Outing to Bonnie Springs

We took Lincoln up to Bonnie Springs today! And although it's just like I remember it, that didn't stop us form enjoying the trip. It was a little chillier than it had been the past two days, and the wind picked up at times, but we all survived and Lincoln had a blast chasing ducks, chickens, peacocks, and deer around.
They still have a "petting" zoo area, although most of the animals are not available for touching. I'm not sure it would be safe to allow children to pet the Lynx or the wolf! :0) But there were some deer roaming around and a few small goats and mini horse wandering around. And you could get one finger into the rabbits hutch! So I guess that fulfills the petting aspect of the "zoo"!
There is some food that you can purchase to feed the animals, but Nana Fe had us covered with bread and a box of cherrios. (We were a little afraid she was going to get us all in trouble by ignoring the "No Food" rule that was posted, but only one worker even asked any questions, and Nana was able to show them it was probably healthier than what they were getting in the first place!) So the animals and Lincoln both had a treat- he was more interested in eating the cherrios himself, than he was in feeding it to the animals.
He also had fun riding the stationary horse outside the restaurant. And probably could have gone through another couple of dollars worth of quarters- but the promise of chicken nuggets distracted him long enough to move him away from the toy. {Is it bad when your child can point out the stores that carry chicken nuggets and slurpees? I swear I do make dinner most of the time :) }

Seven Kids and a Little Wind

We took seven kids up to Redrock this afternoon and completed the Children's Discovery Loop. It was a little windy, but not as hot as we were afraid it was going to be. The wind helped cool it down and we got in a little later than usual, so we had the shadow of the mountain to cool us off as well. Lincoln had such a great time leading the pack! Literally!! He was up in the front showing all those big kids what was up! It was freaking me out a little considering I was in the back helping Mabry. (Rachel was carrying Afton, so her hands were pretty full!) But we all made it and Lincoln walked the whole way! I had to practically beg him to hold my hand on the rough spots.

It was once again the time of caterpillars up at Redrock. They are the weirdest things, huge web like sacks filled with caterpillars. I am not sure what type of moth or butterfly they turn into , but there are hundreds of these sacks all over the park. Lincoln and Mabry are examining one here in this photo, and Lincoln kept pointing them out every time he found one! Which was quite often! :)

There was a ton of water at the end of the trail, probably the most we have ever seen. We actually had to pick our way across the dry rocks to make it across the creek, just to get to the first set of stairs. And then the pool up above was quite full, and the waterfall was huge! Tons of water coming off the top! That didn't stop Lincoln from wanting to climb the rocks like the big kids. And he had to make sure that Mabry or Mabs as he calls her, saw him everytime he got some place higher than the first! He is so dang cute!



On top of the hike today we put together Lincoln's new trampoline at Nana Fe's house. He was so excited to see a trampoline being built in the back yard! He loves to jump!

A Park or Maybe Two!

Okay, so today was the first official day of Spring Break and it was a great start to the week. But if it is any indication of the days ahead of us, it is going to fly by! We started the day at Rachel's house to try on Lincoln's new Easter clothes and determine which shirt to keep. (The 4 was a little tight so we went with the six! This is my 2 1/2 year old we are talking about!! He is not supposed to be getting so big!) He of course took the opportunity to jump on the trampoline, and basically spent an entire hour trying to convince everyone else to stay outside with him. (Anytime he was the only one left he would come in side and ask each kid to "jump with me trampoline?") Rachel's kids are pretty good sports so he could usually find a sucker to jump with him! :)

After Rachel got back from learning what her keys opened at the church-she is the new second counselor in the Relief Society- we ran to Sears to exchange the shirt for Camp to a larger one. And we ended up saving my Mom about 6 dollars, because the shirts were on sale. And we learned that if an item goes on sale within 30 days of when you purchased it, Sears will give you back the difference! How great is that, and since we had the receipt with all the shirts on it, they refunded her the money!

From Sears we headed back to grab the kids and some stuff to have a picnic. We were going to meet Justin's family at the park out at Mountains Edge. (Justin and I discovered it one day as we were driving around the area on our way to the Bass Pro Shops but it was raining so we didn't get to play and decided it would be fun to go back.) It is a pretty cool park, and has a old western town theme running throughout the park. The play area itself is made to look like the different buildings you would find in a old western town and it's huge so there is plenty of room for everyone. Which is good, because it was quite busy today! But even though it was busy, we didn't feel like it was overly crowded, we got a table so the adults could sit in the shade and the kids were able to do everything they wanted without too much worry from the adults. Although I did follow the two youngest ones around just to help them get up on things and make sure they didn't come zooming out of a slide or something.

