Some new stuff.

Oh man, buckle down, this is a long one, not too wordy, but lots of pictures!

On Monday we went to the Petting Zoo.  The kids had an absolute ball!  Here is a wee little baby goat who was born 4 days earlier.

This petting zoo even had a Zebra!  It was cool to pet one.   Really, just like a horse, but I'm used to seeing them in a zoo.  :-)
Hay Rides (we went twice!)  the kids had a ball.  This was the whole gang, minus Leah.  Quite a group.  It was VERY fun!
After the pig race we got to watch the pigs roll around in their fresh mud.  Did you know that they shake like a wet dog when they get out?  Well they do, we learned that, so if you're ever in this situation.... stand back if you are wearing a white shirt like I was. :-)

Katie puckering up with a goat.  :-)  I just love the facial expressions on both of them.  :-)
Here are the pigs racing for the slop and fresh mud.  Liza got to hold the gate and ring the bell.
Tori and her new pal.  Aren't they sweet.
Giving milking a try.  See the little droplet of milk running down her arm?  She must have gotten something out.  She couldn't stop trying, she really liked this activity.
Eli concentrating on giving milking a try.....  (love the tongue)

Liza was IN LOVE with the horses.  She just adored spending time with them.  Can't you just see the love in her eyes?
Tori and Talia, best buddies, on a hay ride.

All lined up for chow time.  Our little group walked up to the feeding station and the goats lined up with in seconds.  Every goat in his respective hole in the fence.  They had a huge bucket of feed and an employee dishing it up for the kids, handful after handful.  Wow can these guys eat!
Tuesday was gym and swim.... fun was had, Alex and Liza had swim lessons.  It was a great day!

Wednesday we went Camping at Patapsco.  It was such fun.  Luke walked into this perfect light with this yummy drippy watermelon.
Tori and Mary had the time of their lives.  They rode bikes, and played games and climbed around in the tents.  They loved it!!!  Tori was so happy to have Mary right there.
Liza and Annabelle rode their bikes around and around the camp ground.  They thought they were so big and grown up.
Alex felt left out for most of the time, but he did have some good times on his bike.  Once he built up confidence in his ability to find his way home, he became a little adventurer.  The trip was quite fun, but let me tell you, it should have been a reality TV show.  We would have been some choice entertainment. Packing up was a crazy time, which is to be expected.  Of course, but what I didn't expect was to have Tori's bike wheel basically crumble in my hand moments before we were to leave.  What I also didn't plan on was the Dog.  I had forgotten until the night before that I couldn't leave him alone, so he would be joining us.  Anyway, back to the bike.  Picture my van if you will, it is a dodge caravan, not an extended and none of the seats fold down or anything fancy, but in that van i fit 4 kids, one adult, 3 bikes, a pushing toy, a dog crate and a dog, AND camping gear and food.   It was a tight squeeze.  A lot of the reason why I wanted to go camping was to give the kids the opportunity to ride freely on their bikes.  I was so sad when Tori's bike gave up the ghost.  What to do?  I was all ready to go, so off to Walmart with the 6 of us.  No puppies aloud in Walmart, no puppies aloud in hot cars, no kids aloud in running cars with air conditioning. I took all of them to Walmart, left Liza and Alex outside with the dog while Tori and Katie and I ran into Walmart to get a bike.  If you have ever looked for someone to help you at walmart, you will understand why I bought the beautiful princess bike that was down where we could reach it, as opposed to the cheeper version that was hanging up where I would need help to obtain it.  Lucky Tori, she hopped right on, and rode it straight out of the store.  We didn't even use a checker, we went through the self check out and headed out to get the other kids.  I dare say that it didn't take us even 5 minuets.  Tori was and still is very excited.  I will have to take a photo of her on her bike.  Upon our arrival I was told that we are not aloud to have "outside" wood, so I was told to burn all that I brought immediately!  So at 1pm in 90 degrees I built a bonfire!  I set up camp and then we were joined by Vanessa and her kiddies.  With in 4 hours 4 out of the 7 children had taken quite a spill, some more then one spill in that 4 hours (luke was trying to figure out the terrain), a set of keys were locked in the car, and AAA came to get them out.  We were quite the neighbors I'll tell you.  Between the screaming kids, the barking dog (grrr) and the car alarm going off for the 5 minutes that it took for the AAA guy to break into the Van, I am sure that people were wondering Why oh Why did they pick the spot next to us.  

