Tautphaus Park Zoo

Kabree liked the monkeys this time

Keagan was pretty fascinated by all the animals

The girls were so excited to see the baby hiding in its Mommy's "pocket"

Our girls were not so impressed with the petting zoo

They thought the rooster was the funnest thing in the play area

Keagan LOVED the lion, she could have watched it all day

The baby Zebra

Kabree LOVED the baby Zebra, she kept asking us if we

thought the Zebra saw that she had Zebras on her shirt.

The penguin, I love penguins...

and yet every time I go to the zoo they hide from me : )

Petting the bunny

    We took the girls to the Tautphaus Park Zoo and they LOVED it!  Both girls love animals and we couldn't have asked for better weather.  Kabree was very excited to see the baby Zebra and was even more excited that she had a shirt that had a Mommy and baby Zebra on it.  She hoped that the Zebras saw that she had a shirt with them on it.  Keagan was fascinated with the Lions, she loved staring at them and wanted to climb the fence to get a better look.  Both girls weren't that impressed with the petting zoo, they figured Grandpa's horses and cows were more fun and Heather's donkey.  They did think it was funny to sit on the Rooster though.  Both girls were pretty excited to pet the huge bunny and to see all the baby animals this trip.  They both LOVED watching the baby Lemurs (couldn't get a good picture with the glass) and could have stayed and watched them play for hours.

    After the zoo we headed over to the park across the street for a picnic and for the girls to run around a bit before heading back home.  We have loved the last couple days having Zach home from work and it was hard to have him go back today but we are glad we were able to have so much fun while he was off!

Trampoline Art!

 Kabree showing off her artistic hands

 Justice, Kabree and Hanna

 Keagan thought it was funner to eat the chalk

 Kabree practicing writing her name

    We are defiantly having lots of fun outside this summer and we have put our trampoline to good use.  We love to jump on it, put the sprinkler under it, sleep on it, and have picnics on it.  So we decided to draw on the trampoline with sidewalk chalk and the kids loved it!  Keagan was more interested in eating the chalk but the others had a blast writing their names and drawing away.  After they created their master pieces they turned on the sprinkler and washed their canvas clean to start over. 

Twin Lakes

J.T. giving Kabree a ride 

J.T. & Kabree, Chase & Justice 

 Hanna

Keagan loved the water and was not even a little bit scared 

 J.T. & Keagan

Keagan 

Kabree and Zach playing in the raft

 Justice and J.T.

Zach and Kabree 

 Libby, Keagan, Heather, J.T. and Chase

 Kabree and Zach

Matt, Justice and Hanna

 Mattie and Hanna

 Morgan

 Keagan and Kooper

 Jessica and all the kiddos

Kabree 

Makenna

Keagan 

Libby 

Jessica, getting a piece of candy after being knocked down

Kabree and Justice "scouting the beach for bad guys"

 All the kiddos playing around

Kabree showing us she can paddle alone : )

    Matt and Heather invited us to go camping to Twin Lakes with them and we had a blast!  We snagged the last 3 campsites left and after asking another nice group of campers to switch or #13 camp site for their #15 (which they were just parking their cars in) we ended up all next to each other too!  Kabree and Keagan LOVED the water and would have stayed in it all day and night if we would have let them.  J.T. and Chase were awesome and took all the littler kids for rides in the kayaks, which the littler ones thought that was great.  Keagan had no fear what so ever of the water, she just ran right in and started splashing and didn't even care when she walked into deeper water and started floating.  It was a bit scary she wasn't even worried so someone had to hold on to the back of her life jacket the whole time.  Heather was sweet and took a hour turn of Keagan duty.  We were pretty low key campers this trip but the kids had so much fun.  Larin and his kids joined us later Friday night, which was Jessicas' birthday so we celebrated with a pinata.  I wish I would have realized my camera was on the wrong setting because all the pinata pictures turned out blurry so I only shared they ones you could somewhat make out.  After Jessica broke it the kids were so excited they literally knocked poor Jessica to the ground running for the candy : ).  Cayleb and Ethan joined us that night too.  Poor Matt tried to teach, Larin, Heather and I how to play cribbage, I emphasize "tried".  We enjoyed our tinfoil dinners and of coarse smores for dinner.  Gary and Sally were super nice and let us borrow their camper for the trip so we even got to sleep in a nice warm camper for the night.

    Saturday was Heathers birthday to which she treated everyone to a yummy breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon.  Kabree and Justice decided we needed to go "scouting for bad guys" after breakfast so the three of us walked up and down the shore for awhile to make sure it was safe for everyone else.  It rained off and on but that didn't stop the kids from having fun playing with the toys Heather brought and just playing in the rafts and kayaks on the beach.  Grandma JoAnn, Shawn and Eric joined the party later Saturday morning but Zach, the girls and I didn't get to see them much, Zach had to work Saturday night so we had to pack up early and head out.  But not before J.T. so nicely grilled our family some hotdogs for lunch.  Libby and J.T. road home with us and were even nice enough to help us unload our camper before heading to their house.  I'm telling you we are spoiled by our nieces and nephews!

    We had a great time and my girls were, as always, spoiled by their aunts, uncles and cousins.  They had so much fun playing with everyone and having the older ones take them on adventures.  Matt and Heather are camping pros and made it so enjoyable being so prepared and thinking of everything.  We all had a great time and are so glad they included us in their fun weekend!