This weekend we went and watched bird banding, where we witnessed the capturing, handling and releasing wild birds. WE watched at the birds were identified, they determined their age by their feathers, they were weighed and measured… then we got to hold and handle them. It was an amazing experience – if you have the opportunity to do this with your kids, please do! When else can they do this?
releasing the birds…
Bird banding at Willistown Conservation Trust.
Last weekend we made trek to Baltimore for the second time to see the Grand Prix. If you live within a reasonable distance of Baltimore, I cannot recommend this enough! It is so fun and super family friendly.
Every year, we stay at the Hilton Baltimore. The rates are very reasonable and we get free general admission passes to the entire race. Not to mention that we can watch the race go by right outside our room!
And it usually takes us two days to see everything – there are so many activities, displays and events!
We met drivers, like Arie Luyendyk Jr.(who was very nice), got up close and personal with the cars and had so much fun in the Family Zone and Fun Zones.
And, of course, we watched lots of racing!
I mean, you really never know who what will happen at the Grand Prix of Baltimore! Maybe you’ll get to sit in Mario Andretti’s race car!
Maybe you’ll meet some Ravens cheerleaders, maybe you’ll even meet a superhero!
And of course, it’s all located in beautiful Baltimore! We spent tons of time at the Inner Harbor, one of our favorite spots on the East Coast.
Hope we’ll see you there next year!
It was all Gracie wanted. A real tea party with her friends and everyone’s American Girl dolls!
Everyone wore their party dresses and brought their American Girl dolls. We made matching bracelets for the girls and their dolls…
Then we did some flower arranging
And then we ate. And ate. And YUMMM!
It was a super day!
And for favors… a candy bar!!! YUM!
We went fishing again this past weekend. And broke the record, catching 60 fish in about 3 hours. (Seriously, its like fishing in an Aquarium.)
Husband won the prize with this little number…
Because its not summer in Philly without a trip to the Jersey Shore! Even a cloudy day is fun when you’re at the shore. We went down to the beach for the day with a big group of friends and had an absolute blast. Even though it was cloudy and a little chilly when the breeze kicked up, we stayed all day. We found starfish, crabs, and shells. We learned how to boogie board, then learned what happens when your boogie board hits something, and learned what it feels like to do a somersault and face plant in the sand. We learned how to defend ourselves from seagulls. We learned how to build the biggest, hugest drip castle in Ocean City.
(Don’t worry. These creatures were returned to their natural habitat.
I told the kids before we got out of the car at the beach that we were NOT bringing home anything that was alive!!!)
And after releasing our little sea creatures into the wild, we enjoyed a big dinner of extremely healthy, organic boardwalk food.
To quote Colin, “Even when its cloudy, the beach is perfect with all of your friends!”
Last week, right before we left for vacation, my husband and his dad tiled the floor of the mudroom. The tile is down and looks fabulous. We still have to paint, install new trim, and grout.
So obviously, we’re still not done, This is not surprising, seeing as it took us a full six months to finish our bathroom renovation. I’m currently deciding between 50 shades of tan to find the exact color I want for a room I barely spend time in. (Obsessive, much?)
God help us if we every decide to redo our kitchen!
Anyway, the reason this is stressful is that tiling the mudroom means we had to move the washer and dryer into the family room.
Which means I am unable to do laundry.
You’d think this was a good thing.
Its only been like 5 days (since I was able to do laundry on vacation) and you would not BELIEVE how much laundry is piling up. A heat wave and kids at going to nature camp and coming home happy, exhausted and completely filthy is not helping.
Our house is starting to look like an episode of Hoarders.
But there is no WAY I am going to a laundromat in the middle of a 100-degree heat wave.
Anyone have a washer and dryer I can borrow while I spend way too much time deciding between nearly identical paint colors???
On Saturday we went to Dorney Park for my husband’s work party. It was like a hundred zillion degrees outside, so shockingly the park was practically empty. Most people were smart enough to stay home in their air conditioning instead of melting in the sun.
Colin was hilarious. He started out so so timid in Camp Snoopy, riding all the little rides there, like his favorite ride, the race cars:
Finally, we got him on the kiddie roller coaster. Which he loved.
And then he discovered the cars. Do you know how many times we rode these?? Colin wants you to know he is an excellent driver who stayed on the road the whole time and will someday be a racecar driver.
Then he started getting much braver. I think he was trying to keep up with the big boys, cause he was going on some rides that he was a little small for! By the end of the night, he was even on the scrambler! Look, you can barely see his head!
Such a fun day!!
This weekend, we went fishing! Colin is now an expert fisherman and is telling everyone he meets how to catch fish and all about fishing.
(Sorry, nice lady behind us in line at the grocery store who smiled politely when Colin told you all about how to put worms on hooks! Your pained smile said it all!)
Colin also knows how to drive a boat if you are in need of a ship captain.
He said next time he is bringing a pirate flag to put on the boat so he can scare all the other boats in the lake and be the pirate king!
Its the last week of school.
(Oh, noes! Now what?)
We kicked off the summer by heading to a minor league baseball game. What says summer more than baseball? We went to the Camden Riversharks game and the kids had a blast!
Then on Sunday, we headed to the Crayola Experience in Easton, PA. It was so fun – the kids had a blast! We were here for two hours, but still didn’t see everything. Make sure to plan for at least 3! And hit the gift shop – we got tons of great deals on Crayola products there!!
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