We had a blast with smores and hot dogs, watermelon and pstachios.  It was such a fun trip.  We spent some time around the campfire playing games (Vanessa has quite a collection of games in her head).  We let the kids stay up until after dark so that they could use their glow sticks.  Then it was off to bed.  Well, it was off to your respective tents to be threatened with in an inch of your life.  :-)  Not Vanessas kids, just mine.  Katie missed her nap that day, and so I thought I would beat the system and keep her up, and then put her down before the rest of the kids.   DUHHH!!!  Yeah that didn't work.  She slept from 7pm to 8pm and then was up until midnight!  Of course Liza wouldn't sleep, cuz well that is just Liza for you, and Alex was right in it with her.  They also claimed that the one time Chinook barked that they WERE asleep, but Chinook woke them up.  ARG!!  SO my blissful images of children drifting off to sleep and mommies chatting by a crackling fire were dashed.  At midnight, We all gave up and mommies went to bed.  (I think Vanessa's kids were asleep long before mine).  Anyway we slept in a bit, considering that the sun was up early, so 7 am is a bit of a sleep in.  Then it was back up and off to the races again.  A few injuries later, we packed up camp and headed home.  It really was fun.  It wasn't easy, but it was fun.  I was very proud of my kids when we came home though.  Although they were tired they worked really hard to unpack the car, clean it out, and then put everything away and clean up their zones.  They really did a great job.  Everyone slept well that night.   Then on friday.......... 

We stayed home all day, taking it easy and getting ready for the evening.  It was our night to host CO OP, and we had lined up a TRIPLE SLEEP OVER.   The kids earned enough points last week to get a special privilege and they chose sleep over, so we got them all over with on the same night.  Liza had Maya, the two of them together, let me tell you.......  So they used my point and shoot and this is a small sampling of what was on the camera when i got it back...

This is my personal favorite.... If you can't tell, it is a cross dressing male Bratz doll, and a girl Bratz in his clothes.  I love how he is posed like a ballerina.  LOL, too funny.  It was a hoot looking though their pictures.

On Saturday, after all the sleepovers went home, we headed out to the Horse Rescue place for their "carnival".  These frogs were a big hit.  The kids spotted them on the ground, there must have been 5 or 6.  They were so cute!  I have a ton more pictures, but this one you can see the froggie really well.  ;-)

Alex is not a huge animal lover like my girls are.  He likes them well enough, but when given the choice to use his money to ride a pony or play some cheesy games to win ticket to buy CRAP, he chose the game to crap route.  He was a good sport waiting in line with the girls for their horse rides though, and he even had a little fun chasing around the sheep and making them bleat. 
Katie, was a gem all day.  Even though she was required to be in her stroller a lot, she was a good girl.  She didn't go on the horse.  I didn't know how well that would go over, she is a bit more skittish then the bigger girls when it comes to large animals.  
It was a little unnerving to think that I was putting my daughters on the backs of tired horses who have been abused in the past.  This being a rescue site meant that these horses all had a history of something bad.  
They had a lot of workers around them as they walked around their little yard.  The girls thought it was fun.  Liza however wants them to let her ride the horse off into the sunset.  :-)  Some time I'll have to take her riding.  The thought just scares me. :-)  Bad memories from when i was her age.  
In the petting zoo, (yes, two petting zoos in one week)  This poor little goat was given the handicap of having a collar on.  Poor thing was just begging for 4 year olds to pull him around the grounds.  Tori loved him though, she was sad when we had to leave him.

Liza fell for an old pony that was in the petting part.  I will share that photo another time.  She just stood there and talked to the pony and it's human guard the whole time.  We then went over and played games and earned tickets to buy crap, and crap it truly was.  Then the kids used their own money and bought a snow cone, and we headed home.  

When we got home, Brent was home from his Fathers Day Flight.  He was a very happy guy.  He had mowed the lawn and taken the training wheels off of Alex's bike.  (the kid has only been asking since last fall.)  Brent took him up to the court, and ran and ran and ran behind him, and with in a few minutes Alex had it down, and is no officially the rider of a two wheeler!!  I need a picture of that too.  

In other news the kids and I have our tickets to Canada now, we'll be gone a good part of August, anybody want a dog?  :-)    I finally got my mouth guard for my clenching, and it seems to be helping, although it hurts pretty bad when i put it on.  It is really tight.  Well, it is once again 3 am.  Man I need to sleep more.

So next week:

Monday: Gunpowder Falls....  teach evening class

Tuesday:  Gym and swim

Wednesday:  Possibly a concert at Centennial park.  Berry louis Polisar (kid music) 7pm $3/ car.

I will have Christina's 2, so I don't know if we'll make it, if Brent is home and we can take two cars, we'll probably go.

Thursday :  Gym and then have Eli and Leah over for sleep over.

Friday: 4th of July Breakfast with Eli and Leah, and then Fireworks!!!!!!  Whoo hoo.  On Saturday Brent is working,  so the kids and I are on our own again.  I don't know what we will do other then clean the house.  We'll see what I can come up with to motivate them.  

Happy Summer ALL!!!