Adventures In the Deep Blue Sea

Oh, what silly little fish. They had a deep sea adventure set up in Nature's Neighborhood where the kids could dress like deep sea divers and go inside the tent area and look for pictures of fish. The inside of the tent was lit with black lights and the fish glowed in the dark, like in the deepest parts of the ocean. Ben was very excited about the goblin shark because they were learning about it in school. 

Holy Cow, That's a Crazy Creepy Frog!!

Nature's Neighborhood had this HUGE creepy frog out. It was an African something toad and it was HUGE! I would say its body was at least bigger than Adam's entire hand. It was weird!

Animal and Gonzo, We Meet Again

Had to go back and see the guinea pigs again. This time they got to hold Gonzo and Animal. They would sit and pet those things for hours if I let them!

Retreating with Parakeets

The parakeets are back at the zoo. Great. These kids better appreciate how much I sacrifice in order to go in this building. They can thank Aunt Sarah when I make them leave before they are ready. And for the reason why we will never have a pet turtle.

Tink The Turtle

This is Tink the sea turtle. I like him (or her). One of my favorite new additions to the aquarium! The black thing on his shell is a weight so he can dive. He was hurt/rehabed a few times and something happened to him that prevents him from diving underwater. The weights help him to do that. It's some sea turtle bio engineering at work. 

The New Aquarium!

When they closed the aquarium 2.5 years ago, I remember thinking, 'Ben is going to be 6 when this reopens!' and being sad and worrying that he might 'outgrow' the zoo by then. Well, the day finally came that the aquarium reopened and Ben was in fact 6, but he has definitely not 'outgrown' the zoo. He went to the aquarium 3 times in 5 days the first week. And asks to go again weekly. Unfortunately, the first time, the Saturday it opened, he buzzed through it so fast, I didn't get to see much of anything! There are parts I still haven't seen. He attempted to touch a stingray, but wussed out. And he loves the eel. Nick was there too, but he was with Adam and we didn't see them until we left. The aquarium is pretty much totally awesome and 100% worth the 2.5 year wait. Aaannnndddd, I didn't pay for it because I live it Wood county. Sorry zoo, but thank you Lucas County :) 

To Catch A Leprechaun

Ben was completely obsessed with leprechaun traps this year for St. Patrick's day. He talked about it for at least 3 weeks before the big day. Whenever he was quiet, he was thinking about his trap. He and Adam worked it all out. Unfortunately, the leprechaun escaped before he could get trapped after trying to steal reece's cups. Ben was very sad that he didn't catch a leprechaun. 

Ta Da! Bunk Beds!

We decided it was time to upgrade Ben to bunk beds. We got adventurous and drove to IKEA after church with the boys. We had scoped out the bed online, checked the inventory, we were all set. We wanted to see it, so we walked through the entire store, only to discover they didn't have it on display! So by then we were losing the boys (even with 2 ipads, but they were getting hungry) and barely made our way downstairs (after going through the entire marketplace) and to the warehouse to get the beds before melt downs. But I think Adam had it together faster that it took to drive back. Ben loves his bed and Nick loves it, too. He's a little bit sad that he doesn't get a bunk bed, but I can barely trust to no break a bone getting out of a regular bed, let alone a bunk bed! 

Buzzing Around the Bee Hive

Self applied face paint, a giant bee hive and two silly boys...What can I say?