First Sprinkler Day, 2014

It was honestly one of the best weather Memorial day weekends in history. The weather was PERFECT - low 80s, slight breeze, all sunshine. Couldn't have asked for anything better! And stitches weren't about to slow us down! We got out the kiddy pool and sprinkler and went to town. 

We Had A Good Run - 5.5 Years

WARNING - THIS POST SHOWS BLOOD AND OPEN WOUNDS! You might want to skip it if you have a weak stomach. Though, I didn't get to skip the fun, so why should you?!

It really is by some ultimate miracle that Adam and I have avoided an injury related ER trip so far with these two. We had a good run - 5.5 years. But, I had been waiting for this day since Nick started to walk, the day Nick would need stitches. And Friday, May 23 was that day. As with all ER worthy injuries, it occurred when no one was watching and right before bed time. The whole cul de sac of kids was out side playing, the moms were sitting on the neighbors porch and Adam was in the back yard. The kids were chasing each other around, half running, half riding bikes. My view was obstructed by a bush, but we had a good sense of what was going on. The story we got was Nick was running, tripped and fell (shocker) right in front of one of the 6 year old little girls who couldn't stop in time and hit him with the bike. We are not sure exactly what part of the bike hit him, but it doesn't really matter. The moral of the story is, Nick took a bike to the head. I heard him crying right away and got up to see what happened, thinking he fell or someone took his bike. It was 9:15 and a little dark, so I couldn't see him that well from 2 doors down. He started walking toward the garage when I called for him and he started coming toward me. And that's when I saw what looked to be blood all over him. I believe an expletive came out of my mouth and I ran over to him, assessed it was a blood gushing head wound and took him to get paper towels to apply pressure and assess depth of the wound. He was literally covered in blood in a matter of seconds! He was far more worked up and a bit in shock by all the blood than the actual cut to his forehead. Adam and I grabbed the insurance card and extra paper towels and headed for the little ER around the corner. Less than 3 minutes later we were at the ER and within 10 minutes of leaving the house were in a room with a nurse and the bleeding had stopped. God bless Mercy for opening a new ER last fall that is 2.5 miles from our house. I knew it was going to come in handy. So, we got him cleaned  up, assessed the injury, decided on three stitches versus skin glue and were on our way. Nick did not cry once. He cried for the 30 seconds between the time he got hurt and I got to him and that was it. As soon as I got to him, he stopped crying and never cried again. We had the stitches removed on Wednesday, and again, no tears. He was more concerned about his busted up knees than he was about his head. His knees are ridiculous by the way. Our pediatrician was literally laughing at how busted up his knees are. And so, Nick had initiated us into our first (of many) trips to the ER. 

You can see on his left knee what appears to be the initial injury, when he tripped, and then got hit by the bike. And by Monday, he had 3 times the number of scraps and bruises on his knees.

Everything is better with stickers!

An Overabundance of Parakeets. Great.

In addition to the new penguin exhibit and the flamingos, the zoo has added a parakeet open fly exhibit this year. For those of you who know my history with parakeets, I was trying my best to avoid this attraction, but failed. So, you walk into this large greenhouse/barn building that used to house butterflies, and are surrounded by hundreds of parakeets. For a $1 you can buy a popsicle stick with bird seed on it. I'm cheap and didn't really want to encourage parakeet interaction, so I did not purchase said stick, but once we were inside, another mom gave me her's as they were leaving. And so began the hunt for hungry birds to land on the stick. Ben was obsessed! Nick somehow came about a feeder stick too, so they both had one. They were chasing birds all over. I showed them how to properly approach a bird and entice it onto the stick. Ben could hold a bird on the stick, but I don't think Nick was capable of holding up a stick with a bird on it. After 20 minutes, I finally forced them out of the bird house. Amazingly, we did not get pooped on, no birds escaped into the wild, and no one got bit. These must be nicer parakeets than any I've encountered before. 

Penguins and Flamingos

Last Friday we headed over to the zoo to check out the new penguin exhibit and the new flamingos. We met up with Cameryn and Avery, had some lunch and then checked out the animals. We found a perfect spot to each lunch right next to the new penguin house, between it and the aquarium under construction. The kids could each lunch and look at the penguins without us having to chase after them. The new exhibit is pretty cool, but you have to be careful of biting penguins when you walk through. They warned us, they do bite. We did not find out first hand, thank god.

Looking at the penguins from below the water. One buzzed by the kids, but I didn't get a picture. 

And we saw the new, playful, baby otters. Those baby otters make Nick look lazy and safety conscience.

And the zoo has new East African cows. But if you ask Ben, they are buffalo.

Tried for a group shot. Fail.

And the flamingos! All standing around on one foot.

Nick and Avery finishing their lunch 2 hours later with the flamingos

Fire Pole Proficient

Ben has become proficient at descending a fire pole now. And Nick tried to scale it. I'm in trouble when Nick can actually scale up the pole.

Our Newest Neighbors

Ben discovered our newest neighbors last week. I'm not even sure how he found this nest, I think he was looking for a ball in the bush and came across it. The nest in the bush next to the driveway, right at 5 year old eye-ball height. Obviously, not the smartest robins in the world... Hopefully we'll have some baby bird pictures to share soon!

A Preschool Graduation Performance

Warning: This is a long, 4 minute video of 45 pre schoolers 'singing' the Phonics Dance. You may have had to be the parent that paid for this education in order to enjoy it, and even then, it would have been ok if they stoppped at the letter M. Again, you can't see Ben, but he's in there somewhere.