Special Agent Oso

Playhouse Disney has a new show out called "Special Agent Oso". It's about this bear who helps kids who need to learn something. Like maybe how to tie a shoe, pack a suitcase, or make a juice popcycle. When a child discovers he doesn't know how to do something special agent Oso receives an alert and comes to the rescue to teach the child how to do whatever it is. Today my girls were watching it and they started talking amongst themselves. Alexis said, "I don't understand why they need Special Agent Oso. They have parents." Emily commented back, "Yeah. That's what Mommies and Daddies are for. To teach you these things." :)

Family Vacation to Indianapolis

This month, Don happened to have several days off in a row, so we decided to take a little family vacation. After discussing a few possibilities, we decided to go to Indianapolis. We knew there was this huge children's museum there, a zoo, and best of all just an hour away some old friends from Florida. So we told the girls and they got so excited. All they talked about was going on vacation for a week before we left. I didn't even have to convince them to go to bed for 3 days before we left because, in their words, "The sooner we go to sleep the faster morning comes and that means one less day until vacation!" Finally it was Wednesday. We packed the car and headed off. It was only a 3 1/2 hour drive, but after an hour and a half, Emily started with, "Are we there yet?" Finally we made it to our first stop - Muncie, Indiana. It's about an hour Northeast of Indianapolis and they have a children's museum there that we got into free because of our membership to The Works. It was really cute. It was geared for younger children, (I'd say maybe under 10?), and so it was perfect for our kids.

Our little bee keepers

Our baby beekeeper

They LOVED this cute miniature kitchen just their size. They cooked us a delicious pretend meal.

They wanted to sit with Ronald McDonald in the baby play area.

Our little fisher girls.


Alexis and Emily playing store together.

Ashley milking a cow. Water actually came out of the udders when you "milked" it.

Climbing in the ant tunnels.

After the museum, we headed to Indianapolis and arrived at our hotel completely exhausted. We ate dinner and took the girls swimming and then tucked everyone into bed.

Emily

Alexis

Ashley loved being tossed in the air by Daddy. She would squeal, "One, two, three!" (Or in her words, "Wa, two, weee!" and he would toss her high and she would laugh and laugh.

The next day we headed to Indianapolis to the huge children's museum there. We researched it beforehand and according to what we read it's rated the #1 children's museum in the world. After visiting, I can say I see why. It's huge! There are 5 floors of exhibits. This museum is geared for kids of all ages and had not only areas for hands on creative play and exploration, but also had lots of educational exhibits on a variety of topics. We barely got through the whole place before it closed. After wards we headed back to the hotel for more swimming and relaxing.

Peeking inside a glass tunnel at the trains.

Ashley on the phone.

Emily's hatching dinosaur eggs.

riding a pretend train

Playing in the dinosaur area.

splashing at the water table

sand table

playing instruments in an Egyptian show parade

Ashley loved this barrel much more than the blocks to build pyramids that came inside of it.

I think the fish is attacking the shark for a change.

Ashley's first horse ride. :)


a cool treehouse

saying goodbye to the dinosaur

The next day we headed off to the zoo. We frequent the Columbus Ohio zoo, and I'd say the Indianapolis zoo isn't nearly as big, but it was still a very nice zoo. We got lots of up close looks at different animals, got to view a neat dolphin show, ride on a few rides, and play at a splash pad. Afterwards we took the girls to a little cafe called "Mayberry Cafe". It's based upon the Andy Griffith Show and is decorated with pictures and signs from the Andy Griffith Show. All the menu items are based on the show and there's even the actual police car used on the car parked out front. It was really delicious food. We spent one more night at the hotel and swam that evening.

Ashley with the penguins


penguin exhibit

watching for sea lions

When Alexis heard they were going to a shark petting area, she looked at us in shock and said, "No way! I'm not petting sharks! Are you nuts?"

Ashley kept making her fish sign, (smacking her lips together).

carousel ride


This was the new baby giraffe, just 4 weeks old.

train ride

They screamed and screamed on the roller coaster.

We stopped for lunch and the girls fed some birds near our table some cracker crumbs and bread crumbs. The baby saw this and began throwing crackers and bread at the birds as well. With each throw we'd hear a little grunt as if she were working hard to throw the crumbs far enough. Later at the farm animal area there were horses behind a fence with a huge sign saying, "Do not feed the animals". The girls were reaching in and petting the horses when we heard a little grunt. We looked down and saw the baby had thrown her whole box of raisins inside the fence and the horse was now eating them. Needless to say, we moved on in a hurry. :)

fun at the water splash pad


Ashley kept saying "Baaa!" over and over again in the goat area.

The mayberry police car.

The following day we headed to Bloomington, IN to visit our friends. Don has known Joe since before his mission and we all became friends after we moved to Florida when we first got married. They had a baby girl a few months after we had Alexis and the girls spent the first couple of years of their life toddling around together on Sundays and going to each other's birthday parties. They were so excited to see each other and at one point we heard them saying, "I missed you so much." "I missed you, too." It was so sweet. They are already planning when they can see each other again. :) We stayed there all day on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday evening at bedtime we headed home so the kids could sleep on the way. We had such a great time.

The whole gang. From left to right: Abagail, Joe, Natasha, Alexis, Ashley, and Emily.

Harvest Time

We've had so much fun with our garden this year. Honestly, Don does most of the work with it. It's something he enjoys doing and gets excited about. He loves to experiment and try new things with it and has already started talking about what he's going to try next year. But the whole family has enjoyed the produce that came from it and I've spent many hours dicing, freezing, and baking with what we've had. We've had more tomatoes than we can handle, zucchini, carrots, HOT peppers, (we didn't realize they were until they grew), pumpkins, cantaloupe, honeydew, potatoes, and corn. We planted a BUNCH of corn. Unfortunately we figured out too late we planted it a bit too close together. :( So we did get some ears but not nearly as much as we thought we'd get. Most of the stalks were bare. But next year we'll try again and we'll know better. The girls helped me shuck the ears we did get and we've all had some. It's delicious!



Ashley just got finished getting blueberries all over herself at snacktime and now she can't wait to dig into corn on the cob.

Alexis is nervously watching a bee.

Emily loves this job. She always asks to help "peel" the corn whenever we have it.