Glenfest & Library Reading Program

Life will be so much easier when Danger Boy gets out of school, I said, life will slow down this summer, I said. Famous last words! We've been busier than I (Tired Mom) could have possibly imagined. This weekend we went to Glenfest with the cousins, and had a ball despite the heat.

Vance rode the alien blaster gun ride with my youngest nephew.

Unfortunately, the batteries went out on the camera, so Glenfest was not Picturefest.

Also this week, our local library started it's summer reading program. We keep track of all the books we read to the kids this summer, and they get prizes at the end of next month in exchange for points they earned from reading books.

Kids also get to see shows like this one (twice a week) where the zoo brought animals for the kids to touch, and they had a story to go along with each of them.

They read "Oh, Theodore"to go along with the guinea pig.

They read "The Salamander in My Room"to go along with the salamander ( a really cool one with black skin and yellow spots).

And, they read "Owl Babies" to go along with the one winged bar owl (injured, they don't know how). Danger Boy loves animals, so he was enthralled the whole time. Kid Catastrophe was laying around during some of the stories, but she was quiet otherwise. We did this last year with the same library and we had a blast!

We're Outside, With Nature and All That Hippie Tree Hugging Stuff

If anyone tries to reach the dynamic trio (Danger Boy, Kid Catastrophe, and Tired Mom) during the day, we are most likely outside. We seem to spend most of our days out there. We have no answering machine, so that stinks, but please know we are fine and just basking in the warm sun or covering ourselves with dirt ;)

We refer to this house as "Quis's House", but they both play in it all the time.

The sand box acquired from the cousins is a HUGE HIT. They've played in there almost exclusively for the month we've had it.

Silly face, no reason

I could not get an outside pic of Nutty, but he joins us outside (and usually stays in the yard like I'm trying to train him to).

Paranoid Dad joins us in the evenings and on weekends and takes advantage of the porch swing for napping.

We're having so much fun this summer! Sorry if you miss us while we are outside!

The Zoo Adventure of Danger Boy & Kid Catastrophe

Tired Mom, Aunt Wheesie, Ethan & Tyler (the cousins), Danger Boy, Kid Catastrophe and a SPARE named Keylie (E & T's cousin on their father's side) all went to the Saint Louis Zoo together. This will most likely be the last time for YEARS that all the cousins will get to go to the zoo together since Aunt Wheesie and her darling hubby are leaving !!! They are moving to the D.C. area because of a JOB (pssshhhhh, who needs money when there is so much fun to be had with me?). Sniff, sigh, and all that. Tired Mom might mope for awhile, but she won't stay down long!!!

I thought this was the cutest outfit on QQ! We had to borrow Vance's old tennis shoes, but they looked so cute anyway.

What is this log thing anyway in the middle of the zoo? They don't really explain it very well, and there's not really another thing like it to connect it to anything.

The cousins looked so cute all lined up (with Wheesie)

They all enjoyed climbing on the fences to see the animals. Danger Boy saw this all about a month ago for a school field trip, but QQ seemed to find all the animals pretty fascinating.

The kids got to pet the sting rays (for $3 piece). Strange luck, someone had an extra pass they gave us so we saved some $$$. Tired Mom enjoyed this almost as much as the kids. Except QQ, she was too afraid to try to pet them and mostly just watched. Slippery, fun, strange sting rays. I could pet them all day, but we had to give everyone a chance!

There was the "bird exhibit" or the birds the kids chased after lunch that hang around the picnic area. They were joined by several other kids (and we saw Renae and her kids here too). Birds!!!

CAROUSEL!!! What kid does not like the carousel?

We will have to include a zoo trip later this summer that includes Paranoid Dad! We missed him while we were having so much fun ;)