Start of September

Things have definitely slowed down now that the summer is over but that doesn't mean we're sitting around doing nothing. During the week we're busy now with school and other little life things. So the weekends together are even more precious. On Saturday the 8th, the Akron Zoo had a Dinosaur Train themed day. Since we are big PBS kids fans, we were excited to go. They had different stations set up for the kids to learn about nature tracking and once they finished all the stations they got to ride the train for free. Our friends, Jen, Brent and Ava joined us for the fun on the gloomy, rainy morning. Luckily, this kept the crowds away and it actually ended up being perfect weather.

The kids were very excited to have Daddy at the zoo. Always a treat to do things with Cody. 

The penguins were really active and kept swimming right in front of Hazel. She was enjoying them a lot.

Penguin shot.

Photo op with Buddy.

Hazel watching the others have all the fun.

I forgot my camera so I took all these pictures with my iphone. Guess I need to work on my action shots.

Morgan, Pepper and Ava working at a station with Jen's help and my smudgy finger.

We had to keep reminding Cody and Brent to put their phones away and to stop checking scores.

They got a backpack full of some goodies after they finished. Pepper's trying to milk the cow but apparently it had run dry.

The kids and Cody enjoying the free train ride.

We all enjoyed watching Cody squeeze into that tiny little train car with the kids.

The girls trying to feed the goats. Well, Ava was successful but Pepper never quite managed to get up the nerve to actually get anywhere close to the goat.

Morgan on the other hand had no problem giving them his whole arm.

The kids working in the kitchen making up bowls of food for the animals.

Cody and Hazel enjoying the coral reef exhibit. Hazel really enjoyed watching all the fish and other sea creatures.

On Tuesday, September 11th, we took Pepper out to a dinner of her choice to celebrate her last day of summer. She, of course, chose Chick-Fil-a, which worked out well because it was kids eat free night.

They had a fireman there with little toys and activities for the kids.

The garden is still chugging along giving us lots of tomatoes and cucumbers. The strawberries have started again much to the kids delight. The watermelon are still doing pretty well; I really hope they continue on so we can try one.

On last Friday after school Sarah's mom took Sarah and Morgan out for ice cream. Then Sarah stayed with us for a bit of the afternoon to play. The kids had a blast running around being crazy.

This one is really starting to pull herself up these days. Oh, the fun begins.

I'll leave you with these two and their super hero poses.