Discovery Place!

We were so excited to "discover" that we could go to Discovery Place for free with our Museum of Life and Science membership (thanks Nanny and Pa!) so Mama and I took the kids for what turned out to be a whole day event.

That place is huge and there were many things that the kids could have spent hours doing.  So much fun and will definitely want to go back again sometime!


This light screen was cool and the kids loved it.  Joshua just HAD to have a picture of these army helicopters so we spent lots of time waiting for them to come around again.

 The little kid room was too much fun for Julia.  She was very serious and busy.  Here she is telling me not to take her picture!

 Joshua was bored at first, then settled in making a house...following in the family footsteps!

 Both boys loved building and racing cars.  Trying to think how to set this up at our house with stuff we have...

 Gray spent FOREVER at the race track.  The boy can focus on something when he wants to!

 We finally ventured out of the kid room and found some animals.

 Inside this room were frogs, snakes, and a parrot that nearly bit Julia's finger!  She has actually become a little impulsive and much less shy about trying new things...hence the sticking her finger right in the cage.

 Gray was into the touch tank and kept going behind the counter with the lady in charge.

 And here's Julia grabbing a turtle's head before the lady could tell her only to touch his back.

 She sat right down by "Herbie" and wasn't a bit afraid.

 Everyone (but me) touched this hognose snake...even Julia!

 This area I would also like to recreate at home.  The boys spent forever making a fort from poles and fabric.  Joshua was very serious and Mama and I were amused watching his reactions to other kids messing with HIS exhibit.

 Speaking of amusing, Miss Julia (aka Snow White) spent the whole time in her own little world, wandering in the "forest", saying over and over in a high pitched voice, "I'm lost!  I'm lost!"

 Gray got a kick out of riding in this air chair.

 Joshua kindly let Julia ride with him and they both thought it was pretty cool.

 This exhibit was "tug o' war" only we didn't find out till later that our side was harder than the other side, as the ropes were tied in different places to show how leverage works.  Gray was SO into this and kept coming back to join different strangers in pulling the rope.  Once he realized the easy side, he stuck to it and got so happy every time his side won.

 This was a fav with all the kids.  You stuff newspaper shreds into a tube that sucks them up and spits them out in the air.  They did this over and over and over and were absolutely delighted.

 And Gray took a break to go pull the rope next door with some folks.

 And again...

 One of Julia's favorite things was a tunnel to crawl in and slide down.

 Oh, just laying on a bed of nails...

And 5 hours later, we returned to the screen to wait for the helicopters again.  Julia danced and sang and Gray did his crazy poses.

Checking out the Moores' New Place

We had a great time visiting with Jeannie and fam at their new house.  We got to swim, go to an awesome playground, just hang out and talk, and even get a quick visit with Aunt Cheryl.  They have a great house in a great neighborhood.  Good to see things going well for them at this new stage of life.  Thanks for the great food and company, Moores!  Hope we see you soon!  Sawyer was very sad and cried lots when we left...we know the rest of the Moores were holding back;)

Little Ninjas

The boys are having so much fun with jiu jitsu.  They go every afternoon and it's a nice change of pace it their day, plus a good workout.  Matt likes watching them and catching a few tips on defense while he's there;)  Joshua gets the technique pretty well and takes his training seriously.  Gray giggles, makes faces, and needs lots of extra help.  They are both very entertaining to watch!

Change of Scenery

We just got back from a fun-filled week with my family.  There was cousin time, sister time, pool swims, fireworks, museum, cookout, road trips....lots of excitement!  And I took tons of pictures so I'll try to post some at a time.  Thanks, family, for letting us invade!  We had a great time!

Leighton time- eating, playing, oh- and Abby, Mama, and I made one awesome Snow White movie:)

Just another day in the life of a diva

Pool Fun

My new favorite thing is getting a group shot of the kids.  Maybe because they are old enough that it's not terribly hard to get them all to look.  Or maybe it's because it's triple the cuteness! Hard to narrow these down.  Can you guess who most likes being a photographic subject?

Growing Stuff

Love these gladiolas blooming for the first time!  They are all different colors and blooming so beautifully...until we have a storm and they fall over, which is about every day here lately!  Hoping they multiply and I eventually have tons!

 Trying watermelon for the first time this year.  I am not expecting great things, but would be nice if we get something that at least tastes okay!  Too bad I ignorantly chose the ginormousest ones you can possibly grow.  Probably not best for a first timer with limited space.

 We've got tomatoes like crazy again.  And again I planted them a little too thick.  They're probably going to all come tumbling down the way I have them rigged up, but maybe next year I will have learned my lesson!  This gardening stuff takes awhile to grasp for me.

We also have peppers growing and some easy and prolific green onions.