Thanks, Moxie!

Tonight I'm feeling a little down, so I thought I would do what I like to do when I'm feeling this way...blog!  It always helps me to focus on the blessings in my life, which helps me to stay more positive and encouraged.

Moxie (and my husband, with whom she's in absolute LOVE) happens to be the highlight of this post.   She was swimming a lot this past weekend.  Here she is in action...



Whenever Moxie and Dave are in the water, the center of her world is him. She watches every move he makes and frets at times if he goes too far.  Watching the way Dave plays with the kids and Moxie always makes me love him even more!  In this clip, Dave is showing how when he picks Moxie up and out of the water, she continues to swim, lol!

Love you, Moxie dog!

Seth's Webelos Camp

My fabuloso husband took our Webelos scout, Seth, on a three day, two night camping trip.  Seth and his den worked on doing many of the requirements that will help them earn their "Arrow of Light" award in the spring.

However, they also had lots of time to fish...

hang out with friends...

fish some more...

canoe,

and shoot!

They had perfect camping weather, with no rain (or lightning strikes for that matter, remember Henry's Webelos camp?!).  Our boy had the time of his life.  There's talk of sharing pictures amongst the den, and I hope they do because I want to see more!

Zoo trip

Yesterday we went to the zoo!  We got an early start right after Henry finished up with swim practice, and pretty much spent the entire day there.  We were excited that my nephew, Robbie, and my sister, Karen, joined us.  Of course, right when we started, we had to take the traditional lion statue picture.

And then we rode the carousel, which is pretty much our traditional second stop.  ;)

Then, on to the dolphin show.  It was here that Caroline told me that her life's ambition was to be a dolphin trainer.

I can see why she said that.  It seems like a pretty fun job!

There is a big (very big) bug exhibit at the zoo this summer.  Seth thought it was even better than when they had the animatronic dinosaurs a couple of years back.  You can see why he was so impressed! 

Next we went to a wetlands exhibit.

I love how Evan's older siblings doted on him and shared in his excitement over what they were seeing!

Right when we were looking at the crocodiles, I literally bumped into my cousin Mary Beth!  She was at the zoo with her kiddos, so my kids were thrilled to see their cousins!  What are the chances, huh?!  We are going to plan another zoo trip together soon!

Here's our crew!

After that exhibit, we stopped in a souvenir shop.  I was so proud of the kids that they didn't ask to buy anything...except for this $500 tiger.  ;)  That is so totally in our budget.

We then went to the amphibian house where we got to see poison dart frogs!  We learned that the ones at the zoo are not, in fact, poisonous, because the zookeepers do not feed them the red bugs that the frogs eat in the wild.  These red bugs metabolize inside the frogs body into a poison. The kids were fascinated by them, especially Seth.  Seth was funny because while the other kids would stay at an exhibit for a while, it was never long enough for Seth.  He loves to learn all kinds of facts about animals.

Right outside of the Living Coast exhibit (our favorite), there is a splash park area.  The kids came dressed in their suits, and had a great time cooling off.

We had to take the traditional "Oh no, a giant fish is eating______!!" picture.  Don't you love Caroline's acting?

Seth and Evan loved the penguins!

I thought this was a pretty cool picture.  The dragonfly in the middle of it is made of flowers, and the kids, of course, are sitting on the lions.

Next up:  the BUGS!  Giant animatronic ones, no less!

Not only did we get to see a giant stink bug, we got to smell him too!

In the middle of the bug exhibit, there was a house full of kid activities all related to bugs.  There were many live bugs for them to see!  In one part there was a tunnel full of cool bug videos.  It was so funny to watch them as they kept calling to each other and pointing at the videos saying, "Ooooh, look at this one!"

The kids actually got to touch a hissing cockroach from Madagascar!

The kids loved the fish/water bug tank which allowed them to stand in the middle of it.

Of course, the older boys thought it would be funny to see if all of them could fit in it!

In the middle of the exhibit was a mini house that showed where bugs can live.  Seth found real roaches under the kitchen sink.  YUCK!

If you know Evan, you know that he kind of has a thing about cicadas.  He loves to look for their shells in the summer, and always finds a lot at the lake.  So he was pretty excited when he saw this giant cicada!

There really was so much to learn!  It was so nice that the zoo had stations set up where zookeepers would talk bugs with the kids and show them real bugs up close and personal!

