wearing off.....

Tad's new home.....pump, light, filter and all!

There's the little guy himself......

Noah has now started asking for a dog or a cat. Right now there is zero chance that is going to happen. Especially since I had to feed Tad the last two nights in a row......

Poison Ivy, Allergic Reactions and Eczema

We have got it all in this household! Yikes!

The kids and I have all suffered from various degrees of eczema at different times. Both of the kiddies had it as infants....for Bekah it has cleared up, for Noah it resurfaces periodically...mainly on his hands in the winter. I also suffered from eczema as an infant...with it returning in my young adulthood and it has been with me ever since.

Having said that....we all (minus Kevin) have sensitive and fair skin.

Well, Noah and I both managed to confirm that we are also allergic to poison ivy recently. It started a couple of weeks ago when we were finishing the mulching. Shortly afterwards, we both broke out in a rash. My rash was red, raised and itchy, while poor Noah had big blisters the size of dimes. I had no idea what it was. A dinner out with two of my girlfriends was all it took to get a diagnosis. They were the ones who told me we had poison ivy. After doing some research online, I confirmed what they had told me.

The worst part of it all is how long the darn rash can last...and how long it can take to surface! Noah was still getting new blisters ten days later! They still haven't fully healed. I was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel when the allergic reaction surfaced.

Yup....another rash.

I had been out in the garden weeding (despite the mulch job!) and I came back into the house itching up and down my arms. I quickly scrubbed my hands and arms all the way up to my elbows. Just about 48 hours later I developed a rash on my face, neck and behind my ear (right where I tuck my hair). Still a bit later, the rash started behind my knees and on my one wrist. At first I thought it was my eczema returning...but this was in places I had never had eczema before. After a consult with my pharmacist/neighbour....we decided it was most likely an allergic reaction.

So, here I am....applying cortisone ointment four times daily, and taking Benadryl around the clock to keep from scratching myself raw.

I have always claimed to enjoy the outdoors....until the last couple of years. Now I realize that it is more the idea of the outdoors than the actual outdoors themselves that I enjoy. I am not cut out for the outdoors. I don't like bugs, extreme heat, or the sun.

Top all of that off with poison ivy and allergies, and you can pretty much guarantee that you will find me indoors for the rest of the summer! I think I will enjoy the outdoors from my window! :)