This week

The Sooy Babies had their first week of summer camp at daycare.  The "Bug Lady" came to camp on Tuesday and showed the kids all sorts of critters, including a "squirpion" according to Sean.  Sean got to hold a caterpillar but when the Bug Lady offered a bug for Clare to hold, Clare politely responded, "No thank you."  The school also had someone come in to lead a sing-a-long, and the kids had a special treat for snack on Friday - s'mores!

This weekend was pretty jam-packed, too - we started out with a little Saturday morning cartoons and playing with toys...

I heard Sean tell Clare a couple of times - "You're my best friend, Clare!"  Awww.

We went to the Farmer's El to replenish our supply of fruits and vegetables - happily, blueberries are coming in season!

We played with sidewalk chalk, too:

 

And later in the day, we headed out to see fireworks!  A town near us had their Fourth of July festival all day Saturday and at night put on a really nice fireworks show - the kids liked it a lot! Sean said he liked it when there were many fireworks in the sky at once, which is a total reversal from his opinion of the fireworks last year.  And Clare managed to stay awake for the fireworks :-)

Since it was a late night on Saturday, we took it easy Sunday morning - starting off with blueberry pancakes!

"Lewbebby pancakes!"

 

Clare tries to get Sean to dance with her at one point during their cartoon, but ...

she gets pulled into a big, awkward hug :-)

We did some crafting, too:

And the kids helped prep for dinner - shucking corn!

And they practiced their cutting and pasting skills for some patriotic artwork.

The kids got to bed a little early tonight, which is good since it looks like their second week of camp will be very busy - even with a four-day weekend for the Fourth of July!

National Zoo

We took the kids to Washington DC for a mini-break in May. We stayed in an apartment in Uncle Peter and Aunt Andrea's apartment building - it was nice to have so much space to stretch out. We had a "pizza party" on our first night in town and relaxed in our new home-away-from-home...

Sean told me that this was the "most beeee-youtiful" clock he'd ever seen!

The next morning we had bagels and fruit while we got ready to go to the ZOO!

Oh boy, the kids were really excited to take a train and get to the zoo to see all sorts of animals! BUT by the time we got to the zoo's gates...

...both kids were asleep!

After a little while, the babies woke up and after eating a little lunch, it was time to see the animals!

 

Panda bears! Clare was so excited to show the pandas her new lunch bag - decorated with a panda! 

The kids were excited to see elephants - since the Philly zoo does not have elephants, we missed out on watching these guys last year.  Sean thought seeing the elephants pooping was hilarious and yet slightly horrifying - oh, to be a four-year-old boy!

Sean had so much fun running around the meerkats' glass - literally!  It was hard to tell if Sean was running after the meerkat or if it was the other way around.

Sill kids!

And a family shot with a sleeping Clare :-)

Thanks for the pictures, Uncle Peter!

Four Year Well Visit

We took Seanybear for his four year well visit on Tuesday!  Not only did he get his annual physical, but he got a hearing and vision test, as well.  He passed those with flying colors and was cool and calm while getting his blood pressure taken, despite the "pinchy" feeling the cuff gave him.

Sean did great during the exam and the doctor declared him to be in good health and hitting all his milestones.  The doctor was especially impressed with Sean's ability to stand on one foot. 
One of the most peculiar things about the exam was that Sean had to put on a gown. He fussed with it a lot at first, but then he seemed to get used to it.

Poor Seany got two shots - his last MMR shot and his last dose of the chickenpox vaccine.  At least he got a couple of cool Bugs Bunny bandages!

Sean's stats at four:
Height:  41 inches (61st percentile) (3 inches more than last year)
Weight: 40lbs 2 oz (80th percentile) (5lbs more than last year)

Even his feet look healthy :-)

Summer's here

Yay summer! We've had a couple of hot weekends so far and we've been keeping cool by playing in the sprinklers...

 

... and at the water table:

We've visited the Farmer's El a couple times and taken time to enjoy some snacks while listening to music and shopping for veggies:

The kids have really enjoyed playing at the brand new playground that opened up near our house:



Seanybear's been playing Kiddie Soccer on Sunday afternoons and this past Sunday was his last day.  He spent the season running in races and playing skill games while learning how to use his listening ears and play games closely with other kids.

Since it was the last day, the coach called up each kid individually for a chance to score a spectacular goal and receive a shiny medal!

 

Afterwards, we went out for a special treat - water ice!