A Hands On Experience

We spend a lot of time at the regular zoo, but we recently discovered a place nearby called Henry's Ark. It's a petting zoo. Coincidentally, Henry was Noah's in-ark veternarian, so he knows an awful lot about animals. Rylee had a great time petting and feeding all the different animals. She wanted to bring some of them home.

 SO excited about goats.

 "Hellllooooo in there!"

 She wasn't real sure about these deer at first. They, clearly, were not shy. She kept telling them not to eat her sunglasses. She was very concerned.

 "Hey, what are you????"

 QUACK!

 Took her a minute to realize this was not a real frog.

 "Next time I'll bring my bunny, Pebbles, to hang out with you, Mr."

Apparently, deers like celery, NOT sunglasses. Once she figured this out, we were good to go.



Baby Bowler

This summer, we scored some free bowling passes for the kiddos and decided it was time to introduce Rylee to the sport. She loves going to the bowling alley almost as much as her brothers and she is a natural. She even created her very own bowling victory dance:

 I know, it looks as big as her. She refuses any and all help lifting it and carrying it to the ramp.

  Cutest. Bowling shoes. Ever.

 Her ball was so fast I didn't even get it in the picture.

 She watches her shots very closely.

 First strike!!

She also likes their popcorn at the bowling alley.

Mommy is Behind, Part 3: Island Time

July means birthdays times two in our house. This year, Brendan turned THIRTEEN (yikes) and Aidan turned 10. So, we made our annual birthday trip to King's Island. We spent two days there, the first day at the regular part of the park and the second day mostly at the water park. Everyone was exhausted when we got home, which is usually a good sign that we all had lots of fun.

 Almost immediately, Aidan won Rylee this stuffed pickle, who she felt certain was Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales. They're inseperable.

 Checking out some of the Peanuts gang (moments later she got up the nerve to hug her and then promptly bolted)

 Mommy wasn't allowed to ride hardly any rides, but she didn't miss waiting in lines. Here is the rest of the crew waiting in a looooong line while Mommy snapped pics from down below.

 You probably can't tell, but that's an Eiffel Tower view of Mommy walking a napping Rylee around the park.

 Carousel!

 First big girl ride all by herself and they pair her with some strange, older boy. I predict this is not the last older boy that will be trying to drive her around.

 Daddy and Aidan taught her how to put her hands up on this thrill ride

 I really think she only came for the strawberries and whipped cream

 Trying to win an Angry Bird

 Firework Awe

 Splishin' and a splashin'

 Ready for the rapids

 Showing the water who's boss

 Hey! Mommy can ride this one! (You can hardly see her, but that's Rylee's little hand waving to Daddy down there too)

"Thanks for the car, Mom, I'll be back by curfew! Byeeeeeeeeeeee!"



Mommy is Behind, Part 2: C is for Cousins... and Charleston... and Cupcakes!

In the beginning of July we took a big ol' road trip to Charleston, SC, to visit cousins Avery and Mason... and Aunt Ali and Uncle Chris too of course. We had so much fun. Avery and Mason shared all their cool toys with us and showed us all their favorite spots. We especially loved the beach. And we even got to be a part of Mason's 2nd birthday party! We can hardly wait to go back. Between Aunt Ali and Mommy, we had about a billion pictures of the week. I tried to stick to my top 100. :-)

Rylee makes road trip napping look so easy.



 At the beginning of the week, this was as close as she would get to jumping in the pool.

 First ever corn on the cob experience. She went back for seconds.

 No telling what these 3 are plotting...

 Burying Mommy and Daddy in sand

 Beach bums

 Wave jumping

A little sand in the face never hurt anyone.





 Swimmin' with the fishes

 "Mommy, I think I see Nemo up there."

 The Great Popsicle Caper

 Hugs for Max the Cat were plentiful

 Bubble heads

 4th of July photo shoot fail #3024

 Silly faces

 Loving the backyard playground

The Raspberry Twins 

"What? So I like blackberries?"



 Enjoying Mason's birthday cupcakes, 1 lick at a time

Our little mermaids

And, finally, by the end of the week, Rylee had finally gotten bold enough to jump in (I think she was just afraid Daddy wouldn't catch her)