Adventures at Potter Park Zoo

We've kept our zoo membership, despite using it less than pre-pandemic, and this summer we enjoyed a couple of events!

The first was the family night.  They fed us hotdogs, drinks, chips and cookies.  

The birdhouse was a favorite, as usual.  Poor Billy didn't get to feed them though, as they only had one stick avialable per child, and none for sale. = (

They also had activities like coloring and a hula-hoop "dance party." 

This might well be the final year that they will all fit on this turtle!

Since Billy met us there, he and the big girls were able to leave, while the 3 little ones and I stayed to see things that we missed the first walk through.

My favorite part was getting to go inside buildings and see areas that are normally not accessible to members! We got to go inside the veterinary clinic and see all the medical items they use to care for the animals.  We also got a tour of the rhino house, it was very cool to see too!  Everything is so big in there.

The next week, Billy and I returned to the zoo for a brew at the zoo event.  It was much smaller than our previous visit, but enjoyable right up until the mosquitoes joined us. 

We used uber for the first time, and after the zoo headed to old town to check out the evening scene there.  It was a bit of a staycation, in the sense that we booked a hotel only a few miles from our house, but it was enough of a get away for me!

I was worried that the evening wouldn't happen between Billy flying for work (a day trip) and getting in late, and my mom being needed by my Grandma and Uncle in Oklahoma, but it all worked out in the end.

We renewed our membership for another year, hopefully we'll be able to visit a few times this year, maybe even plan a school day there!

later days

Edit: this post was written in September, but I've added it to August for chronological consistency.

Alice Answers Her Birthday Survey: 12-years-old

While it is mid-September, I am apparently more on time than last year! It hasn't even been a month since our oldest turned 12. So, here are her survey answers this year.

I am 12 years old.
My favorite color is: pink
The coolest person on earth is: mutti B)
The thing I do best is: draw n stuff
If I could change my name, it would be: alasuar
My favorite toy is: amber (My stuff tabby cat)
When I grow up, I want to be: a pet groomer!
I like to watch: animations
My favorite song is: natrual by imagine dragons
My favorite book is: ew reading
3 words to describe me are: Crazy, cute, lazy
When I was little, I used to: be like: very cringy- i over used uwu and owo and B3
My favorite season is: winter
The food I like most is: shrimp
One food I really don't like is: rasin cookies (Daddy is weird)
My best friend is: Willow, lana, asia, audrey, and other
For my birthday I want to: get a pet hamster! or hermit crab, a axolol ANYTHING
My best memory is: being born

There was a big groan when I asked her to fill it out this year, but she was all cheer and giggles when she finished. ; )

I love my 12 year old Alisaur.

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You can check out last year's answers here.

Edit: While completed in September, I've added it to her most recent birthday, to be found more easily in the future.

Alice turns 12!!

Somehow, my little bitty baby Alice turned 12 this year!  She is somewhere between a child and a teenager, but as always, she is at my favorite age.  

The night before her birthday, Emily attempted to help hold up 11 fingers, since Alice ran out. ; )

Avia came over in the morning to sing and have some birthday cake for breakfast.  She got a lot of roblox gift cards, and a few other things from her list.

There are a lot of candles on that cake! Happiest of birthdays to my favorite Alice in the entire world!

Check out her birthday survey here.

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Her 11th Birthday.

edit: This post was written in September, but published to help keep things in chronological order.

First Day of School 2021

We started school around the 3rd week of August, so, our normal time, and yet, many of the schools in Texas started a week before we did! There were schools in Michigan though, that did not start until after a very late labor day.  Coronavirus has had some strange side effects.

It is our second year of homeschooling, and it feels much less stressful than last year, when we were all new to the regimen. 

The twins are now in the same grade Alice was in, when we first moved to Michigan.  Alice seemed much older in second grade, I guess that's how it works between the oldest and youngest.

A few of the outtake pictures, while we were waiting for Alice.

 We are looking forward to a fun school year focused on the American Revolution!

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Edit: While written in mid-September, I've lined it up, date-wise, to match the date the pictures were taken, on our first day of school.

Sunflowers

Just before we started our school year, I saw that a nearby cider mill was offering their sunflower field for photograph opportunities.  Much to Alice's dismay we made the trip out, and she was a trooper.

Avia came with us, only to learn that Alice has now surpassed her in height.

Once Alice fulfilled her obligation to take a group shot and her individual poses, she and Avia returned to the cafe to wait for us to finish and return.

We found a few sunflowers that were just begging for poses, so we posed for a few shots using my cellphone camera.

Alice might disagree, but I thought it was a fun time.  We bought some donuts and cider to take home.  I was happy to finally find a local sunflower picture spot, because in year's past, the drive to further venues prevented me from making a long trip for the short time it takes to snap a few pictures. = )

The cloud cover made for beautiful pictures!  I'm so happy to have an updated posed picture of my entire crew.

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Edit: This post was written in September, but back dated for continuity. 

The Other Fun Events of July

 Emily and Grace helped me with a Yard Sale.  It was pretty cool, and the mosquitoes were terrible, but we sold lots of stuff.  The kids made some money on a covid lemonade stand: Bottled water & mix your own lemonade pack.  And, my streak of no more than one car at the end of a sale still holds up!

I'm in use up gift card mode, and that took us on a trip to Panera!  We were returning the school shoes that we had ordered online that did not fit, and Panera was a nice convenient stop.

For Avia's birthday, Haley flew up from Texas and Sarah agreed to a picture.  I made a German chocolate cake for all to enjoy, but I think Avia enjoyed it the most.  = )  Hopefully she had a great birthday!

We had some playdates this month, and when Abby came, she went with Emily to the mural meeting.  Grace wanted to go too.

William attended a board breaking camp, and loved it so much, we signed him up for karate.  It's twice a week, and he's already earned his white belt!

As part of the summer reading program, the kids all received a book coupon to a book store in East Lansing.  So, we headed that way to pick out books, eat a pizza lunch, and then went to cold stone (to use up another gift card that I had had in my walled for years.)  I told the kids that Cold Stone is where Daddy and I went on our first date when we were in college.  They were all shocked, because their initial thought was that we came to this particular one. lol.

Alice did not eat lunch, so she skipped the ice cream and went back to the car with Avia.  The other four wanted to recreate the picture that I took of Daddy in the snow. = )

Grace's friend Zoey invited us to go out to MooVille with them.  It was a much more fulfilling experience this go round.  Everyone enjoyed some ice cream, the petting zoo and playground!  We attempted to go to the park in nearby Nashville that we had spied on our previous trip, but there were so many mosquitoes, that even with spray it was unenjoyable.

At his last appointment, we learned that William gained enough weight (yay!) to move up to the next dosing of his medication.  An unforeseen consequence of this is that we will now be receiving two shipments of medication, since he will be taking two shots.  = /

Building towers with the twins!

later days