Caroline was happy to find this giant butterfly!

Henry and Seth thought that this tarantula was pretty cool.

The gift shop, which is always so conveniently placed at the end of exhibits, was our next stop.  Henry found this lollipop that had a scorpion inside of it!!  Yes, it is edible, but oh my word...EEEEEEEWWWWWWW!

After an ice cream treat, we headed to our car.  In the first five minutes of our trip home, this child o'mine fell sound asleep...

and this child o'mine was close behind.

It was such a fun day, and we can't wait to go again!

Why fight it?

Evan and Connor wanted to mix the play dough up and make delicious-looking and very tall ice cream sundaes.

Who am I to stand in the way of their creativity?  I think that's why all of our play dough winds up being an interesting shade of brown, hmmm...

A Night at the Drive-In

And by "night", I really do mean night.  I took Henry, his friend, Alex, and Evan to the drive-in last Friday night, and we stayed out until 1:30 AM!! (Seth and Caroline were out of town.) I felt really guilty that I kept them out that late, but considering the fact that I don't make a regular practice of it (as in, pretty much never), it was a double feature of Brave and Madagascar 3, lots of our friends were going, and that we would be making some fun memories, I really had no other choice but to take them.  ;)

Here's Henry with some of his best buds, Ian and Alex.

Here we were, all set up with chairs, blankets, candy, popcorn and pop, all ready for the movie to begin!

Suprisingly, the boys had no trouble staying up that late.  It was me that struggled with it, lol!

By the way, we give the two movies we saw six thumbs up (two from each of us)!

Go Otters!

Henry joined a new swim team this year.  He wanted to be on the same team as one of his good friends, and swim at the same pool where we have a pool pass.  So he is officially an Otter now!  See the two tall coaches in the back row?  Henry is just to the right of them as you look at the picture.

Here he is at one of his swim meets.  He's in the blue on the left.  So far his favorite strokes are freestyle and backstroke.

He's doing pretty well!  He got a first and a third in a couple of his heats.

Here he is with his friend, Ian.  Good luck this season, boys!

We miss you!

It's been kind of a strange week in that for a few days, I have two kids at home instead of four.  On Sunday, Caroline went home with my mother and father-in-law to stay with them for the week.  She and her cousin, Nadia, are going to a vacation bible school together.  Seth is at his Webelos Cub Scout camp for a few days with some friends.  For the first couple of days, Evan kept asking me, "Where's Caroline?"  I would tell him, and then ask, "Do you miss her?"  He always replied, "Yes, I do."  He did get to talk to her on the phone, and then wanted to email to her this picture that I took of him and Moxie.  Henry admitted that he missed Caroline and Seth too.

Before Seth even left for camp, a little nature came to him in the form of a couple of deer.  The boys were pretty excited that the deer were in the neighbors' front yard!

Seth got to ride to camp with one of his best friends, Matthew.

Evan was feeling a little sad, so the boys picked him up for a little squeeze!

Can't wait to see you soon, Seth and Caroline, and to hear all of your adventures!  :)

Seth hit the tooth fairy jackpot!

Four of Seth's baby teeth refused to vacate the premises when his adult teeth wanted to move in, so Seth's dentist (AKA his grandpa) helped them out on Monday.  He earned a small fortune from the tooth fairy...8 dollars!  I don't know his big plans yet for what he plans to do with the money, but I will advise him not to spend it all in one place. ;)

Happy Father's Day!

Dave and his Dad got to do just what they wanted to do on Father's Day, which is to spend the day at the lake!  We spent the night there Saturday night and then Sunday lots of our family came to join us!

The kids got a big kick out of Moxie, who is really learning to swim now!  (Previously she has preferred to wade.)

Of course, a lot of time was spent on the trampoline.

Evan is now getting brave enough to jump off of it on his own!

He also has been enjoying jumping off of his Daddy.

When they weren't in the water, they relaxed by the shore.  I love this picture of Nadia hanging out with Moxie.  It makes me happy that my nieces love Moxie too!

Caroline and Evan made their own place to relax on the upside-down row boat!

Then we all gathered around some good food,

and the kids got the best seats...right by the lake!

Happy Father's Day to my three favorite fathers...my dad, my father-in-law, and the father of my children!  Love you all!