Storybook Land

We took the kids out for a day at Storybook Land!

Storybook land is made for kids so the Sooy Babies were able to ride just about every ride in the park.  Clare was a couple of inches short for only one of the rides, which she was NOT happy about!  Other than that one ride, we got to ride a a tilt-a-whirl, flying elephants, a carousel, and even the (kiddie) roller coaster!  Our first stop was a picture with the Mother Goose statue:

And then we paused to enjoy the Christmas music (Storybook Land was celebrating Christmas in July that day) and to check out the map of the park. Just like Daddy, Clare really likes to hold the map - the first few times we got off a ride, she'd ask to see the map and say, "Now, where do we go next?"

Selfie on the tea-cups ride:

Sean really liked this little tunnel that went underground and was painted in neon colors - the tunnel showed scenes from Alice in Wonderland and ended up...

...in a playing card maze! We found our way through the maze and the kids celebrated with a big hug:

All throughout the park, there are little kiosks and dioramas depicting different nursery rhymes - some are simple like the Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater pumpkin pictured above and some are more elaborate like this Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe... shoe:

And then we happened upon these stocks.  Sean managed to look so remorseful...

While Clare can't resist a cheeky smile:

Towards the end of our visit, we asked the kids to each pick one ride to go on again before we left. Clare picked the roller coaster - she loved it! Sean picked the train that winds it way through the park:

We said good-bye to Storybook Land, stopped at Wawa for a quick snack and then hit the road - this was the scene in the backseat a few minutes on the Parkway:

Summer

We are really enjoying our summer so far and maybe that's because we kicked it off the right way - by making s'mores on the patio after dinner on the first day of summer!

As it got darker and the kids started to get their fill of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers, we went out near the woods to see if we could catch some fireflies. We caught a whole bunch and held on to them long enough for the kids to take a good luck at the bugs before we sent them on their way.  We even saw (and heard) a few bats fly overhead - eek!

We cuddled and played until the fire died down and the kids had a ball staying up super-late!

Help Me Rhonda!

This video was taken almost exactly one year ago!  Oh my, how little they were!  

I love how quick Sean is to help his sister and that he quotes Eric Carle's "Pancakes Pancakes" when he's mixing the yogurt - "mix until the batter is smooth and without lumps!" And I chuckled when I watched little Clare directing Sean to pass the yogurt to Mommy so Mommy can pass it to her.  She's still giving little directions like that one year later :-)

Fourth of July Weekend

This July Fourth was a little unusual for the Sooy Kids in that we didn't go to any parades and we didn't see any fireworks.  Since Hurricane Arthur was busy churning off the coast and sending rainstorms our way, the towns in our area postponed most of the Fourth festivities.  That didn't ruin our long weekend, though!

Instead of fireworks on Thursday night, we went out to a new ice cream shop that opened up by us...

and we watched a storm roll in:

When we got home, we had a movie night ("Robots") and the kids went to bed, with visions of the beach dancing in their heads.  But first thing Friday morning, Mommy ran a 5K race under very cloudy skies...

 Luckily the rain held out, only sprinkling a little before all-raining on our way to the BEACH!  It rained at the beach most of the day on Friday, which was great for watching soccer but the kids were a little restless. So, we bird-watched, colored, played games and dominoes, and snacked.

And we cleaned:

And watched the "dunking bird":

The skies eventually cleared, though and we were able to have our own sort of fireworks with sparklers!

These jumbo-sized sparklers came courtesy of Uncle Peter & Aunt Andrea - leftovers from their wedding!

The next morning was clear, cool, and bright. We had breakfast and played on Grummy and Pop Pop's deck...

...and in the hammocks:

Clare loves to relax in the hammock...

...while Sean treats the hammocks - especially the "pea pod" hammock - like an amusement park ride:

After spending time at the beach on Saturday, we had a Fourth of July party at Grummy and Pop Pop's house with Grandma and PaPa, too!  After dinner, Mom-Mom Jackie gave the kids a fishing lesson:

She showed the kids how to thread a worm on the hook, how to cast the line, and how to wait...

and it turns out we didn't have to wait very long - the area around the dock was teeming with fish! Mostly sunfish:

Sean liked petting the sunnies - Clare was hesitant:

We caught several sunnies, but always put them back in the lake.

Sean loved everything about it - the worms, the fish, the rod - everything! Clare took awhile to warm up but soon she was getting close to the worms and petting the fish, as well!

A snap of Sean's very first fish:

And then Uncle Peter caught a bass! 

Mom-Mom Jackie set about cleaning the fish but... it flopped off the deck and swam away.  Clare burst into tears!  We thought she was upset about Mom-Mom Jackie cleaning the fish, but it turns out she was upset about not getting fish for breakfast the next morning!

After all the fishing excitement was over, we had another sparkler show before saying good night.

The next morning we watched the Wimbledon final while enjoying strawberries and cream:

And we had another afternoon at the beach followed by beach-chair-fort-time in the driveway:

And Mommy and Daddy got to play mini-golf!

It was a good long weekend, celebrating America's birthday!