Members only picnic

Dave and Nan looking at the turtles!!!

Tonight was the members only picnic at Elmwood Park Zoo! We had a lot of fun, but it was so crowded! There were about 1200 members there tonight. We had to park far away at the boccie ball court and walk the whole length of the zoo on the street to get to the entrance. The zoo staff was nice enough to let us let out the back gate by the prairie dogs so that we didn't have to walk on the street in the dark. Here are just a few pictures of our fun night.

Yes, this is the porcupine hanging upside down!

Nan and Dave looking at Joan, the new pig, that arrived at the zoo tonight. She was a little shy and was hiding in her house.

Dave seeing how far he can jump and what animal his jumping matches up too.

The bobcats now live next to the birds. It looked like they were trying to stalk the birds through the cage. Dave watched the bobcat for quite some time to see if the birds would get scared but they never did.

Dave watching the otters. They had just gotten out of the water.

Wordless Wednesday

Packing for Baltimore

Today, Dave and I packed for our up-coming trip to Baltimore. We leave on Friday, but I thought it was best to start packing now. Dave made sure that the first thing to go into the his suite case was George! He didn't want to forget him. (Not that we ever go anywhere without him.) Dave can't wait to go on vacation. He asked me the other day if he and I could leave and that when Daddy got done work he could just meet us on vacation. I told him that Daddy had to drive there because we don't know how to get there. Then he said that we better wait for Daddy. Here are just a few pictures of Dave packing his bag.

After dinner we went for a walk. Dave made sure to pick a wish. He wished that we all have a fun vacation!

Back to feed the nice ducks

It was my turn to help feed the ducks this time.

Dave making sure that Daddy and Hallie dog see the ducks.
Hallie got a little too close for the ducks liking and they all flew away splashing us with water. Dave didn't seem to mind though.

Kids Castle

We decided to check out the kids castle in Doylestown. It's a eight storie playground divided up into sections by age. Dave's section was mostly a sand pit with a few slides. He wasn't too impressed and said that he liked the playground in Hilltown better. Which is good for us because it's a lot closer than Doylestown. He went down the slide a few times and pretended that he was an astronaut. Chris was the alien. It was a pretty much of a short trip. There wasn't enough to do to make him want to stay for a long time.

A family hike at Peace Valley Park

Everyone was looking to get out of the house today due to the overcast weather yesterday. I suggested that we go to Peace Valley Park for a hike on the nature trail. Once we got there we first went to the bird blind and watched the birds. (Dave did pretty good about being quiet butstill needs a little work on that. We only stayed until some serious bird watchers joined us.) Then we went into the nature center to see the stuffed animals. Dave thought it was neat to be able to touch a real fox. There were also mystery boxes with things to feel and guess. Dave did cheat a little bit by lifting the lid and looking inside beforesticking his hand in the hole to feel it. Then it was off to the mini loop to do some hiking. Chris and I both thought that was all Dave would be able to walk. We first came across a small pond where there were tons of little baby turtles. Dave was in heaven! Turtles are his favorite animal if you couldn't tell that from our other entries. Here's a picture of one of the mommy turtles sitting on a log.

We walked the whole mini loop and Dave asked what was next. We decided to hike another trail and another trail and another trail.

We saw some birds, squirrels, butterflies, bugs, and deer tracks. We even saw a mommy deer and her baby taking a walk!!

Dave was our wonderful tour guide! He looks a little sad to be heading back the trail to get to the car.

Wordless Wednesday

Watermelon picking

Every Monday that Chris and I are at work, Dave spends the day with his grandparents. Beegee (Chris's mom), Pies(Chris's dad) Wo(Chris's sister..her real name is Noel) and Munc(Chris's brother...his real name is Mike) all take turns helping to take care of him. Beegee and Wo are trying to grow fruit and vegetables this summer in their garden. In this picture Dave is holding a small pea-sized watermelon. It was trying to grow, but Dave decided to pick it yesterday thinking that it was perfectly ripe. He looks so proud of himself doesn't he?! The funny part to this story is that my Dad who Dave calls Pop did the same exact thing to his Dad when he was about Dave's age. It must have been in his genes to pick that very first tiny watermelon to come on the vine!

Coloring fun

Dave deciding which coloring book is best to use tonight.

Dave doing a good job coloring a cat!

And the finished product. Looks pretty good don't you think?

Sprinkler fun

Today was a really hot day. We tried to beat the heat by running through the sprinklers that Dave got for his birthday this year. Dave wasn't sure what to think at first, but by the end he was having a ball. We all were having great fun. Surprisingly, even Hallie our dog joined in on the fun.

Daddy showing Dave that it's fun!

Dave showing Mommy how to run in the sprinkler. He thought that he had to hold my hand all the time so that I wouldn't fall in the wet grass.

Hallie dog enjoying the cool water too! She was a little noisy at first and barked constantly until she understood how well it cooled her off. Then she liked it except when it got her in the face.

If you look closely to the right hand side Hallie looks like she laughing at us running through the sprinkler.

Elmwood Park Zoo with Caleb and Noah

Today we planned to get together with Dave's best friend Caleb and Caleb's little brother Noah. We planned to go to the Elmwood Park Zoo. Caleb and Noah are my friend Sarah's little boys. Sarah and I became friends shortly after having Dave and Caleb. Dave and Caleb's birthdays are only a few months apart. We try to get the boys together about once a month, but with scheduling two families sometimes it's a little bit longer. Dave just loves getting to see Caleb. Sarah also has a blog that we check out so that Dave can see what the boys are up too.

It's hard to get three boys under the age of four to all look at the camera at the same time, but two out of three isn't bad.

