Turtles, Butterflies and Snakes OH MY!

We also visited Clyde Peelings Reptile Land recently. A place I swore I would NEVER EVER visit. Why would you who is deathly afraid of snakes and all things that are creepy ever go to such a place? Well, because they have a butterfly exhibit!

We had a rough start because we (the girls and Courtney and I) met up with our friends Miss Kim and Katie and went right for the live show. They do quite the graphic slide show then they bring out live animals that you can touch and ask questions of. Our Katie was freaking out. They brought out a baby alligator first and she was ok - she refused to touch it but was ok with being in the room.... Then they brought out the boa constrictor and our sweet little girl began to get hysterical. And when she gets upset, Sarah feeds off of it. So for every one's best interest, I took both girls out and told the others we would be by the turtles.... The turtles made them happy.... How could you not be happy with this little guy sunning himself?

Or this big guy eating his lunch?

The 2 Katies look at the big turtles.. Yeah I know I am not calling them the right thing... Forgive me!

Soon the live show ended and we took a walk over to the butterfly exhibit. This is just so neat and so much fun. Butterflies just fluttering all around you... Every where you look, they are there. I am really excited over some of the shots that I got!

The girls had so much fun looking at all the butterflies...

Then it was time to head indoors to look at all those animals... Um yeah I don't have a lot from indoors cause it is pretty much snakes and well, see above.... But here is a picture of the girls looking at a snapping alligator turtle.

This picture just cracks me up every time I look at it. Katie and the Gecko...

Overall I was impressed with how well the girls did and after we ate our lunch, the girls asked to go back to the butterfly house and see the indoor exhibits again as well! Somehow in a moment of weakness, I agreed to take our Katie and Courtney back for Bat weekend.. Gulp... well I have plenty of time to get brave - right? Right??

Cruising on the River!

Two weeks ago we were invited by our friends and neighbors the Connors to have a big family outing and go on the local paddle boat that goes up the Susquehanna River. They run a family cruise nite every Tuesday nite and its such a nice time for very little money. Plus they also have make your own sundae on there too! That was all the girls needed to hear to want to go! Lol. We have known the Connors awhile now through our daycare/preschool and then they moved into Bear's neighborhood shortly ahead of us so now we are neighbors too. Its so nice because their son Aidan is one month younger then Katie and their daughter Gabrielle is 1 month younger then Sarah. The kids are really good friends from having been together at daycare and in the same class. Its nice that they will now continue that on into public school.



So we set out for our cruise..... Here is a shot we did before we got on the boat- from Left to Right= Sarah, Gabrielle, Aidan and Katie. Seriously- don't you just want to eat up all that cuteness!




Here is Katie deep in concentration telling Denise something...



Gabrielle or as Sarah calls her MY Baby Elle, and Sarah holding hands. They do this every time they see each other. So sweet.



Sarah and Katie, dancing together on the cruise.


Such a fun nite with great friends all around! The biggest laugh of the nite was Katie telling us she wants to have her birthday party on the Hiawatha( that is the boat's name)... And she wants it to be a surprise. Lest you forget, Katie's birthday is in January! I think that would be quite the surprise!

Joe Pa town

Last week while Courtney was down, Jim decided to take a few days off and take us all down to Happy Valley for the day. For those of you not from the area- that's State College, PA home to PSU and Katie's most favorite person in the whole wide world- her beloved Joe Pa. First up was a trip to Beaver stadium which is so overwhelming in person and to the statue of her beloved Joe Pa. I would love to share pictures of that with you, but My camera's setting was accidentally knocked to the wrong position and my pictures that I took were all over exposed... BOO! But on the good side I told Jim we need to take another ride down there to get pictures with her and Joe Pa again :)

After a trip to Joe Pa we went to main campus and took a little walk till we found the lion shrine... Here are some pics from there:

The story of the Nittany Lion

The lion:

Cousin Courtney on the lion

Katie near the Lion

Katie, Mommy and Sarah - Sarah would not sit on it by herself...

We then went and got some lunch and shopped downtown before returning to campus to go to the creamery. This is one of my most favorite places now on the PSU campus! They make homemade ice cream and it is delish! Plus they make a whole slew of other products like cheese and such. You may or may not know that Ben and Jerry attended a workshop on how to make ice cream from Penn State. So that should tell you how yummy their stuff is. After that we headed back home. When I asked Katie if she had fun, she said yes dis is a fun town to visit but I think I would like even more to LIVE here. Lol. Maybe one day Katie bugs.... Then this past week as I was uploading pictures she came over and said hey are those the pictures form Joe Pa town?

