Dirt Zoo

Benny studying his Ninja Turtles coloring book. 

We (me, kids, Emily) met up w some besties at the Plumpton Park Zoo in MD. It was this family owned zoo and recently 2 individuals bought it. I wanted to go bc I heard they let you feed the giraffes. Turns out for some reason that wasn't happening on Wed BUT I loved this ghetto zoo.  I'm taking Jim there ASAP. 

This is our crew. 

First animal was a monkey w a bald spot on his bum from itching. He was really cute. 

Us feeding donkeys. 

Rectangle-pupiled goat. 

Sheep

Below is Ben gazing at Jimmie the Giraffe who I longed to feed. Ever since I fed a giraffe cool ranch Doritos from the Beitler-mobile in junior high at the drive through safari in six flags great adventure, I've been dreaming of this. 

This turkey had the kids hysterically belly laughing as it angrily gobbled. But I kept feeling guilty about it bc what if it just hates being a zoo exhibit? 

THIS was crazy. A brown bear like 8 inches away. He looks so snuggled, it's hard to imagine one attacking you in the wild.

The crew minus Sam. 

The original 3. 

Alligator "house."

There was a really spacious playground and picnic area in the zoo too. Such a beautiful day we stayed for hours. 

Then Em and me and the kids went for pizza nearby and Rita's. It was such a fun time. 

We picked Em up at play practice and the kids got to play on the playground equipment at her school.  Benny was really nervous around slides until yesterday. He's a cautious little dude! 

These 3! How beautiful is this pic? The sky...

Drexel's Natural Sciences Museum

We bought a fam plus membership to this museum since it was about $10 more dollars than a regular entry fee for all of us (this happens a lot w a fam of 4 or more I've noticed) so if anyone wants to join us to this museum we are down any time! 

As I was getting tickets, I look over to see these depressing goons. I had to laugh at how miserable everyone looked. 

We had lured Ben there w the idea that there were dinosaurs. Well, Hilly was terrified the entire time of the dinosaurs we were going to see and when she is afraid she sort of just checks out. She doesn't usually admit it at museums and zoos, etc.   

Anyway, we saw the special tarantula exhibit first. Below the girls are looking at scorpions. 

More scorpions. 

The tarantulas were enormous and hairy. It was awful. And there were hundreds. And some of them live in the southern US. Looks like CA w it's earthquakes and sharks might actually be the ideal place to live. 

Next up was the welcome butterfly garden. They flew freely in this humid room and while butterflies freak me out in the wild, it was really beautiful. We all loved it. 

We learned that butterflies taste w their feet. 

This large butterfly below is from Malaysia and lives for only 3 days because it was born without a mouth. From an evolutionary standpoint, jim and I were pretty impressed. 

We ate pirate booty by this moose, which has been at this museum since the 1930s (although it's antlers have been replaced bc they wanted a bigger set). This museum is pretty old. Madison was president when it opened and next to each taxidermied display it tells which expedition these animals were caught and in what year. So the gorillas were caught in an expedition in Africa in like 1933 or something. I tried to explain this to the kids. Who knows what sunk in. Probably nothing but pirate booty. But I tried, right? 

Benny's fave- the dinosaur floor. He loved it! So did Jack. Hill was freaked. 

Hill was also freaked by these lions. 

We drove around our fave parts of philly, grabbed lunch at my old fave market and hilly came home and promptly put on her favorite outfit. 

The kids played like crazy for the rest of the day. They loved this special day w dada. 

Ben's big day

I didn't realize jim would be home today from work so I arranged for the girls to have a day of gymnastics camp w their buddy, Abby. For some reason I just missed them so much today. But it was just me, Jim and Ben. At one point Jim and I were gazing at Benny and he looked at me and then Jim and then back and forth and said "you two stop looking at me." Then he felt bad and gave us permission to look. 

Ultimately we took a ton of crap to Goodwill and then stopped by to say hi to Grammy and Pops at Ben's request and then decided to take him to the Charcoal Pit. His maiden voyage. 

It did not disappoint. He isn't into coloring yet so he isn't the most patient little diner at a restaurant while waiting for his food. But his chocolate milk entertained him while his grilled cheese was being artfully assembled in the back. He request apples sauce over fries but was disappointed and confused when it arrived in a bowl as opposed to a pouch. He called it "green." 

He said at the end "I am tired. I'm gonna take a nap on mommy." He didn't, but he slept for 2.5 hours when we got home. 

We all went to pick up the girls and when jim went in, hilly of course was sitting on someone's lap charming them away.  They had a good time. Apparently their friend Abby was rude to them a little at first, which Jackie said almost made her cry. I have seen her be rude to people too, so I tried to create some sort of weird teachable moment that didn't make sense. Jim witnessed the entire disaster. Oh well. Better luck next time.  Anyway, they worked on their activity books, read books, worked on their artistic endeavors, played w their little bro and went to bed. 

Good Friday, Saturday, Easter

Good Friday began with decorate large bunny heads. Hilly's bunnies always have buck teeth which cracks me up. 

Jack was a serious study in bunny creation. 

Also, we found ants and set up a liquid bait ant trap and spent HOURS watching the ants come and drink the poison. We learned so much about any behavior. I actually thought "I should've been an insect researcher." 

Begging for.... I forget. Could've been ANYTHING. 

The most beautiful gift EVER- a fairy garden for the kids. They LOVE this. The girls play w this for hours and are so careful with it. It's so creative. It's from our neighbors, Em and Miss Amy. 

As is this pool!! I am pretty excited for the summer w this baby. As are the kids. 

It's really big!! I told Em that in the evening I will be wading in the pool alone w my glass of wine. 

That afternoon P and crew and arm and the other neighbors came over for pizza and to dye eggs. I bought this glitter egg dye that was so complicated and strange. The first instruction was to "read the instructions." Should've been an omen! Nonetheless we ended up w 3 dozen glittered eggs. Chaotic to say the least! But also a really fun evening. 

Saturday Jim took the kids to the park to play soccer and then after Ben napped we hit up a DE 87ers basketball game. 

The kids love eating hot dogs in the stands. Benny gets really into the music. Hilly is the hardest to keep occupied. 

The Easter bunny was there!! This was checked off our list as we hadn't seen him this year yet. 

Then we all went out to dinner and went to the playground, took baths and hit the hay. 

Which is when the Easter bunny filled baskets and hid eggs. 

This morning we spent the morning egg hunting and opening baskets. We drove to aunt D's and had our egg hunt. Below is my little gummy bear hunting eggs. 

Connor and Hilly (wearing her new PJ's from Gma) dashing for eggs. 

Hill. 

Jax

Benny

Nenna and the gals. 

Gabe passed out like an old man at thanksgiving. 

The ride home was silent. The kids all fell asleep. They are nothing but candy all day. They ran and played outside at Aunt D's w their dada and uncles and cousins.  It was a wonderful Easter. 

Stolen from SIL blog:

A shot of me egg hunting at my dad's fam Easter w the kiddos. I'm rarely in shots so I have to steal ones I am in so my kids believe I was there one day! Common mommy prob

Today. Large group shot. I am cutting my hair after seeing this pic. Because, ya know, it's all about me. But seriously- how cute are my mom and Jack in this pic. The adults are so into the egg hunt- what a great fam! 

Nenna and jim and Jack. 

Sweet baby Gabe and Mick and Nenna and Gma D- egg hunt prep.