Of course, the day we chose to get together at the zoo was the first day of a heat wave. Although it was hot it was not too bad in the morning and most of the zoo is shaded. All the boys loved seeing the animals. Of course everyone had their favorites. Dave loved the porcupines. Today they were eating carrots instead of sleeping so that was a little different to see. Caleb loved the goats and sheep. I heard that he even got to feed one! (We had left a little bit earlier that Sarah and the boys did. Dave wanted to head out to get lunch.) I'm not sure which was Noah's favorite. He seemed to be happy just looking at everything and eating some snacks. Sarah and I both liked the prairie dogs the best. They are just so cute.

Here are a few pictures of the animals that we saw today. Both Sarah and I tried to take Dave's picture, but I guess he was a little camera shy today. Once he was able to be a turtle we were allowed to take his picture, but that was the only time.

Some new baby long horns!! Aren't they cute! We didn't see them last week so they must be very new to zoo.

Some sleeping otters. It looked like we just missed them in the water.

We also saw some lazy cougars. They were very intently watching the little birds that had flown into the cage with them. Dave was waiting for them to catch the birds.

Sarah, Caleb, and Noah, thanks for going to the zoo with us today. We had a lot of fun. On the way home Dave was asking if you could go with us again. So whenever you are ready for another trip just let us know!!

A night at lake lenape

Dave was looking for something to do tonight after we ate dinner. He said that he was tired of being bored. So we decided to take a family stroll through Lake Lenape park. We took some bread with us and started with feeding the ducks. (We met some very friendly ones this time. And they too smelled the bread as we were getting to the park.) When we were done feeding the ducks Dave asked "Now what are we going to do?" So we went for a walk down the path to see what we could find. We first found a baby turtle sitting on a log along the bank. It was very tiny and we had to look hard to see it. Dave was very happy. Turtles are his favorite animals!! After looking at the turtle we continued down the path and saw a crane. The crane was standing motionless as it looked for fish for its dinner. Dave was happy to see the different types of wildlife in the park, but he wanted to know what else we could see. We headed to the dam to wathc the water rush by with a loud roar. He liked watching the water rush over the edge. After a few minutes Dave was ready to see something else. Off we went around the path to find some other animals. We saw more ducks, some geese, birds, and lots of squirrels. We even met a cat named "Squirrel" who was out for a walk with his owners. As we were walking around both Chris and I were telling Dave stories of how we both spent our summers in the park and swimming in the creek. Our stories were so similar. You would have thought that somewhere along the way our paths must have crossed. We could not believe that Dave walked the entire way from the baseball fields on Walnut St., by the white bridges, along the path to the boyscout cabin, then to the dam, and then up the field to walk by the Sellersville firehouse, then back on the path all the back to car. I think he will sleep well tonight!

This is the baby turtle that we found sitting on a log!!! (Look very closely he is very tiny)

This is the crane that we found. Dave thought that he was trying to catch his night time snack.

A night at the Anderson's barn

This is Jess. She works for my mom and her family has been friends with my family for a long time. Jess's family own horses and she always has a fascinating story about the horses for Dave. Now every time he sees Jess the first thing he asks about are her horses. They now have 4 horses, Beulah (who is the biggest horse I have even seen and is a little intimidating to Dave. I tried to take her picture but she was scared of the camera), Kong, Snowball (who was Dave's favorite until today), and last but not least, Dave's new favorite Freedom. Dave loves to go to their barn to look at the horses. We still have not been able to get him to sit one, but I think he will soon. I guess when you are a little over three feet tall a horse must seem really big when you are looking up at it.


Jess, Dave and Freedom!








This is the picture that I tried to take of Beulah. As you can see she is a little camera shy.












Jess, thanks again for a wonderful night at the barn~I'm sure we will be back again to see the horses.

The search for the wonder pets

When we went to my parents house tonight. My mom met Dave at the car and told him she thought she heard the Wonder Pets in the woods. So off we went on the path in the woods in search of the Wonder Pets. Linny was hanging in a tree. Tuck was on a stump. And Ming-ming was on the fly boat on the bridge. Dave thought it was great that the Wonder Pets live in Nan and Pop's woods. I guess we will be doing a lot of walking on the trails the next few visits to see if we can find anyone else.

Sellersville carnival

Tonight we went to the Sellersville carnival. Dave loved watching all of the people and the rides. He just had to pick a duck to win a prize. It took him a few minutes to pick just the right one! He picked a large prize duck, but he wanted the small whale prize, so the lady was nice enough to let Dave pick three small whales in place of one large toy. We then headed over for waffles and ice cream. Dave of course had just the waffle minus the ice cream, but he didn't seem to mind.

Swimming time

Dave is always excited at the idea of swimming, but once he gets to the pool he needs some coaxing to get in. Once we have him in he takes to the water like a fish. Dave is starting to kick and move his arms and is learning to swim. He even likes to go in the tubes by himself and kick around (of course someone is always within arms reach).

Trying to feed the ducks

The other night we went to feed the ducks with my mom. When we got to the Dairy Queen in Perkasie near the park there where no ducks to be found. So we thought we would go to the white bridges in the park with the hopes of finding some. When we turned around and started to head to the white bridges we looked up the road and the ducks were crossing the road. According to Dave the ducks must have smelled the bread that was in the car when drove by them. So off we went to the white bridges. But once again there were no ducks to be found. So we started to head back and Dave began to wave the bread in the air so the ducks could smell it again. Dave told us that if you drive a bread truck then you have ducks following you all the time. We thought that was a pretty genius form of reasoning for a three year old. As we were getting to the car, we saw some ducks (or geese they are all ducks to Dave). So we headed down the meet them. As we got closer and began to throw bread, they began to come at us with their big wings flapping and beaks open, so I grabbed Dave and ran (best I could in flip flops) and my mom threw the bread and ran too. Needless to say, this is the only picture that we got. We'll have to try to find some nicer ducks in the future.