Lol!

What we have been up to lately

Sorry its been awhile since I have posted. The girls and I have been on the run and have had their cousins with us for the last 2 weeks. So I have alot of posts and pictures coming your way. Sit back and enjoy!

R U Kidding me?

So as you know we are in the process of selling the house. Today I went down there to get more stuff to move down to this house (mainly the girls wagon) and I walked into a nearly empty garage. Yup We've been robbed! They took every big ticket item and then took weird random little stuff to. Like 2 1 gallon bottles of bubbles I had for the girls and fuzzy dice that were a gift from my sister that Jim had hanging. they took the girls wagon. They took the lawn mower, the snow blower,a moutain bike and many many more things. I am just shocked. And angry. On one hand its just things and can be replaced if needed but it just angers me that someone would do this. We called the police and are reporting it to our insurance but its still so infuriating.... Jerks! who takes a kids wagon? and bubbles???

Whew! What a day!

So here is my 1o for today

1. I took the girls to the library today. What the heck was I thinking? It was a miserable rainy overcast day and everyone and their brother had the same idea. God Bless those women working there- it was a madhouse. People returning books, people checking books and movies out. people bringing their kids for different play groups or just to play with everything the library has to offer.

2. Which brings me to my next thing. The library had neat little stations for the kids to play with.... But really could you watch your kids while they are at these stations? Most parents did but this one woman just kept leaving her son and wandering all over the library. And the kid was a BRAT. He was hoggingthe play kitchen and the food and everytime my kids tried to play with it he grabbed it from them and he made another little girl cry cause he would not share....

3. They have a music station at the library. Its a little piano and a Xilaphone. this boy about 8 seriously kept hitting the same key over and over again on the piano.... We walked out of the childrens; section and my ears pretty much cried in relief....

4. I absolutely adore Sondra Boyton and we got a book we don't own out of the library and I have read it so many times to both girls already that I am amazed that I dont have it memorized yet!

5. I got some recommendations for new authors so I got a few books out for myself... But if anyone has any recommendations I will take them!

6. I have a 4 year old going on 13. She told me I was a mean mom because I didnt let her have her way with something... 5 hours later she was still harping on it..... Then she told me she wasnt going to talk to me for the rest of the nite ( as I was putting her to bed -hahaha).

7. We went out with my cousin and his fiance last week for dinner. We went to a local mexican restaurant that has a pretty friendly kids menu. Katie ordered a grilled cheese sandwhich. It came she started eating it and about half way though the meal she goes hey where is my tomato soup?? I guess she is a pretty routine kid huh? What makes it funnier is whenever we have that she never eats the soup just the sandwhich...

8. We went to conneticut last weekend to see Jims family. The hotel had an indoor pool and the girls were estatic to go swimming. We got to the hotel room and they immediately began stripping to get in their suits....

9. We put them in swimmies and were amazed at how well they did. Sarah is so close to swimming with nothing on and does fantastic with them on. Katie did great as well and was floating on her back and everything. We go for a swim test on Sat for a class they are taking in July. This will place them for the class and we also put up our pool as well... I think we are going to have a fun summer....

10. We have had Sarah in her crib converted as a toddler bed but now we are looking into getting her a twin sized bed. My baby is getting so big!!!

Take care and have a great weekend!

Forgot this story....

Yesterday afternoon the girls and i were all snuggled up in the chair with a blanket and some teddy grahams and were watching their cartoons. Its Nick Jr or Noggin and they show alot of Huggies and other baby related commercials. Well there is a commercial right now for huggies about being pregnant and such and how you can register with them to win a year worth of their products (i think, i dont pay that much attention to their commercials since we are out of diapers and just about out of pull ups ). Anyway, Katie turns to Sarah and says, yeah we need to get mommy to buy them so that they will put another baby in her tummy..... Umm what??? Oh Katie if it were only that easy!
So I said to her - do you want another baby? she told me yes. she would like a baby brother but she knows that she might get a baby sister instead..... So I then turned to Sarah and said do you want a baby brother or sister to which she replied NO!!!!