Nature Connects

We went to Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point to see "Nature Connects," giant LEGO sculptures being shown through the 28th of August. They were amazing. Each sculpture had an informative sign to go with it and we loved learning new things about different parts of nature and how many bricks were used to make each. We took so many pictures but I'll only post some of them here. If you get chance to see them, it's worth it. 

I asked family members what their favorites were.

Nichole said peacock, Jeremy said might have been peacock.

Jr. Jr. said bird bath. It was fun that it had both a squirrel and a bee on it (yes, part of the sculpture).

Neither Jr. nor Lucky could pick a favorite.

 

We didn't even have to ask Jet. His favorite was definitely the ant hill. He was smiling and laughing so much when seeing his family members with their faces sticking out. He had fun with it, too, when it was his turn.

There was plenty to see besides the LEGO sculptures.

It wasn't too busy when we went in the morning in the middle of the week so there was room to feed the fish in the koi pond. There was even a turtle swimming around with the fish.

 

See if you can spot the turtle in this picture.

 

There were also lots of hummingbirds (and not just in LEGO form). Nichole was sketching when a hummingbird decided to hang out with the flowers right in front of her. You can't tell but I got a picture of the hummingbird flying right in front of her. It almost looks like it's a pendant on her necklace.

Of course Jeremy and I had to get a picture of us in the place he proposed to me all those years ago. It's tradition.

It was just really good family time.

The day we went was also Milk Chocolate Day, July 28. Like last year we drank chocolate milk.

Big Springs Hiking

National Sleepyhead Day in Finland is on July 27. I got the kids up early this year (early for Summer anyway) to go hiking up Big Springs since that is one of the items on our Summer Wishlist and we kept putting it off for various reasons. Jr. Jr. really wanted to go so we made it happen. Morning worked better than evening. Anyway, Lucky was the last one still asleep but we didn't get him wet.

We did however have fun hiking. There was so much to see- plants, animals. We saw wild turkeys on the drive up and a few times on the hike. 

 

There were butterflies everywhere. It was quite pleasant.

We didn't make it all the way to the springs which was Jr. Jr.'s goal but he had a good attitude about us needing to turn back. 

I was impressed with Jet and how far he hiked. He was just happy to go anywhere if he got to hold and look through binoculars. 

Jr. got the brother of the day award, though, when Jet didn't want to walk anymore and Jr. carried him all the way down the trail and got him to sleep holding those binoculars. While he was asleep, I took them away but he stirred and I had to give them back so he would go back to sleep. Finally I was able to put them away but that boy loves binoculars. 

It was a wonderful hike. We had Jet saying, "Hiking." We couldn't get him to say, "We are hiking." When we tried to get him to say that, he would say, "1, 2, 3, hiking." So cute.

Later in the day, we did have a water fight like we did last year for Sleepyhead Day.

Family History Celebrating

I have gotten into telling the kids family history stories from time to time when something reminds me of something. For example, when Nichole was a toddler, she went through a phase where she wouldn't fall asleep unless she had shoes on her feet. We had to take them off her after she was asleep. 

We've told the kids stories of our grandmas, some of them even remember their Great Grandma Midge who had a candy machine in her home and they were able to use a penny to get a handful of M&Ms when we would visit. She also had a wall full of pictures of her grandkids and great grandkids and she would know everyone's name and who they belonged to. Ah, family history.

For Hot Fudge Sundae Day on July 25, I helped Lucky make hot fudge sauce from a recipe that I got from my grandma. Then we put it on ice cream with whatever toppings we wanted. I personally love ice cream with hot fudge sauce and peanuts making it a kind of peanut buster parfait. Good memories of those growing up.

 

Besides the hot fudge sundaes, the other kids made dinner that night. It was simple. Jr. made eggs and bacon, Jr. Jr. made pasta, and Nichole contributed bananas.

 

The next night's dinner was also simple... sort of. Nichole wanted egg salad sandwiches and she wanted French bread so I ended up making french bread rolls from Mel's Kitchen Cafe to make into the sandwiches. We also had a side of bow tie pasta with broccoli from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner Again. I'm getting use out of my birthday/Mother's Day present.