Wagons Ho!

wagon teams . . .

cowboys . . .

88 degrees . . .

wide open lands . . .

dusty trails . . .

blazing sun . . .

dust devils . . .

. . . sounds like a snippet from your history books, don't it?

Well, lucky us, that was our fantastic day today! Cowboy Cal (my mom's brother, pictured above) and his girlfriend, Sue, organized a huge wagon train shindig that our family got to participate in and be a part of. I donned my cowboy hat, Kevin broke out his chaps (ok, no not really . . . but I wish!), Kaden wore his cowboy boots and the other kiddos brought their enthusiasm for adventure!

And boy, did we get adventure!!! 8 miles, 3 hours of adventure out and all around Maybee, Michigan.

Within the wagon train we had pairs of draft horses pulling double wagons, single drafts pulling wagons, teams of miniature horses pulling carts, single minis pulling carts (little body, BIG attitude!) and a wide assortment of riders. There was a huge span of ages in the crowd too and, of course, the boys quickly made friends with two other little boys on the wagon and back at the farm.

Each of the boys had a blast taking turns riding Uncle Cal's pony (named Pony - so original!) and Elijah even got to try his hand at driving a wagon! I was so amazed at how calmly he handled the horse and cart and was one proud mama!

(I just love sharing one of my passions with my kiddos and family.)

We finished up the afternoon with a huge spread of food that Cal and Sue provided and we pigged out, gathered around tables in their pole barn. What a great time meeting new people and getting to know Cal and Sue's friends and neighbors.

Yes, it was killer hot. Yes, we were all stinky and sweaty. Yes, we are all fried to a crisp, despite applying layers of sunblock. Yes, we all forgot our water bottles and felt majorly dehydrated. Yes, we stopped traffic as we traveled the roads of Maybee. Yes, it was an awesome day and a great memory-maker! Yes, sign us up for next year!

Trampoline Family Fun!

Tonight was an absolutely GORGEOUS evening, and we just had to enjoy the weather by being outside. I love these peeks of summertime hidden between the blustery days and the rainy days of spring.

As you may have already guessed, before we knew it the whole family was piled onto the trampoline and Kevin pulled out our camera and our new wide angle lens. Kevin and I swapped turns behind the camera and everyone had a blast showing off and performing. Even Lanie got in on the action! :) Check out our fun and funky images . . .

Adventure Time!

This past Saturday was Lanie's birthday and in honor of her, Kevin and my families got together to celebrate! Before the actual party however, my parents, my sister and bro-in-law, Kevin and the boys went to a Summer Camp Preview at the Howell Nature Center. I will post separately about the birthday party, but here are a few images and videos from the kid's adventure. They got to ride a zip line, learn survival techniques and built a shelter from scratch!

Here are the videos. They may look blank, but if you click on the play button they will play. :)

There were a few more videos, but blogger won't let me upload them - BAH! If I can work out the kinks, I will upload those too. :)

Winter Bird Feeding & A Spring Trip to the Zoo

The boys (and Lanie) and I belong to a fun Homeschool Science Co-op that meets bi-weekly for a science lesson and field trip. For the last two meetings we've been studying birds and we went on some really fun field trips.

Two weeks ago we made a trip to Kensington Metro Park to look at the Nature Center's bird exhibits and to feed the chickadees by hand. I had my hands full with Lanie and the boys, so I was only able to grab some quick (and really horrible quality) camera phone pics, but here they are:

These two wild turkeys were at the feeders outside the nature center. You don't realize how huge they are until you see them this close in person!
Although they are very cool, they are most certainly not the most beautiful birds I've seen. :)
All the boys tried their hand at feeding the birds, and Elijah and Ethan both had several Chickadees and Tufted Titmice land on their hands right away. Kaden had a hard time staying still enough to attract the birds, but in the end a few daring bird souls were brave enough. It was so fun to watch the boys faces the first time the little birds landed on their fingers and snatched a seed!
Ethan was definitely the most patient of all my boys and stood completely still for over twenty minutes. More than forty birds landed on his hand!
Our friends the Wild Turkeys didn't want to miss out on any free food either and had to come check us out. Here they are sneaking up behind Gavin Burrows.

*****

Yesterday was our second Homeschool Science Co-op class on birds and we also studied a little bit about butterflies. For this class field trip we headed to the Detroit Zoo to view the Butterfly House and Bird Sanctuary. We couldn't pass up the opportunity, however, to visit the reptile house and some other areas of the zoo while we were there too! Here are few more camera phone pics:
Part of our crew all crowd onto the Reptile House tortoise statue for a quick pic.
Kaden is such a ham!
All the boys decided to climb as high up in this tree as they could and then drop down to the ground below. It became a fun game for them to play as we waited for a few others to run to the bathroom. The boys were having a great time until we got yelled at by the zoo staff to get out of the trees. Boo.
Kaden hamming it up again in the Reptile House!
Ethan was pretty wiped out from all the walking and took a quick siesta on a rock outside the Butterfly House and Bird Santuary.
Lanie was fascinated by all of the butterflies flapping around in the gardens. It was cute to see her expression when they landed close by.
I snapped a picture of these birds because they looked so out of place up on the pipeline in the Bird Sanctuary. They were beautiful and fun to watch, however it was a little ominous the way they watched us . . . their stares reminded me of vultures. Haha.
The Bird Sanctuary has stone benches and boulders placed all around that just begged the boys to climb them. They had fun clamoring on them and over them. I'm not sure that's what they're meant for, but they are great mountains to conquer!
Elijah, Ethan O'Dell, Ethan, Evan Gresens and Ally Gresens pose for a pic before we leave the Bird Sanctuary.
Lucas O'Dell, Gavin Burrows and Kaden all peer into an empty pond to study ... not the birds, but the tiny stones at the bottom. Funny kiddos.
A trip to the Bird Santuary wouldn't be complete without at least 10 minutes spent playing with the chains by the exit doors!
The boys has so much fun playing and posing for the camera. :)
I think we discovered Tarzan's long lost hide out!

Here's a quick video of the boys and the chains. Shockingly, no one ended up with a black eye or a welt! :)