Monday, July 30, 2012

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo and watched the Olympics.


Our week started out one could say "kind of hum-drum."

The kids 'hung with dad' on a bit Sunday, watched tv, worked on the computer, the "usual."  Monday wasn't too different from that with the addition of PS2 most of the afternoon.

Tuesday, we mixed things up a bit & went to another local library for the kids program, instead of Wed.

A hula-hooper named Cara Zara preformed.

I think the girls liked her more than most of the boys.
It was a short 30 min. show.

Wednesday, we went to Greenville and saw Disney's movie Chimpanzee.  It was GREAT!!!
After that our friends and us had a picnic lunch at Cleveland park and went to the Greenville Zoo.  It's a cute little zoo, not many animals, but a nice way to spend the afternoon.

I love his pose!

Axolotl from Mexico. So cool looking!

Seeing eye to eye?

Gulfodulcean Frogs from Costa Rica.

Rhinoceros Iguana.

Gnawing on a log.

Our friend looks like she's almost touching the lion!

Hi!

I love how they eat!

WATCH OUT!!! He may bite ;-)

A snake was spotted on the path way.
Pumpkin touched him to see if he was still alive, just barely.
So he put him in the bushes near by & watered him down a bit to moisten him.

What a size difference!

Prevost's Squirrel, from Southeast Asia,  is so cool looking!
Wednesday night ended with our PBS Nature (bears), Nova (Quantum Leap & Multiverse) line up.


Thursday, the boys did computer games, tv, Pumpkin & I started a game of Cribbage, then we did some 'running around town.'
One place was the post office where their pen pal letter was sent to England.
I had Pumpkin do it, he was nervous, then so proud when he had finished. 

On Friday, Fireball Coyote discovered some plastic animals and flowers I had in their craft drawer.
The imagination flew!
In addition a lot of the language from the Chimpanzee movie came out ;-)
Then that night, as most people did, we watched the Olympics Opening Ceremonies.  We talked about England's history as they did their performance.  They had fun looking at all the different countries flags, clothing and the MANY countries they had never heard of~ some I never heard of either.
  Pumpkin hung in there till 11 pm and Fireball Coyote beat me.  I was out by 11:30 pm.  He watched the rest of the ceremony and the evening news.  I know this because, when I woke I noticed the camera was in a different place.  I scrolled through the pictures and found one of the seven day weather out look.  He did this, because of my next post, our day at BeleChere in Asheville, NC, on Saturday.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Week 2 of Vacation & Our Week Back

( 3x is a charm right?)



"Look mom & Grandma.  We made a saw mill!"
 During our second week in Pittsburgh, we went to one of our favorite places, Kennywood!

The boys with Kenny.

The pagoda was designed by an uncle and his coworkers.
(I put the "bug" in Pumpkin's ear about being an architect
 with all his drawing & designing.)

A wall of water from the ride The Pittsburgh Plunge.

One of Pumpkins faves!  Fireball Coyote "doesn't like getting wet".

Put your hand up on the Whip!  WEEEEEE!

This is the first year Fireball Coyote could ride the bumper cars.



LOVE !

Ready to ride the Jack Rabbit ~ roller coaster.

Riding the Kangaroo is another favorite of everyone.

The only ride of this kind still in operation.

Fireball Coyote ride this about 10 times through out the day, if not more.

The Parachute, alone.

Fireball Coyote's speed, kiddyland. 



A laser show at night with funnel cakes.  One was topped with ice cream & strawberries!
YUM!!!
A great day!
The boys had been begging to try their new tennis rackets, so the next day they did.
Pumpkin after a while got tired "chasing balls" and quit.
At the park there is also a NICE stone sprinkler and playground equipment,
it was well used. 
On Wednesday, we drove out to Latrobe and stopped at a great grocery store, DeLallo's.  There we had an interesting experience, we learned about and tried Headcheese!  Let's just say it is interesting and now we can say we tried it and never have to eat it again.
While in Latrobe we went swimming, visited the Anelemma sculpture to chart path of sun                                
at St. Vincent's College.
The uncle who help design the pagoda at Kennywood, did this project. 


Here we watched a short video about how the mill began, runs, and is still in use today.
On Friday, before we headed back to Pittsburgh, the boys got a butterfly lesson.


Owl butterflies.


They learned about the different pigments in butterflies, too.
These iridescent butterflies are different than the pigment butterflies, in that their coloring does not rub off.
These type have even been see from space!

Male and females. 
 On Saturday, our last night, :-(  the boys played Yahtzee with grandma and mom went to lunch with a friend.  YEAH! Thanks mom!!!  Then we went to a local church carnival in the evening.


Heading south.
One of our favorite stop on eh way up &/or back is the
 New River George Bridge.

There are sometimes rafts that go down the river.
We are always curious on how to get to the roads below.



When we returned, pretty much all week, all the boys did is play with their Legos.  TONS of story plotting, character building, language and more happened.


We did go to the library one day during the week.  When we were there I noticed a poster for the movie  Big Miracle.  We definitely came back to see that!  

On the Saturday after we came back Pumpkin and I did grocery shopping and went to  see A Mid Summer's Night Dream at a local library.  He really doesn't need Literature just yet, but I figured why not start now and maybe he'll understand and like it better.  Happily, he liked it and enjoyed it!!! :-)
Fireball Coyote, go to "hang out with dad" and  do tractor things.