Nature Center Adventures

Last week I had a few vacation days that I had to use or lose by the end of June--so of course I used them! On Monday I took Nathan to daycare and spent all day cleaning out, cleaning up and setting up Nathan's big boy room! That will get it's own blog post (of course) once I'm all finished decorating it. On Tuesday Nathan and I ran errands together and then went and visited Daddy at work. Visiting Daddy's shop is about the coolest thing that Nathan could possibly think to do, and he had a ball checking out all of the car projects in process there before we went to lunch.

On Wednesday Nathan and I met up with my dear friend Maureen and her daughter Gretchen for some fun at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. The weather was perfect, and both kids were really excited about seeing all of the animals at the barn. After lots of ooh-ing and ahh-ing and squealing over the livestock, we (well, mostly Nathan while Gretchen, Maureen and I followed along) ran around exploring the beautiful grounds. Snack time allowed Mo and I some snippets of conversation--carrying on a convo with two busy toddlers is no small feat--and N and G had fun with "monkey see, monkey do" activities such as throwing rocks into the fountain and pushing their own strollers. It was the perfect way to spend a summer morning, and resulted in a nice long afternoon nap!

Gretchen and Maureen checking out a bunny.

Goats!

Chickens! Nathan was laughing and chanting "bock, bock, bock" to the chickens--and they "bocked" right back at him--hilarious!

This picture gives the illusion of a child relaxing. It is only due to my camera's fast shutter speed that I was able to capture such a very brief moment of repose before he lept off and ran to explore another nook or cranny of the nature center!

Bunnies!

Putting stones into the fountain. Miraculously, they did not end up soaking wet after this project!

Pushing their own strollers back to the car. It will shock you to know that this is a much less efficient mode of travel than when the kids are riding inside the strollers. Nonetheless, we made it in one piece to the cars.