Camden Children's Garden

This weekend we took the kids to the Camden Children's Garden.  It was a super hot and humid afternoon, but the kids were troopers and were rewarded by running through the splash fountains at the end of our visit!

Daddy goes through the life cycle of seed with Sean ...

... while Clare whipped up some fun in the kitchen - "I makin' dinner! I helpin' Mommy"

Uh, Birdy? We already have a play kitchen at home, remember?

Next up was the butterfly house.  If we thought the butterfly house at the Academy of Sciences was warm, then we had no idea.  This butterfly house had to have been at least 400 degrees with 200 percent humidity, but Sean was really into it - he loved looking at all the butterflies and the caterpillars inside the shed.

We took a ride on the merry-go-round - Sean tried to match his jaguar's roar:

We stopped by a statue of Walt Whitman - Sean said, "I LOVE this statue - it's so beautiful!"

 

We spied a frog prince at the frog grotto:

We took a little break in the giant's garden:

The kids had fun running and hiding in a little network of tunnels:

Daddy and Sean in the dinosaur garden:

We put the kids in a dinosaur egg so they could hatch - Clare was not a fan :-(

Yay! Clare! We're hatching!

Happy again, sitting on a bug:

Finally, we reached the exit and let the kids splash around in the sprinklers to cool off:

Clare didn't really like going in the sprinklers, she'd rather supervise from the sidelines...

I brought an umbrella into the Gardens with us since the forecast called for pop-up thunderstorms.  We didn't need it in the park since the storms held off until just after we all got buckled into the car ...

... after enjoying some ice cream, of course!

The Drive-In

We took the kids down to Vineland on Saturday night to see a couple of movies ... at a drive-in!

 

This drive-in originally opened in 1949, but closed down in 1987 until it was reopened in 2004. We have had "go to a drive-in movie" on our summer list for a couple of years now, so when we saw that the sequels to two of Sean's favorite movies were being shown on one screen, we knew we had to make it out there!

 

Sean napped on the drive down, but woke up just as we pulled into the drive-in and were waiting on line to pay.

Clare chatted non-stop on the drive down and by the time we got to the drive-in, she was ready to "Get OWWWT!"

Getting set up with our chairs and snacks!

Clare stayed awake for the whole first movie, but 10 minutes into Monters U, she passed out! Sean was wide awake for both movies and liked them both.  After the movies were over and he was buckled into his carseat, Sean said,"That was so cool!"

Cute Overload

I was going through some pictures on Thom John's phone and came across these gems - these pictures were taken a few weeks ago when Sean was sent home with a fever and Thom John took the kids to the pediatrician  so Sean could get looked at - enjoy :-)

Fourth of July Weekend

The kids had a fun long weekend for Fourth of July!  It started on Thursday, dressing up in some patriotic clothes and mugging for the camera...

And then the kids and Daddy came out to cheer for Mommy at a local 5k race.

That's my shoulder - I'm so fast! :-)

 After the race and snacks, we went to a parade!  We left a little early due to the sunny, hot, and humid weather, but we did stay long enough to watch a few fire trucks, bands, and Mummers groups march by. 

After the parade, we packed up to go to Grummy and Pop Pop's house at the shore.  The boys took the paddleboat out for a spin before dinner:

Saturday morning, the kids were up early and started out with a little weight-lifting:

and playing with toys:

And then the adults got ready for a long bike ride up to the Barnegat Lighthouse.  This time, instead of waiting for naptime, we rented a bike trailer and brought them along for the ride!

Once we got to the lighthouse, the kids went with us all the way to the top!  The kids liked looking at all the boats motoring around the bay and trying to count all the houses they could see.

After a good lunch at a nearby diner, we got the kids back into the trailer.  They switched seats for the way home and I could hear Sean asking, "Clare! Isn't this fun? We switched sides! Are you having fun? Clare, is this fun?"

We spent the rest of the weekend at the beach, playing at the playground, and NOT taking very many naps, which led to this scene when we pulled into our driveway Sunday night: