Monday, July 30, 2012

The Fire Station

Seth and I were reading a Barney book about firefighters. This started Seth asking all kinds of questions about fires. We had visited the Jackson Township Fire Department 2 years ago (Seth would have been 4), but Seth didn't remember it. So we decided to set up another visit to the fire station. We went one evening and got to see the firetrucks and all the equipment they have on board, an ambulance, the living quarters, the kitchen and the sleeping quarters. We also learned some fire safety tips and what to do if there is a fire at our house.

Learning about the fire engines

Stop, Drop and Roll?

In an ambulance

Taking Isabelle's pulse
It was neat to see our firestation!


Friday, July 27, 2012

Big Time Rush!

A few month ago, I bought Big Time Rush concert tickets for Isabelle and me. July 5th was their concert! This was Isabelle's second concert - we went to a Wiggles concert when she was just 2!
Big Time Rush (BTR) is a band of 4 guys (James, Kendall, Carlos and xxxx) who have 2 CD's out, a movie and a t.v. show on Nickelodeon. Isabelle really likes them - James is her favorite. Her birthday party this year had a BTR theme and she has talked A LOT about them!

Isabelle's friend Emma and her mom, Heather, went to the concert with us. First we took the girls to dinner at O'Charley's in Grove City.

Isabelle & Emma at O'Charley's
The concert was at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

Before going in to the concert. Signs by Isabelle.
Picture a LOT of girls screaming, waving and holding up signs. It was a loud atmosphere, but totally fun!

View from near the back as we walked in. Our seats were to the right of the stage, the first section up and the fifth row (Row E).

Opening act #1, Rachel Crow

Opening act #2, Cody Simpson

Girls waiting for the concert to begin

Heather tweeted a photo of the girls to the Big Time Rush Columbus Concert page and they made it to the big screen!

View of the arena from our seats. The stage was to the right of this photo area.

Happy ladies (notice Isabelle's BTR shirt)
There they are!!

Logan, James, Kendall, Carlos
Emma & Isabelle watching the concert



They performed a Beatles song ("I Wanna Hold Your Hand")


All of their music was excellent! They kept the show going and the crowd loved it. It was a great night!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Family Fun on Friday

Today we all were home on a Friday! That almost never happens. We decided to make the most of it and have some family fun. In the morning, we went to Bicentennial Park in downtown Columbus. This park includes Scioto Mile Fountain, which is basically a splash pad for kids and adults of all ages. Many fountains of water shoot up from the ground, ranging from low fountains to high fountains that constantly change. You never know when the streams of water are going to rise up above your head! There are also several very high rings that shoot water out. We all had fun there, but I think Seth enjoyed it most of all as he ran across all of the lines of water many times.


Caught between the walls of water

Isabelle running through



Cutie!
While there, we discovered this Time Capsule that will be opened in the year 2110. We'd be really lucky if any of us ever find out what is in here :)


After resting in the early afternoon, we made some "cow shirts". This may seem like a weird thing to do, but today was National Cow Appreciation Day at Chick Fil A. Anyone wearing a cow costume got free food! Chick Fil A's website even had some cutouts - ears, a tail, a nose and black spots - to print and make your own costume. So we made our own cow shirts, and Isabelle made her own entire outfit. Thankfully, we were not the only ones dressed as cows at the restaurant!






What a great Friday!

Monday, July 9, 2012

The Wilds

Saturday, June 23rd, we surprised the kids with a trip to The Wilds. We told them a day before that we were going to a surprise place, as long as they were good that day :) Seth claimed to hate surprises and kept begging us to tell him where we were going. Isabelle asked a bunch of yes/no questions to try to figure it out. We didn't tell them where we were going until about an hour before we left!

The Wilds is in Cumberland, Ohio, which is just east of Zanesville. It is the largest conservation area in North America (click the link to read more about it). The drive there was about an hour and a half. Isabelle watched the movie "Bratz" on the way, Seth played with his LeapPad and Parker watched some of the movie, but got restless and cried for a bit. We stopped to stretch our legs and buy some dum-dum suckers and that made Parker happier.

Once we got there, we checked in and hopped right onto the bus. It was a neat bus with a roof but no windows. Thankfully, it was not crowded and there were several little kids on the bus. We picked a shorter tour, 1 1/2 hours, that was designed for younger kids. Surprisingly, we had a nice breeze on the bus and the temperature was quite comfortable.





Our tour guide/bus driver was Dixie. Isabelle noted that she has a doll named Dixie. We saw several different species of animals as we rode along the gravel path throughout the park.

Persian Onager (wild donkeys)

The wild donkeys came right up to the bus. We weren't permitted to touch them.

Bactarian Camel - endangered. They store fat in their two humps. Dixie told us that camels do not spit like a lot of people believe.

Baby and Mama camels

We were pretty close to them

Isabelle petting the baby camel

Greater One-Horned Asian Rhino - endangered

Przewalski's Wild Horse - endangered

The wild horses also came right up to the bus

Giraffes - Among the trees, the giraffes didn't seem that tall, but they were!

Grevy's Zebra - endangered


Pere David's Deer - extinct in the wild

Fringe-Eared Oryx

A female Ostrich (the male was black)
The last stop of our tour was a building we went in and learned about more animals and got to touch them. Parker didn't like this part of the tour, so he didn't get to pet any animals.

A Possum


Armadillo

Boys having fun

Sloth (she's feeding him grapes)

Baby Cheetah (we were not permitted to touch her because she's so young and not totally comfortable with people yet)

On our way out, we touched a baby Alligator

Our tour bus

After our tour, we stayed for lunch and ate outside. We could see people zipping along the zipline. Hopefully we'll get to do that with the kids when they're older. It was a great day!