Nature at the Museum

The kids and I were back at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham again today:-) Aunt Debbie was with us today, and I headed us out back so that we could see some of the exhibits that we didn't get to last time. We still managed to miss the bears because of the abundance of cool wildlife in the wetland area and mom's desire to take pictures. At one time, there was a Great Blue Heron, a hawk, and a Green Heron not to mention a zillion dragonflys (including red ones) and lots of turtles. I just can't say enough about how nice a job the museum has done to build the wetland area and to attract a nice variety of wildlife for everyone to enjoy.

I think the butterfly is a Viceroy. That's the first picture of one of those that I've taken.

The kids had fun today too. The water exhibit continues to be a thrill. Even Aunt Debbie got in on the act. I always have to coax the kids to move on! Sometimes the 'dirt' pile near the animal exhibits seems to be the kids' favorite thing. Ya know, kids love dirt! Joey sailed a sailboat again while Johnny played nearby with the other boats 'in the wind'. At both the wolf and lemur exhibits, Joey had fun moving the camera to track the animals. Johnny also had a great butterfly experience in the butterfly house today too!

All the pics are here.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens

Debbie hooked up with me and the boys today to go to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens . It was a really nice experience; even the boys enjoyed the walk and sights. It was hot in the sun, and there weren't very many butterflies in the butterfly garden, but I really enjoyed the flowers and the Great Blue Heron that I got to take pics of near the end of our visit. We saw wedding photographs being taken, some very odd water lily leaves, and a wide variety of just plan great flowers and shrubs.

All the pics are here.

Another Lost Tooth

Joey's top two middle teeth have been loose for over 6 weeks. This past week, they seemed to get really loose, and I was able to pull one of them out tonight. Unfortunately, he swallowed it...oops. I assured him the tooth fairy would come anyway and proceeded to give him a tiny robot Lego kit for his bravery.

Spiderman Cake

I set the boys loose decorating this Spiderman cake last night. I figured I couldn't do any better with the complicated design, and they sure did have fun.

All the pics are here.

Assorted Nature Pics

I took a few pics today out my office window. A tattered Easter Tiger Swallowtail, a hidden dove, a purple finch (unusual for my feeders), yet another bad pic of the evasive red bellied woodpecker (I swear I'm gonna get a good shot of him!), and finally, a hummingbird that came to rest on a tree limb right outside my office window. Enjoy...

All the pics are here.

Great Blue Heron & the Egret

I went back to the little water spot just a few miles up the street from the house on Sunday. I wanted to see if the Egret was there. He was:-) And so was his Great Blue Heron friend. Of course I snapped a bunch of pics including a few of the Egret going in for a fish and then holding it in his mouth before swallowing. Neat I think. This is just the best I can do with the camera and lense that I have. I'm slightly frustrated I can't get a little better picture in this case although my Canon Powershot G3 does a great job 90% of the time, and I really like it.

Here are all the pics.

Here are the best pics.

Build-A-Bear

The boys and I went to Crabtree Valley Mall yesterday with Johnny's birthday Build-A-Bear free bear coupon. As you can see, they had a lot of fun. Joey picked out this Sparkly purple guy and Johnny picked out a very soft Teddy. The lady that stuffed the bears was really sweet, and another lady hooked the boys up with bows for the bears' ears. I managed to get out of there with no extras...whew.

The only bad thing at the mall was that I bought two shirts ($24) for myself at Sears and then somehow lost or had the package stolen. We hiked back through the mall looking for it with now luck. Oh well. Eventually I'll stop beating myself up over it. It could have been worse. I'm glad it wasn't my wallet or purse or phone OR KID that I lost:-)

The rest of the pics are here.

Kindergarten and the Bus

It's official, Joey got on the bus for his first full day of kindergarten around 8:50 this morning. He was up at 7:20 very excited and kept trying to put on his bookbag and go to the bus stop. I kept on explaining that we had an hour then 45 minutes then 30 minutes then... Finally it was time to go

and he left me in his wake walking up to Uncle Bruce's stop sign (well, it is on the corner of Bruce's yard so we figure it's his and thankfully it's very close to our house) to wait. The bus came about when I expected it to. There weren't any other kids at the stop today; they must be tracked out because usually there are other kids. He wasted no time getting on. He's fine. I'm a little choked up:-) It's the start of a new era.