A Bike Rider!

Greta passed a milestone this past weekend. She decided she wanted to take the training wheels off of her bike. She'd been holding on to them for quite a while even though I think she could ride without them but she had to make the decision. She's always been the sort of kid that had to flip a switch in her head and say "I can do this!" and she did just that. We are so proud of her!

Sean showed both kids how to check the air pressure in their tires and how to fill them up with the air compressor.

Wild West and Play

Wesley had his fifth grade field trip to a wild west festival this year. It was a gathering of all sorts of people that showed the kids survival skills from the pioneer days. They got to learn about shooting bow and arrows (Wesley was pretty good at this), BB guns, bee keeping, black powder guns & hatchet throwing. It was a great day for kids and adults alike.

His class worked hard on their Go West play this year. They all did a great job! Here is a small video of Wesley with his part (hard to hear I know) and their first song.



My parents have been going through their house and donating stuff that they will no longer use. My Mom came across her Civil War reenactment clothing and decided to donate it to the music program at Wesley's school. Here is a link to my Mom in the outfit for the reenactment. I was excited to see a girl wearing it at the play.

Animal Park

Greta had her second grade field trip a couple of weeks ago. It's the third time I've been here for a field trip and each time I'm able to get some pretty cool pictures of animals up close and personal. It's an animal park that allows people a different experience than a normal zoo. It's smaller and lets you feed and pet certain animals. It's pretty cool for kids to see. We had a great time.

There is a kangaroo enclosure full of moms with their babies. If they are lying down then you are allowed to go up and pet them. It's a neat experience.

There was an island with a family of howler monkeys. The baby was 18 months old and was constantly climbing on the mom. Near the end of the trip I was walking by the enclosure and saw the mom just hanging from a rope. The baby was freaking out and screaming because he couldn't get to her. He would climb on a rope near by and would fling his body at her and she would just hang there. She knew that was the only place she could be alone. You could tell she was having enough of his toddler behavior. I'd never related so much to an animal as that moment. I remember that time with toddlers.

I couldn't resist taking a close up of this big freaky looking bird. He was just standing there with his wings straight out.

There is an enclosure full of guinea pigs and you can go in there and feed them. It's popular with the tiny people and this little guy was well loved among the pigs.

My favorite animals there were the goats. So many baby goats everywhere. Greta sure loved it too.

Each year there are baby ducks and giant koi which make for an interesting picture. I'm always worried about those baby ducks becoming fish food.