Last T-Ball Game of the Season

 Caleb's t-ball team had one last "bonus" game today.  He was so excited because the game was to be played on a "real" field!  With DIRT!  Typically, his games have been played on a field that had markings drawn on the grass for the infield, so this was a big treat!

 Warming up...

 In the dugout...

  Sorry for any blurriness in the following pictures.  I was behind the fence.  While I was able to focus on Caleb and blur out most of the fence, there's still some fuzz.  And, I actually think I like the affect...definitely at a real field!

On deck...silly boy.

Up to bat...

Heading out to their positions...

 Good Game Green!

What's For Dinner? Week 22: Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken

This meal was successful...though not anything extraordinary.  I didn't have much of an appetite last night, but everyone else gobbled it up.

Go here for the recipe.

At the Pool

 So today was the first day I braved the BIG pool with all 3 kiddos by myself.  Since none of them are independent swimmers yet, it's always made me a little nervous to take them without help, which is why we frequent the local splash pads all summer.  But, Caleb has swimming lessons this week at our park district's pool, and the more I scoped it out, I was convinced that we could go and all survive!  This particular pool has a really nice zero-depth/shallow area that is just big enough but not so big that I feel like I can't keep track of them all at once.  

So, after Caleb's lesson today, we had a picnic lunch...

 

 

 

 ...and then headed back into the pool.

I didn't get the chance to take too many pictures of the kids actually playing in the water, since I was right in there with them most of the time.  Between having to have my hands ready to scoop Shane back up if he fell and my fear that my camera would fall into the water, the camera stayed in the bag most of the time.

 

It turned out to be a LOT of fun.  The kids loved it.  Caleb and Meredith were able to be completely independent.  If I had just the two of them, I might have even been able to sit on a chair and keep an eye on them from afar. Maybe even read a book!  Or take a nap!  Okay maybe not that one so much...  Shane, of course, needed a bit more hands-on supervision.  He was actually a bit hesitant to let go of my hand at first, but once we were just a few minutes into the fun, he got very comfortable.  It also took him a while to figure out how to successfully walk in the water.  He fell down and went under the water a lot, but he wasn't phased.

I'm pretty sure that the little water slide was the highlight of everyone's day.  I would estimate that between the 3 of them, they quite possible went down it close to 100 times.  I so wish I had camera-captured their faces when they would come down the slide - sheer joy!

Treat time!

 

 

Hopefully we will get back there again soon!  Meredith is free until she turns 3, so we have to take full advantage of that for sure. =)

We're Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo...

...to see what we can do do do!

This is the new little "ditty" that we sing on days we are headed to the zoo. I started singing it the morning of our last visit, and it's become our "zoo song." =)

Anyway, one of things we love about Brookfield is that there is just so much to do.  We went a number of times last summer, and there are still parts of the zoo and certain exhibits we haven't yet seen.  It's totally worth it to us to have a family membership so we can keep going back!

Last time we went, the kids were asking to ride the "train", which is basically a tram that takes you around the zoo.  As part of our membership, we got some free passes for this "Motor Safari", so I figured that today was as good as any to go for a ride.  Unfortunately, it was a lot less exciting that I had hoped.  It would have been better if the tram would have kept moving.  BUT, it made 3 (very long) stops during the duration of the ride to drop people off/pick new people up.  Those stops seemed to be way longer than necessary, although maybe that's just my perspective since I had a very antsy one year old with us.  Other than that, though, it was a fun and relaxing way to see the main parts of the zoo without exerting any energy. =)

Even though the ride was a little less wonderful than I expected, the kids enjoyed it.

 

 I only got a few pictures of animals, as it was hard to snap photos as we were moving and I usually had 1 (or more) child on my lap.

 Lunchtime!

 This little guy had his lunch about 2 feet from our table.  He was snacking on someone's discarded fry, which the kids thought was pretty funny.  Although, Shane kept asking "fry? fry?" and was not happy that there weren't any for him.

 Brookfield has this really great "play zoo" that the kids absolutely love.  It is part museum, part zoo.  Very hands on and so much fun.  We could probably spend the entire day just in here!  The rest of the pictures are from there...

Shane loves fishies...

 The kids played in some "nests"....there were giant eggs and everything.

 They also got to be zookeepers, which they of course loved.

Shane vs. the giant frog...

Cleaning up their "lab"...

 

 There's a whole area devoted to more domesticated pets, such as bunnies, guinea pigs, etc.  Shane LOVES bunnies and was so excited to see them today!

 The big kids pet a leopard gecko...

 Another area that they really enjoyed was a greenhouse where they could water the plants

 Shane couldn't really get the hang of the spray bottles, but found his niche at the corner table, where there were different shapes/sizes of tree trunks for the kids to stack...

 

 Meredith joined him as well...

Another highlight is this pretend veterinary clinic.  Caleb remembers this place from last summer and was so excited about going there again.  There are all sorts of stuffed animals for the kids to take care of, and a great deal of instruments to care for them with...stethoscopes, thermometers, bandages, syringes, etc.  There are sterile tables for the kids to lay the animals on, cages in which to transport them, and vet jackets for them to wear (although it was quite crowded today and we only managed to snag 1 jacket).  It's so fun to see the kids take care of the animals!

Shane didn't really know what he was doing, but he loved wearing the stethoscope and had plenty of hugs for the animals, like this penguin here.

 

 Meredith took great care of Kitty.

 Caleb was all business.  He took his job very seriously, and I have no doubt that Hippo and Lizard are better off because of him. =)

 

 We are so excited to go back again, to see some things we've already seen as well as do some new stuff.  There's so much we haven't yet done there, and I am eager for the kids to experience more fun!