A Day at the Zoo

Going to the zoo was one of our summer attraction goals... and we finally made it!

Here are some highlights:

"Katrien, can you say rhinoceros?"

Utoh... I have a thumb sucker!!

Walking with Papa

Merry-Go-Round ride #1

She was ok with the lizard until she realized it was real!

Sitting happily... lucky for us!

Holding hands

"Whoa!"

Polar Bear

How do I get in there? (Meerkats) sp?

Big monkey!!

Those monkey's were pretty entertaining.

"Monkey... monkey!!!)

Monkey?? More like Red Panda, if I remember correctly.

What is wrong with that man?

Katrien tried to take his hat off.

Sister love!

Kiera and Papa

Holding hands

Keeping cool in the mist.

No fear!!

Lama

Kangaroos!

Merry-go-round ride #2!

Kiera...still happy!

Photo Opp!

This was pretty cool, a wooden xylophone.

Wee!

Sliding!
Petting the goats

The perfect way to end a day at the zoo... the train!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great day at the zoo and lots of memories!

Going Green

At first I thought the whole idea of "going green" was just for hippies or that it was always going to cost a lot of money to do anything significant, so I disregarded the whole idea.

I'm not sure what changed my mind, but what I have concluded is that it is a bit addicting...haha.
I first started just by bringing my own canvas bags to the grocery store instead of using new plastic ones. I think is was a statistic like this one that got my attention:

"Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute." (from this website: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php)

It felt really good to know that I was doing something good for the earth I live in, and it didn't even cost me a thing! Then I got to thinking... what else could I do to help the environment? What does my household produce the most of that is wasteful? The answer to that was easy... diapers!! With 2 kids in diapers now, we go through them! I read that it takes up to 500 years for a diaper to decompose in a landfill!! Not to mention that they are expensive, as I'm sure you moms know! So, our next step is cloth diapers. Now, to those of you who just thought "eww" please know that they have come a long way when it comes to diapers. I was warmed up to the idea because my sisters uses them (thanks Tera), and likes them!

They come in many different styles and are quite cute. The start up cost is more, but you save loads in the long run!

My main reason for this post is to encourage those who read it to consider doing something green. Here is a site that has a lot of suggestions. Check it out!
http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22355/28177

Fun at the Park

There is just a little bit of summer left and we are making the most of it! Also, Mike is going to be traveling a lot the next few months, so we are making sure to spend as much time having fun together as possible. Yesterday we took a walk down to the Clymer Pond Park... here are some pictures!

Kiera and I hung out in the shade!

Getting dizzy!

Peek-a-boo!

Wee!

Walking with Daddy to see the geese... watch out for the poo!!

Here is a cute video of Katrien swinging. I realized once I put her in the swing that this was the same swing set (the frame anyway) that was at the school when I was growing up!
I thought that was pretty neat.

Johnny Jump Up and Rolling Over!

Kiera's first Johnny Jump Up ride at Grandma and Papa's house! She seemed to like it.

She also rolled over from her tummy to her back today!! I'm not sure if it was just a fluke, but she was propped up on her elbows and just flopped over! (Pretty good for being only 3 months!)
Here are some other cute pictures from today:

Katrien's First Pony Ride

Here is the video of Katrien on her first Pony ride at the fair!
(Mike is hoping that we didn't start something!)

Kiera's First Baseball Game!

I'm sure most of you know that Mike is a baseball fan... so it was exciting to take Kiera to her first game this summer! Go SeaWolves!!! (They won!) We went to a minor league game in Erie, PA, thanks to North East Assembly of God, who was giving out free tickets, woohoo! We had a great time with our friends Heather and Murl. I'm sure there will be more games to come.

Day at the Fair

We took the girls to the fair today for the first time! Katrien had a blast looking at all the animals and petting some of them! She even went on her first pony ride!! She loved it! (I'll post a video of that soon.) For now, here are all the animals she got to see:

Lamb:

Pigs:

Pony ride!

Roosters:

Rabbits:

Cows:

Baby cows:

Baby pigs:

It was a great day!