Treehouse Festival at Tyler Arboretum

Last Sunday we went to the Treehouse Festival at Tyler Arboretum.  They had tons of crafts and activities, and a falcon show!

 

Making a necklace:

 Checking out the different birds of prey before the show

 Yum!  A little snack of rabbit :P

 Then Devan made a tree from The Lorax

 And a tree from Harry Potter (I think she called it a twisty tree?)

 (a bug flew in my eye!)

 Then we went on a scavenger hunt- looking for the easels with rubbings on them with different animals and leaves.  (Lexi liked wearing Devan's necklace)

 Gotta love the tongue- you KNOW he's concentrating when it comes out :)

 And then on to making a vest out of a grocery bag.  He got to do more rubbings, stamps, etc.

 While Dustin waited in line for food (brick oven pizza made on the spot- yum!) the kids had fun playing in the bubbles

Finally the falcon show was ready to start!  She talked about all the different birds she had and how they hunt.  Very interesting.  Not so much for the little ones, but for older kids (at least 1st grade).  I thought we would see more bird action, but only a few did some flights.

We didn't get to actually see any of the treehouses because it was past Lexi's nap.  So I told them we would come back another day (the nice thing about being a member).  Turns out, last week was perfect for it- low 80s.  We went back last Wed.  It was mid 70s and cloudy- perfect for hiking around and exploring :)  But, that's the next post, whenever I can get to it ;)

It's hot, hot hot!

2 weeks ago it was HOT!!  Upper 90's with no respite in the evenings.ast the low was 80 :P  And so, we stayed inside and burned through lots of AC ;)  When Dustin got home from his week in TX, we all had family time at the pool.  The kids had so much fun!  Lexi likes to "chase" Devan around the pool and Devan loves to jump in.  We've even gotten him in the outside pool twice now!  (It's very intimidating because the shallow end is 3'6" and there's no beach access.  Plus, it's where the big kids hang out so there's lots of activity).  And every night, I got to watch some awesome thunder and lightning shows :)

 Sooooo tired....

box from Grammy

Last week the kiddos got a box from Grammy: clothes, books, fruit snacks, and some toys.

 This suction cup ball thing is pretty cool.  We spent lots of time playing with it :)

Quick Update

I know I'm really behind on blogging.  I have a lot of good pictures and videos on my phone to be downloaded.  But, I've been slammed with work.  My goal is to get caught up before we head to OR on Monday.  Otherwise I'll NEVER get caught up!  :)

I just wanted to write a few notes....

• Lexi has been obsessed with using a spoon.  She will pretty much only eat foods that she can use a spoon or fork with.  No more fingers.  So, this has been a challenge to get some variety of food in her.  And of course, it's REALLY messy.  But over the past week, she's gotten a lot better (and it's nice to have her feed herself).  FINALLY she's back to eating oatmeal for breakfast (doing it herself, of course).  And for lunch it's usually yogurt, applesauce, fruit cup.  For dinner, she might eat some chicken if she can use the fork.

• She has some new words.  When her cup/bowl of whatever is almost done she will say "Mama help", and I'll help her with the last few bites.  Also "cook" is new.  She will point at the stove when I'm cooking and say "Cook.  Hot."

• Devan has had some mood swings.  The other day he said "You're the coolest mommy".  Awww...  But that was an hour after he said "You're mean.  I'm going to kick you in the head."  Yeah, you just have to let those things roll off your back, after you talk about why it's not OK to say that :/

We have been very busy doing fun things.  We've had some good library activities, had a MOMS Club field trip to the fire station, we went to a treehouse festival last weekend at Tyler Arboretum.  And yesterday we went back to explore some of it and check out half of the awesome treehouses and the butterfly house.  We will be back to check out the rest, but Lexi was ready for nap.  Tomorrow night we are headed to Longwood Gardens for their fun family night :)  And then it's time to pack and clean!!!!

A few pictures (the rest need to be downloaded):

Story time at Woodside Creamery

Devan working on his first legos (he got them for his birthday).  He got frustrated because he couldn't snap them together, but he did really good with following the diagrams and getting the right pieces where they need to go (I just had to snap them on)

 Pictures from the Avondale Fire Station field trip:

Give and Take Jugglers at Longwood Gardens

Last night we went to a members only event at Longwood Gardens: the Give and Take Jugglers.  It was just OK.  A lot of entertaining and not much juggling.  But they did have an acrobat that did stuff on the trapeze and the "ropes" (they're not really ropes- more like fabric).  Stuff you see at the circus.  She was good.  The 2 guys weren't that great, but the used kids from the audience in almost every trick, so it was good to have the audience involved.  Even Dustin was involved!  He threw them balls and they juggled from his throws :)

 

The kids all excited to go: Lexi rocking out and Devan sleeping.  Typical :)

We got there and had perfect seats- front and center.  Then we continued to bake in the 90 degree heat for over an hour.  Boy was it hot and boy did we sweat!

 Lexi didn't like her entry band (so we could go to the show and not get kicked out)

 As they're juggling, Lexi was people watching

 Balancing a horn on his chin