Where The Wild Things Are

Go on, the door is open, you can do it...

Bath time for the elephants is always big on our list of things to watch!

The Red Panda, a new resident at the zoo.

This past weekend we visited the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. This zoo is in the midst of huge change with expansion and improvement through out. It is by far the best zoo for putting it's animals first. Sure there are other zoos with rides and shows and animals at every turn, but when you look at the animals, I mean really look at where they live, does the zoo try to give them the as much space and natural habitat that it possibly can? Roger Williams does and that is why we love it. Besides, it's wide open, kid friendly and beautiful, what more could you ask for?

Wildebeest?

Anti Maternal Instinct

I consider a day at the beach to mean; cool breezes, water shoes on feet, bucket in hand and an eyes on the sand for shells and other sea treasures...Call me crazy, but I like to be sure that when I step into water nothing is going bite me as retribution for disturbing it's home!!!

Because of this, Dan feels it extremely necessary to educate the girls on enjoying the ocean so that my "craziness doesn't rub off"!!!

Cousins

Megan and Alex

Alex, Aliyah, Lauren and Zach

Katelyn

The night before Diane (Dan's Sister) came to visit with her 3 kids, Dan called to warn her that a monsterous gastric plague small stomach bug had been going around our house, but assured her that it had run it's course.

My oh my were we lying mistaken!! I woke up Saturday morning feeling a bit queasy, but still ok enough to make the trip into Boston for a day at the museum. It was a fun day with lots of discovery...did you know that an automatic toilet flushes itself continuously when a vomiting head hovers over it? Quite a nice feature if you ask me. It's a shame the rest stops along the highway from here to PA didn't have them when Diane and her 3 very sick kids made their way home!!

A few days later, we tried to call Diane and make excuses to avoid blame apologize, but she seemed a little put off. I know, we thought it was weird to.

Mmm, Mmm, Good!

Katelyn (20 Months Old)

Outdoor Adventures with Grammy

The single best thing about my parent's house is that it borders an Audubon. Grammy has taken the girls on countless walks through the forested paths to visit frog pond and the wooden foot bridge. A few months ago, Grammy even bought them backpacks and water bottles to go along with their walking sticks, in order to "authenticate" the hikes!

Now that the girls are old enough, Grammy enrolled them in some weekend activities the Audubon was hosting. The most recent was this canoe trip. It was a bit lengthy for the girls (2+ hours of sitting still!) but they really enjoyed it!

The funny thing is when I've asked them what they remember most about the day, they mostly tell about the group in the canoe that tipped over, but sometimes it's all about the ice cream that followed!!!

Nature Lovers

Last spring I received a GPS for my birthday and for fun I would take the girls on car rides allowing them to tell me where to turn, with the ultimate goal of "getting lost", which is oh so exciting to them.

It was on one of these trips that involved turning right at the horse barn and two long and windy dirt roads, that we discovered the Connecticut Audubon's Bafflin Sanctuary...acres and acres of fields speckled with bird houses and lush wildflowers and upon further discovery, carved with walking trails!!!

Since then, we've spent many a day here running along the paths wondering what lay around the next corner and still haven't walked even a 1/4 of the way around!!

Such beauty right around the corner, who knew?

The Tooth Fairy's Biggest Fan

Lauren (age 5 1/2)