Fly, Fly Away...Ladybug!

Today, we decided to release our temporary pet ladybugs to a bigger and better place to live. Mommy told us that the Ladybugs have a very important job, to help eat the harmful insects that hurt our flower and plants. But, first we wanted to observe them one more time...

"Eye see you!"

"I see them playing with each other."

"They have six legs."

"It tickles, Daddy!"

"Bye-bye Ladybugs!!!

We hope you enjoy your new home!"

Our Little Baby is...

is turning into a Lady!!!

Today, we celebrated Miss Amelia's birthday by having a Ladybug themed party on a beautiful summer day at our home. We celebrated her 2nd birthday with dear friends, family and 300 little ladybugs!

More pictures to follow!

Alternate Plans...

Well, we were suppose to spend this beautiful day at Six Flags with our Papa, but suddenly found out that the park was closed to the public for a private party. This is now a second attempt to take Papa with us to show him how much fun we have there, I guess we can take him to Fright Fest that will be coming up!
Papa was not going to let a little park closer get the best of our day, he had better plans up his sleeves! First, he surprised us with a yummy McD's pancake with sausage breakfast. Then, he gave us a couple of ideas for an alternate plan. Well, after he mentioned something about trains, James' vote of course was "Trains!" On our way Papa stopped at Best Buy to by us a movie to watch for the long drive to the museum, it was Shrek 3! Thanks Papa!!!

We were a little familiar with this museum since we visited it last year to see the real Thomas, but today it was all about real trains!

Just as we were climbing out of Papa's truck, we were greeted with a huge train that was chugged down the track. Here the old train engine is being a"very useful engine" by shunting another train down the track.

Papa said we could take a ride on an Electric train. While we were waiting to board the old train, Papa took us into the box car gift shop and let us pick out a toy. Amelia found a Thomas bouncing ball, she is really into these types of balls lately. I decided that her choice was pretty cool so I also picked out a ball. Thanks Papa! Mommy says Papa spoils us, whatever that means!

"All aboard!!!"

Papa took me to the front of the electric train to see how the whistle worked. The train engineer allowed us all to give a pull on the whistle cord if we wanted to hear it toot, but I was a little to scared to. Amelia gave it a try, Mommy had to help a little since it was a little hard to pull.
"Toot! TOOOOOOT!"

The train ride was about 45 minutes long as you can imagine us little ones started to get a little antsy. So, Papa had some ideas to keep us entertained.

This train was built in 1934 (I think). It was old!

On our return trip, Mommy took me back up to the front of the train to see what it was like to look out the front windows of the moving train. It was really neat to see the tracks as raced across them!

After, the train ride we were getting a bit hungry so we decided to eat in a near by town. Our grilled cheese sandwich lunch was delicious! Thanks Papa for making our disappointing morning turn into a great day spent together!

Moraine Hills State Park

Today, Nana came up with a great idea to explore a little bit of Moraine Hills for our weekly visit.

"Hurry up Amelia! Let's see what the Visitor's Center has to offer!"

Well for some reason it was closed this afternoon, so we decided to head down the path/pier to the lake.

What a pretty place to explore!

Just as we started down the path to the lake, an elderly gentleman told us something that we just had to check out...

Yes, a snake! It was just catching some rays on one of the piers. It was really neat to watch it slither into the water. Mommy and Nana had death grips on our hands ever since we saw the snake!
Look at all of those Lilly pads!

If you look closely you can see the the Great Blue Heron feeding in marsh area. James actually spotted him first as we were walking down the path, the Heron was just standing there on the path, but as soon as he saw us coming and flew across the lake to the place seen in the photo. He was huge!

We loved touching the big Lilly pads!

Amelia was playing "peek-a-boo" with the Lilly pad.

OK, this may not look like much, but there is an actual frog sitting in the marsh located on the bottom center of the photo. Can you spot the frog?

After we finished exploring the lake area, Nana packed us a picnic lunch that we ate at one of the Moraine Hills' parks. What a great day to spend outside in the sun! Thanks Nana!

(We were pretending to be airplanes.)

The Vegetable Garden

Here is the big vegetable garden at Grandma Judy and Papa's house. We have been enjoy fresh organic cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and zucchini. YummY!
While checking on the garden, the cows came over to visit!

MOOOO!!!!
Rosie is just unsure of James, I think she likes to keep an eye on him when he gets near her baby. I don't know why, he takes good care of me and I am his baby sister!

Silly cow!

Caps for Sal

We mean "Caps for Amelia!"

Playin' with Our Friends

Miss Amelia is in love with Mr. Cody. She LOVES this little guy and to her surprise April allowed her to hold him all by herself!

Brooke was so kind to let us play with her "bozo-bucket" type bowls in our water table today. We had so much fun filling them and then pouring them out over and over again!

Brooke's mommy made a very delicious chili and cornbread lunch for us to share. Amelia and I were being a little picky eating today because we wanted to play instead! Thanks April and kiddos for spending the afternoon with us and for that delicious lunch! We hope to see you soon!