Binder Park Zoo

After the slight disappointment with the balloon festival on Friday night, we were so excited about how much fun we had at the zoo on Saturday. The kids loved everything, from feeding the goats to feeding the giraffes. It was a great day with the kids, my mom and the animals.

On the way home, we stopped by a parade in Allegan where the kids loaded up on candy. We knew the 4th wouldn't be complete without a parade and they were not disappointed. We even took the dogs with us and they sat, relatively calmly, even with all the chaos of a parade.

The Waiting Game

Here we are, waiting in Battle Creek for the hot air balloon launch. It was supposed to start at 6:30. We got there around 6, had a picnic, read books, walked around, played "The Waiting Game", met some guinea pigs that some little girls brought along. We waited. And waited. And left. I'm still not sure if the balloons actually launched that night at all. But we had fun anyway. Rowan is still talking about the guinea pigs and they completely forgot about the balloons. We may try it again next year.

Bye-bye, Butterflies

Since Rowan had become pretty attached to her butterflies, I was more than a little concerned about releasing them outside. We talked about it ahead of time. She was sad. She knew, all along, that the plan was to put them in their natural habitat, but as the day grew closer, she seemed more and more upset about it. So, I did the easiest thing I could think of. I made sugary, colorful butterfly cookies that we could only eat after releasing the butterflies. It was the perfect solution. Her favorite part of the butterfly lesson was releasing the butterflies--which, of course, meant eating the cookies.

Happy Father's Day

Last year I dressed the kids up in Lance's clothes and took a picture of them. So, I'm making it a tradition. A rather odd one, I suppose, but the kids love it. They picked out their own clothes (can you tell?) and posed for the picture. Rowan also wrote the cutest book ever for Lance--one that will most certainly be put into the little box of things I actually keep and plan on keeping forever. It's all about why she loves her daddy.

We had a low-key day, went cherry picking and just before we were going to leave to go out to dinner, Tate got sick. So, we altered our plans and stayed in. I have to say I'm pretty thankful for a great husband who is such a wonderful dad to our kids, who really embraces what it is to be a dad, who makes the kids feel extra-special all the time, who rushes to me with towels after I've been thrown up on, who is fine with eating pizza for dinner on Father's Day instead of a nice dinner out (of course it helps when it's goat cheese and pine nut pizza--our fave) and who gets a little teary-eyed when Rowan reads her book to him.

It's my fifth (!) Father's Day without my dad and the first I've managed to not cry. I'm sure part of that is because we skipped the church service and didn't have to sing sappy dad songs, part of it is because I know my dad would want me to cherish this day (and every other day, too) and part of it is because I'm able to sit back and enjoy life's blessings with Lance.

Cherry Picking

For Father's Day, Lance wanted to go cherry picking. Never mind that he doesn't actually like fruit, cherries included, this is what he wanted to do. So we went. We picked lots of cherries. Obviously a few ended up on Rowan's shirt. And this is a very random video of her afterward. I'm not sure what that dance is, but she's clearly excited about the disaster she made of her shirt.

Last Day of Ballet

6 weeks flew by and Rowan's last day of her little ballet class was last night. She chose to wear a fancy dress from her dress-up bin and is doing a little curtsy in this picture. She LOVED ballet and we will be signing her up again and again, I think.

Butterflies are Blooming

I decided to get Lily a butterfly kit for her birthday and went ahead and ordered one for Rowan, too. The caterpillars came in the mail about a week ago and, as you can tell, she was pretty excited. We decided to keep a butterfly journal as we watch them grow and change. I'm letting her complete it with invented spelling
(which I love) and we're checking on our little "pets" every day.

Day 1 of her journal reads: Today the Painted Ladies look like cadpilrs (caterpillars). Their colors were black. They were about (less than) 1" long. They were: 1 is moviig, 4 r slepig (1 is moving, 4 are sleeping).

She has since named her caterpillars: Anu (Anna), Lideu (Lydia), Avu (Ava), Case (Cassie)and Dorau (Dora) and they are now becoming pupa and making their chrysalides. I think it's so cute how she writes all of the names (except Cassie, of course) ending in a u because "U says 'uh', Mommy".

Tate's liking this little project, too, since he loves all bugs and all things nature. I think I can see a few little lightning bugs flying around outside and I'm pretty sure we'll have to keep the kids up late one night (since it doesn't get dark until around 10) so they can catch them, put them in their little bug jars and then let them go.