Sprayground

We took the kids to meet some friends at a "sprayground" in Colts Neck. The kids liked the spray park we visited last summer and Sean really liked getting wet at the Camden Children's Garden, so we had high hopes that the kids would have a ball here. At first, they seemed a little reluctant to go over to the water part of the playground, so they played at the regular playground for awhile:

We had a picnic lunch of sandwiches, fruit, and tomatoes - Sean showed me his "model face":

When lunch was done, we roamed around the grounds a little more, then we tested out the water park...

...and soon enough, both kids jumped right in!

When the kids were all done playing in the water, we changed them into dry clothes and got some ice cream!

We said "goodbye" to the spraygrounds and drove to Huber Woods Park. The grounds of the park were donated to Monmouth County by the Huber family (like J.M. Huber Corp.). The park has several hiking trails, as well as a kid-friendly Environmental Center and a reptile house.
At the Environmental Center, we saw many (stuffed) animals native to the area, learned about the Lenape Native Americans, and did a lot of hands-on activities.  Sean even put on a puppet show for Clare:

Clare looked for other birdies:

In the reptile house, we saw a black rat snake, a corn snake, and a few different turtles.  One of the snakes was even shedding!

After the reptile house, we set out on a little hike.  We had a little trouble with the map, we still got in a good long walk through woods, farmland, and some random person's driveway :-)

After the hike, we called it a day.  Sean said he had fun and asked if we can "do the spray park and the hiking again next time it's Saturday or Sunday, but we don't have to do the hiking part again."  After such a busy day, both kids quickly fell asleep in the car. Clare woke up happy and ready to play again before dinnertime, but Sean was not at all happy about being woken up.  We fixed that quickly with an episode of the Octonauts and a s'more - a raw s'more - since that's how Sean likes them:

Go bananas!

The kids enjoyed a sweet treat tonight - banana fro-yo. We cut up some very ripe bananas, froze them, and processed them until smooth - it turns out kind of like ice cream! Clare asked for sprinkles on her ice cream and Sean asked to have bananas on his. Sean asked that I take some pictures of them and Clare asked that I stand "RIGHT NEXT TO ME, MOMMY!" So, I did my best to make both kids happy:

Sean with his "light sword from Star Wars - Yoda gave this to me!"

Hugs on the stairs

A few snaps of the kids from our long weekend at the beach - here they are waiting so patiently on the stairs at Mom Mom Jackie and Pop Pop Pop's house before heading up to the beach. Sean used the time to bestow some love on his baby sister, who was trying to finish her peanut butter cookie:

Summer evenings

It's amazing what a drop in humidity can do! The weather has been positively delightful for the past couple of evenings, so we've been taking our time going inside the house after daycare.  Last night, we tried to match the animal crackers in our cups to the ones in the woods near our house...

We didn't have any luck finding tigers or hippos, but we did see some neat bugs on the fence!

Tonight we colored pictures on the driveway and tried to make them look as cool as the pictures painted on the kids' cheeks at Carnival Day at daycare today:

Breakfast in July

Hooray for blueberry pancakes!!! Or, "lewbebby pancakes" as Clare calls them...

Farm Party

Sean went to a birthday party last weekend at a nearby rescue farm.  Since the birthday boy's little sister is in Clare's class, their mother asked if Clare could come too to keep the sister company.  Both Sooy Babies were delighted to go see some animals and eat birthday cake! As the party guests arrived, the kids played at the playground - there was a wooden train and a pirate boat.

Once all the party guests arrived, we were brought inside to the (air conditioned!!) education center to watch a presentation on a corn snake, a chinchilla, a bearded dragon, and a water turtle!

Clare was getting antsy during the presentation, so I turned the camera on her to see if she wanted to take some self-portraits and she did - so could she practice her frowny faces.

Sean was keen on petting all the animals and even got to pet the bearded dragon twice, which he said was "so cool!"

After seeing the animal presentations, it was time for bagels, juice, and cake!  The kids also got to color their own superhero masks and they were happy to pose in their masks after cake.  Well, most of them were happy to pose:

Clare! Smile, Clare! Clare look up!

After cake and pictures, it was time to see - and feed - the animals!  Clare hung out with this piggy for a bit - she kept saying, "Sorry! I have no food! No piggy food!"

Sean and his buddies were trying to work up the courage to get near the gigantic swan - the swan didn't seem like it wanted to be bothered, so Sean's mommy stepped in and diverted their attention over to the goats and sheep, who were eagerly waiting to be fed. 

After seeing more animals - chickens, peacocks, deer, horses, and a cow - we went back inside to the education center.  Clare had fun "shopping" in the little general store with the pint-sized shopping carts:

Meanwhile, Sean disappeared into this indoor treehouse area.  I had just started to wonder what he was up to when...

... he ran over to me showing me all the oversized acorns this good little squirrel had gathered for him!  Wow!

After we helped clean up the education center, it was time to get our goody bags and get going - the goody bags were full of superhero stuff - candy, tattoos, and stickers!  The kids were so busy examining their loot, they didn't have time to be sad about leaving the party.  Besides, the next stop was the beach!