Cousin Kathryn

Mommy's cousin Kathryn came to NC for a visit last week. We did our best to keep her busy while she was here.



We played the boy's favorite game every night....BASEBALL!!!

 

 

 

Isaac taught her all about fishing for penguins. 

 

 She also got her fill of superheroes, He Man, & race track fun. We had a great visit and the boys are all too excited that we get to see her again in Michigan at the end of July!!

Backyard Bible Camp

Last week we spent every morning at church attending Vacation Bible School. The theme was Backyard Bible Camp and it proved to be a good one!

Lucas isn't quite old enough to attend an actual class yet, but since I volunteer in crafts (yes, for all those people who just said "what? Rachel crafts?" I did in fact say crafts!) Lucas attends nursery during bible school. The first morning, went as I expected...he turned on the tears as soon as I handed him over to his teachers. Every subsequent day, he would run all excited to the door and announce "I here!" and then he would turn on the tears when I said "ok have fun". He gets over it quick though and he had a good time. Here he is sitting on Emilie's shoulders on the last day watching the big kids perform!


Then there's Isaac. He was really excited about Bible School especially after we discovered that his best friend Faith was in his group. These two are a set of characters!!

 Isaac busy during craft time...

 
One of the days (It was super busy, so they all run together now!), a Wake Forest police officer came in to talk with the kids. When we got home that day, Isaac immediately dressed himself in his police outfit and informed me that the policeman said that he should wear it ALL the time. I was worried we were going to end up with an issue and never get him out of the outfit, but I think it got hot in all that polyester so he took it off by late afternoon!
Lucas looks super impressed by Officer Isaac now doesn't he?!

 On the last day, the kids do a program to sing their songs. Isaac isn't much for participating in the perfomance. I was just happy that he stood up front with his friends. Even if he did hide behind Faith the entire time. That's what friends are for right?

 

 

After the performance Faith came over and played for a while. Officer Isaac was back on patrol....looks like he found himself a speeder!!


Like I mentioned earlier, I volunteered to help with crafts again this year. BUT only because my vbs craft buddy Christine volunteered to help again too. We had a blast...probably more so than the kids on most days...but you have to be a little nuts to volunteer to do crafts with almost 300 kids in 2 hours, especially when the challenge of the day is 75 kindergartners in one 20 minute block! Here is some of what we made....

Bug fences (God Made Bugs you know)

 

The distressed cross (probably my least favorite of the week)

Ants (again, God made ants!)

And not pictured are our fireflies made out of easter eggs and a tea light and the painted or markered light switch covers dependent on how early in the day your group came to crafts. After 2 groups of paint, we mysteriously "ran out" and we forced the kids to use markers, a much better idea than paint!

And with all that going on we still had time to goof off!


We're already looking forward to an planning for next year!!

House Party

I finally downloaded pictures off the camera today and realized I had some fun ones from our housesitting adventure's in Hickory that never got posted. What can I say, I get caught up in the fun and lose track of time between blog entries!

We visited Neenie while we were in town!! 

We painted Oma & Opa a new sign to replace the one that rotted through after 33 years!

 We took nightly runs at the track over at Lenoir Rhyne.

"I can beat you girls with my eyes closed!"

Victory!

 

 We ended up having quite the busy week at Oma & Opa's...fun, food, & friends!

 

House Sitting

The boys and I are staying in Hickory for a few days house sitting while my parents are in Michigan. On Friday, we decided to check out free day at the Catawba Science Center.

Isaac was very excited to find they had animal skins. His favorite was the squirrel seeing as he had tried to get me to pick one up off the road earlier in the week so that we could wash him and stuff him like the one we saw last summer at a museum in Tennessee. Yeah, not happening, (although I bet I could find instructions for that on Pinterest!) but we did make a couple trips back through the animal room to hold the museum's squirrel.

 A little lesson in physics...but since Mommy got her lowest grades in physics...ramp fun with golf balls!!

 

Look Mommy, I caught a fish!

Legos on the light table! 

 Rocket fun!

 Nothing like playing with electricity. It took me a few minutes to convince them that it was okay to touch this!

Poor little guy can't reach the pedals, so he didn't generate any power. But he didn't really care, he rode his "cycle" for a good 15 minutes thinking he was big stuff!

My caterpillar and butterfly! 

Final stop was the aquarium where they visited with the sharks and even got to pet the rays!

A fun start to our mini vacation in Hickory. Who knows what else we'll find to do while we're here!

Lazy 5 Ranch

Today we took a special adventure to the Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, NC. Aunt RaRa & Aunt Cindy joined us, and as an extra surprise, Aunta, Madeline and Audrey's plans for the weekend changed and they were able to join us too!! The kids were all very happy to see each other.

For those of you who don't know, the Lazy 5 Ranch is a drive thru type zoo where you can pet and feed the animals UP CLOSE!! You can take a wagon ride through, or you can hop in the back of Mommy's truck and have your own personal tour. The group opted for the more adventurous route and piled in the back of the truck!

It rained in Mooresville early this morning, so when we arrived there was no one else there. This meant we were the first ones to get to drive through the park for the day. This also meant that the animals were hungry for their breakfast! I had a hard time even driving through the gate because this guy wanted to be the first to eat!

 The big kids got the hang of things quickly and enjoyed feeding and petting the very hungry deer.

Lucas wasn't quite so sure about what was going on, so he spent the first little bit watching the animals through the back window and the windshield. 

He eventually warmed up and fed the animals out of his hand too.

The giraffes by far were the most fun to feed...and they ate the most too. 

  Isaac had them lining up for his bucket!

Lucas was timid at first, but as long as they didn't breathe in the bucket (and make a funny noise) he enjoyed feeding them too.

 Aunt Cindy & Audrey with the buck toothed llama.

Aunt Cindy and Isaac taking a break in the truck.

Me and my munchkins!

 Lucas' favorite part was just an regular old calico farm cat. 

 Four happy little animals with Aunt RaRa & Aunt Cindy. 

We all had a fabulous morning at the Lazy 5 Ranch. It's an experience like no other. I really think us adults enjoy it as much as the kids!