Butterflies and Hummingbirds and Frogs, Oh My!

This morning we headed to a local garden that has hummingbirds that visit every August. The weather was perfect - not too hot but sunny and comfortable.

Here we are entering the first garden.

Rudy trying to sneak up on a butterfly.

There were several areas overtaken by bamboo. It looks really cool, but I'm pretty sure it's not native to our state!

Along with the gardens, there is an old farm and farmhouse. Here Rudy explores the farmhouse and the props set on the table.

The farm has lots of vegetable plants and birds - many different kinds of chickens and hens and roosters. Plus a peacock and some goats.

Walking through a garden.

There were lots and lots of butterflies around today. They were pretty used to people and we could get close to them.

Rudy really wanted one to land on his hand. He would move toward them very slowly and was able to touch a few but they never did land on his hand. Here it looks like one did, but he just has his hand placed below the leaf the butterfly is on.

A bullfrog in the pond.

Hard to see -but dragonflies at the edge of the pond.

Look closely and you will see an unusually still hummingbird sitting in the tree.

A crazy boy.

Turtles sunning themselves.

A frog.

Me and my boy.

This white cedar tree is over 300 years old.

The 'dudes'. Rudy was sitting next to me at the table and decided he needed to move over to the other side to sit with Paul because they were both 'dudes'. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff!

Spiderman Waiting for Popcorn

Really, the title says it all!

Kiddie Pictures

This is what happens when you let 2 four-year-olds and a six-year-old use your camera:

I think all of them were intentional pictures because when I retrieved my camera, they told me how they had take pictures of an arm and a hand and each other. Boys!

A New Addition

My brother and sister-in-law welcomed their first child this week. Paige Duval was born on August 17th. Today we got to visit her and hold her. Rudy was very excited - even exclaiming as we got out of the car at their house, "I can't wait to see Paige!", and then barely gave her a passing glance.

Me getting my baby fix! So sweet and snugly at this age!

Paul and Rudy with Paige. Rudy did sing to her a little and she seemed to really like it.

A proud Grandpa- he is happy to hold babies for hours on end (wonder where i get it from!).

Max, Lucy and Chris getting to know Paige.

Patti getting in some baby-holding practice before her baby arrives next month.

Who is really playing Wii? The big boys or the little?

Lucy being silly and cuddling up in Paige's blanket.

Beach and Boardwalk Fun

On Friday we went to the beach and boardwalk with Vincie and her crew. Here the 3 big boys wait to head to the beach.

The boys had a blast on the beach. First they ran around in the surf.

They dug in the sand and tried to build a wall to stop the tide.

Sean kept watch for seagulls after one stole part of his sandwich.

Noah collected dry sand to repair the wall when the tide came in.

Rudy, with sand on his nose, relaxed in the pool created by the broken-down wall.

The boys also sent a lot of time in the water body surfing. The 3 were fearless and had fun being tossed by the incoming waves.

After the beach we hit the boardwalk for pizza and ice cream and rides. Despite being close to five, my munchkin still cannot neatly eat an ice cream cone!

This is such a great age - all 3 boys still feel like they are 'playing' the games without any money being put in them. Let's hope that lasts a few more years!

Vincie begged the boys to ride on the til-a-whirl with her.

The boys finished the night in the fun house that ended with the big slide.

We had a fun time as usual. This has been a great July and August because we've gotten together with Vincie, Andy, Noah, Tyler and Sean about 3 times in the last 6 weeks - including the whole week we spent together on vacation.