We also talked the kids and most of the adults (Lorina and Carole stayed behind to tend Afton) into trying out the hike that traveled out from the park to the top of the small mountain the park is nestled next to. Lincoln walked the whole thing by himself, and basically ran the entire first part of the trail! And everyone made it to the very top- great job Aunt Tina!! We didn't come very prepared for a hike, but we were able to get to the top and back without too much difficulty!

We ended up spending almost 3 1/2 hours at the park and I think I should have thought to put sun screen on- my face is feeling a little warm right now!

But as if that wasn't enough park time today we had already made plans yesterday to meet a family from our ward at the park this evening. So after only being home for about an hour and a half we packed up our drinks once again and headed over to the park across from Bonanza. And even though Lincoln had been at the park pretty much all day, you never would have known it. He was totally loving it again! We spent another 2 1/2 hours at the park running and sliding! So although Lincoln doesn't seem to be any worse for wear, I am exhausted! :) Here's hoping that maybe he will go down early today!

Oh, and I might have a future photographer on my hands. Lincoln took this picture today of Mabry while we were on how hike! Pretty Impressive if I do say so myself!

Walking With Dinosaurs!

We took Lincoln to see Walking with Dinosaurs, the Live Experience today! And it was so worth the wait. (We actually bought the tickets back in October, because we had heard how great the show was and how fast the tickets go. So it seems like we have been waiting forever for today to come!) The dinosaurs were so lifelike and so huge! We didn't pay top dollar for the tickets, so were near the top of the bottom level, and it was still easy to see everything. Although I think it would have been really cool to be right next to the rail were you could look eye to eye with the Dinosaurs.

Lincoln was pretty much glued from the moment the show started, he got a little antsy at the end, but the mommy T-Rex gained his full attention again. She was huge and loud!! Or perhaps it was the toy that Nana bought that gained his full attention! :) It is a light up spinning dinosaur wand thingie. And he loves it! You should have seen his smile when we got it out of the bag for him! He was so happy!!

The one thing we wish might have been a little different, is the fact that all the dinosaur scenes had some type of conflict and/or fighting among the dinosaurs. Yes, we agree that was probably how it was, but could we not have just given us a glimpse of what they might have been like without that. But overall, we all had a great time. It was truly amazing what they did with those dinosaurs.

Touch-A-Truck Experience

Now the name is a little weird, but the event was great. Basically, they bring tons of large vehicles together in one place and let the kids have free reign of them. I guess they have done it in years past, but we had never heard of it before. The only reason we knew about it this year was a flyer we picked up at Mirabelli. It sounded pretty cool, so we decided to take Lincoln. It was held in the parking lot of the New Orleans Arena, and they probably had 75 or more different types of big vehicles. Everything from a big Diesel truck to a fire engine. The kids were allowed to drive, push buttons, honk horns, climb on, run though, and touch pretty much every part of the vehicle that they wanted to. They even got a chance to spray water both from the top of a water truck and from a fire engine.
There was tons to see, so we basically let Lincoln guide us through the displays. He liked the big rigs and had a great time running through the trailer of one of the trucks, but his favorite things were the buses. He couldn't get enough of the different buses. There was a tour bus, a city bus, and a very colorful school bus. He had a great time running up and down the aisles, jumping from one seat to the next, and driving them. Here he is driving the city bus! It was hard to get him to give up his position as the driver, but he did pretty good taking turns. :)

The Tunnel

If you read my previous post you know I am pretty much annoyed with all the construction around here. But there is one postive thing that has come of it, Lincoln has a tunnel to play in! Right now there are about 60 giant concrete square pipe pieces all laid out in a row a mere half block from the house. We took him down to see the work that was being done and then let him run through the pipes. He loved it! He probably could have stayed there all afternoon. At the time the tunnel went almost entirely down the street, so we got a pretty good workout. I was a little worried, as there was a small crack between each pipe, but he had no problem navigating his way over these small obstacles!
There was also an access ladder he climbed up and down, and that this Daddy scared him through more than once! (Justin was on the outside of the pipes -as he could not walk upright on the inside and it was starting to crick his neck- and he would run ahead to the opening and then yell as Lincoln arrived!)
I then decided it would be nice to use the timer to take a family picture, but once Lincoln saw this awesome feat of technology. He wouldn't let me take a picture using the normal method. He would make me put the camera down and set the timer to take his picture! :) We did this over and over again, but we did get some pretty good pictures!