North Carolina - Day 2: Church, Jelly Bellies and Rain Dancing

So, like all good widdle Mormons we went to church this morning (at 9 am no less).  I made myself a spiritual mentor to Jenny's kids when I entertained them while Jenny sang in the choir.  What a good example!

The Ward (congregation) was very friendly and it was a great service.

We headed home and forced naps/quiet time on the kids.  Because naps are a sabbath day requirement.

After an amazing pot roast dinner Joshua busted out a box of Bean Boozled.  Here's the deal: the box is filled with beans in pairs of the same color. But one is good flavor and the other bad. So you know you're gambling. When you eat a black it could either be Black Licorice or Skunk.  Orange could either be fresh peach or Vomit.  It's a russian roulette for your taste buds.

I at the yellows and got a banana flavored and then a pencil shavings flavored.  Brave little Eva ate a white bean which could have been marshmallow, but ended up being Baby Wipe flavor. 

Matt and Josh spent the entire evening eating them and then gasping when their flavor turned out to be centipedes or rotten egg.

Then a torrential downpour began. We let all of the kids run outside and play in the rain.  They had the greatest time.  This is a Summer event not to be missed.

( L to R: Kate, Ella and Bianca, Todd, Evangeline and Alice )

There were many squeals of "BEST DAY EVER!!!"
Mission accomplished.

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Mooresville, NC // Lazy 5 Ranch

Today our family visited the Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, North Carolina.  Lazy 5 Ranch is an exotic animal farm with over 700 animals from around the world.  But this ain't yo' mama's zoo!  You ride in a wagon through the farm and FEED the exotic animals.  With your hands. Seriously.

So, Ella agreed to go (much to my amazement) and did really well.  I sat next to her in the very center of the wagon and we did not hold a bucket of feed or get anywhere near the animals. 

However, Evangeline and Bianca were ALL over this activity and fed the animals with their hands and pet them and loved every minute of the ride.

Seeing these exotic animals close up was a truly amazing experience. And feeding them was even more incredible!

I loved that this is an animal refuge. It's so nice to see the animals able to roam free and being well cared for.  The ride through the property was beautiful and it was nice to have opportunities to get out and walk around, feed the animals, or stay in the wagon.

Our family will never forget our experience here. If you travel to this area I highly recommend this activity! We had such a fantastic time and had once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to get up close with animals we might only ever see in a zoo environment.

To learn more about the Lazy 5 Ranch visit their website.

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North Carolina - Day 1: Lazy 5 Ranch

After 12 hours of driving on Friday (oh. my. word.) we arrived in Mooreseville and the Lemmons' house.  We sent the girls straight to bed in little Todd's room.  Matt and I fell into a deep sleep around 1 am only to awakended at 6 am by the kids (cue: parental hatred).

Jenny had a super-fun idea for today's activity.  We met some friends of their at the Lazy 5 Ranch not far from their home.  It's an exotic animal farm with over 700 animals from around the world.  But this ain't yo' mama's zoo!  You ride in a wagon through the farm and FEED the exotic animals.  With your hands, dude.  Seriously.

So, Ella agreed to go (much to my amazement) and did really well.  I sat next to her in the very center of the wagon and we did not hold a bucket of feed or get anywhere near the animals. 

However, Evangeline and Bianca were ALL over this activity and fed the animals with their hands and pet them and loved every minute of the ride.

It was wicked hot and when we were done we came home and let the kids don their swimsuits and set up a slip-n-slide in the backyard.  The kids played tag, drew with sidewalk chalk and slip-n-slided the evening away.  Jenny and her husband whipped up an amazing dinner of bar-b-qued chicken and pasta alfredo with sun dried tomatoes. 

S'mores for dessert made the perfect end to a perfect night. 

After bathtime the kids headed to bed and the adults watched a movie,  It was such a great start to a great Summer vacation.

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Away We Go!!!

See you in a week!

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This & That Thursday

On Tuesday evening at the dinner table Evangeline

asked how many months old she was. 

We did the math and then Ella asked.

And that's when we realized that on Wednesday

Ella would officially be 100 MONTHS OLD!

Celebration time!

I hit my pantry and whipped up a mini

lemon cake with vanilla frosting and yellow sprinkles.

We sang to her and she blew out candles.

It was CRAZY fun!

Now we ALWAYS have to remember to do this with each kid.

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Tomorrow we are driving to North Carolina!

Squeeee!

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Nesting has fully sunk in and I want to

PURGE EVRYTHING in our hosue!

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I am currently 25&1/2 weeks pregnant.

So far this pregnancy I have gained -1 pounds.

Booyah!

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Blueberries were $1/pint this week

at our local grocery store.

We are eating them non-stop.

Love.

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I am missing a pretty vital part of my sewing machine.

If I don't find it stat I will FREAK OUT.

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This week I love people.

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Parents who can wait to find out the gender

of their baby until birth amaze me.

And perplex me.

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Don Draper's pitch to Hershey last Sunday?

It made me love him a bit,

even though he blew that meeting.

This is the genius of the writing on that show.

Loving and hating the characters at the same time.

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John Oliver is doing a good job,

but I still miss Jon Stewart.

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I have never been a huge Robin Thicke fan,

but his new song, Blurred Lines,  is amaze-pants!

How can you not groove like a fool

when that song comes on?

It is sure to be this year's MUSH (Mandatory Ubiquitous Summer Hit)

If you haven't heard it yet click here. 

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Summer of Fun: Update

Holy cow.
The SUMMER READING BINGO is the HUGEST hit of all time!
My kids are begging me to read every day.
Genius, dude. Genius.

We are reading like crazy and doing something fun every day, even if it's small.  Swimming in a kiddie pool in our backyard, dancing in the Summer rain storms, fishing, cupcake decorating, visiting the library.

Yesterday we went to the local Lake with some friends where Bianca almost drowned (I ran into the water with all of my clothes on to fish her out) and I was so freaked out about it that I couldn't even talk to Matt about it all day.

But fun prevails, none the less!

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Eva's Art: Teen Idol

"Teen Idol" | Evangeline Ahern | Age 6 | Marker and Colored Pencil on Paper

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Summer of Fun: Fishing Derby

Our Summer of Fun is in full swing!

On Saturday we headed to a local fishing derby.  Each kid got to borrow a pole and bait and we went to a heavily stocked lake/pond and dipped our rods in.  I, being pregnant, couldn't bait the hook exclaiming, "Matt, I can't! I just feel so bad for the worms!"

Then we waited.  I said, "Fishing means waiting" about 10 million times.

Ella caught the first fish and (wait for it....wait for it......) promptly freaked out.  She screamed, dropped the pole and Matt had to scurry to save the fish so we could release it.

Next was Bianca. She was so excited!  She kept saying "I fishing, Mommy! I fishing!"

Next was ME (fishing curse be gone)!

Evangeline turned out to be our mega-angler, catching 3 or 4 fish.  She rubbed this in Ella's face for the remainder of the day.  Classic. And, as you can see, she takes fishing fashion choices very seriously.

Ella tried and tried but never caught another fish.  But she did have some nice Daddy/Daughter time.

We headed back to the main camp where they were serving a free lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, cookies and cold bottled water. They also gave each of our kids a certificate for having caught a fish.

It was SUCH an amazing morning. I will never forget it.  You know how sometimes (read: all the time) you plan something and everything falls apart and kids end up crying and you throw up your hands and think why do I even try?  This was NOT one of those times.  Everyone had fun. Everyone caught a fish. Everyone left happy from our fishing adventure.

Huge thanks to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for making this amazing and free experience available to our family.

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