There were times when the kids took turns having 2 of them battle and other times when all 5 tops were in there together. Marc took a turn battling Daddy. :-)
This is how the younger sibling sisters spent some of their time. ;-) What are they to do when their brothers are having fun with new toys?? ;-)
Marc really enjoyed playing with these. Sssshhhhh.....we got him some for his birthday in November. ;-)
Samantha thought it was SO cool that we ate dinner with the "gucks". :-)
After dinner we made sure to keep some hot dog bun to feed to the ducks/geese.
We were excited to see Nessie again. We loved looking at her at ArtPrize last year, so it was nice to see her again.
What would a birthday party be without cake and ice cream???? Well, they gave us some when we went in! :-)
After we ate our cake and ice cream we headed to look at the animals. The bears were very fun to watch. They were getting in and out of the water.
Who is the tallest animal? ;-)
Samantha liked watching the "kitty" walk around. She asked if she could pet the kitty.
My little smarties were guessing what kind of animal each paw print belongs to.
All 3 of my kids had fun playing the drums at the entrance of the "African" section.
We were all a little skittish about petting a snake, but we were all brave and pet it. It actually wasn't too bad. It was softer than I would have thought. I always thought snakes were slimy, this one wasn't.
Samantha was terrified of the water fall the last 2 times we went to the zoo. Not sure why. Daddy tried using Disney's trick about waterfalls. He showed her the front of the water. Then showed her the back of water. ;-)
Normally there is a charge to pet the sting rays. Since this was a special evening, it was free. Samantha didn't so much pet them as splash in their pool. ;-) I think a few of them got her because Daddy said she jumped a couple of times.
Marc really liked trying to reach them . He thought it was cool how slimy.smooth they felt (me too!).
Since this was the zoo's 60 birthday, they had a coloring station where the kids could color a birthday cake picture.
It was a nice few hours o wander around the zoo that we have been to so many times before. Happy 60th Birthday John Ball Zoo!
After she got done making a total mess with the paint and apples ;-) we headed over to the station where she got to glue apples onto a tree.
The last craft station, which was also the least messy, was Samantha's last choice. ;-) At this station she got to color a picture of an apple.
She wanted to go to the snack station first, but I told her that she had to do the crafts first. So, after she did all 3 of them, she made a beeline for the snack table. She was very excited to see apples and animal crackers to eat! :-)
While we waited for group time to start, Samantha played in the rice table.
After playing, eating, and crafting, we had a short group time where we sang 3 songs and read a book. After group time we headed down to the gross motor room for some free play. Super fun!
When we got home it was time for lunch. Samantha asked for an apple for lunch since we had spent all morning talking about apples.
Sarah had a whole track course set up in her living room. All the boys got to get down on the floor and play!
A couple of the younger sibling girls got in on the action.....more like they were an obstacle. Both of the little girls kept picking up the Hexbugs and holding them or putting them off the track so they wandered the floor instead.
The girls got bored off and on, so we pulled out Ainsley's My Little Pony collection to keep the girls entertained, for awhile anyway.
One of the boys made a comment that they were getting kinda tired of watching the bugs walk around the track. One of the parents suggested that they rearrange the track to make a new path for the bugs. The boys had a blast dismantling and reassembling the track.
The Hexbugs have little soft plastic bristles and a small motor that makes them vibrate. Daddy decided to put one on the palm of Samantha's hand for her to feel.....
and bot did it tickle her. She squealed with pleasure!
After some playing at Sarah's house, it was time to go home. When we left Marc got some of the track pieces t brig home. So, we came home with 4 Hexbugs, 2 arenas, and 3 track pieces!! After the kids got ready for bed we let them play one more time. Even Samantha got her very own pink Hexbug!
These are what the Hexbugs look like. With Samantha's foot in the picture you can kinda get an idea of the size of them. they are cute little things. i told Marc that I was glad we got an enclosed arena for them because if I saw one of them crawling around on the floor in the house I would think it was a bug and swat it and probably break it! ;-)
It was another fun night of testing new products. Thanks Sarah for inviting us and giving us ideas for Marc's Birthday/Christmas list! ;-)
We got there a little early. Samantha kept asking to play on the equipment while we waited. I told her that she couldn't, that we didn't want to mess it up before class started. This is the face she gave me. ;-)
The first things we do are a hello song and some stretches. The teacher set up a circle of 5 things to do. The kids go in the circle and do each activity and then move onto the next. They do this until the 20 minutes are up.
and spin on the sit-n-spin.
She had to crawl up the wedge, grab the ball, and roll it down the other wedge.....
and then she had to slide down the wedge and get the ball.
Samantha got to do the commando crawl under the bar and down the mat.
The last thing in the rotation was the balance beam. She liked to do her airplane arms.
After the stations, we came back together and did some cool down activities.
When she first sat down, Samantha was very subdued, quite, and kept to herself.
She finally got into it when they sang "Open Shut Them". :-)
She LOVED listening to the stories!
Think she had fun?! ;-)
Each week, the librarian read 3 books, does some songs and such, and then we do a craft that all have to do with the same theme. This weeks theme was about the alphabet. The kids made alphabet bead bracelets.
It was very fun taking Samantha to these things. It made me feel like she was SO grown up! Tuesdays are going to be our fun day!
We brought one of our Frisbees with us. The boys enjoyed tossing it around. Except when the Frisbee hit Marc in the face and pushed his glasses into his nose and gave him a small cut. :-(
We all had fun swinging too. :-)
We brought our bubble machine. The bubbles we brought to put in it were too thick s they didn't work too well, but there were a few for the kids to chase around.
We also brought a Nerf ball to toss around. This picture is funny because Marc is ducking from the 2-year-old throw. ;-)
During winter Marc bought a baseball mitt for Peanut. We never got it our over the summer so Daddy grabbed it on our way out to the park.
It was such a gorgeous day, weather, park, and kids that I decided that it was time for a mini photo shoot.
It was such a fun way to end the week! We were all a little tired from the new school schedule that it was fun to go out and have some fun as a family. :-)
