JBZ with Daddy!

We took a trip to the zoo with Daddy.  We had to use our membership one more time before it started getting chilly!  All the animals put on a show today.  Never saw so many of them up close and personal.

                                                                                                    Always a good place to take a picture.  

                       The bears                                                     Getting the kids to look happy is another story...

 

Look closely and you will see the leopard.

Pretty pink flamingos.

We had to have a once a year splurge and ride the camel.  If I remember correctly it was $20 to go around  a circle 3 times.  Redonkculous.  But the kids loved it :)

Pretty sure this lioness was nice and close too.  And loud.

Not quite sure how I feel about her staring at Adelyn...

No zoo trip is complete without a visit to Brecken's extended relatives.

Moose got stuck.  What's a Momma to do, other than take pictures, of course ;)

3 Little Princesses

We had a stay at home indoor day today.  It was much needed.  We went downstairs and Adelyn wanted to play dress up.  Of course Brecken and Joelle had to get in on it too.  Just don't tell Eric.. ;)

Oh my word.  Love the look on B's face!  He looks so humiliated!

Hey.  At least he always picks the blue skirt.

                 Hugs for Brecken!                                                                          Hugs for Jojo!

 

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures done by Rachelle Rae Photography.  She is our friend Tiffany's cousin and takes pictures based out of GR.  I was originally going to do them at the beach because we haven't done that yet.  I then decided to do a location in GR.  We haven't really done the "urban" theme yet, either.  Oh.my.word can I tell you the kids were just terrible?  Adelyn had on a pair of sandals that she HATED and she complained about them immensely.  Finally I took them off and gave her a different pair.  Brecken was his typical, annoying, boy-like self and wouldn't sit still and was getting into everything.  Joelle was just plain crabby.  There was one point where she was just SCREAMING and Eric told me on the way home that he has never heard her scream like that.  Which isn't true..but that's just how loud she was.  I knew that we got some good shots so I wasn't concerned about that.  I WAS concerned poor Rachelle was never going to take pictures again.  Thankfully, she still does.  

 Family pic by the RR tracks.  Adelyn was scared a train was going to hit her.  No joke.

This sweet, sassy, almost FOUR year old is so cute.

 

I now know why Eric wanted me to cut his curls off.  They were moderately ridiculous but now he looks way too old.. :( 

 Where are my babies going?!  Seriously.  Isn't she a doll?

I have this enlarged, on canvas.  Love them.

 Notice the shoe switcheroo?  Argh. I pick my battles and that was not going to be one of them...at that time.

Once again, speaks to me.  

We see this face a lot...

 from both of them...

  

 Apparently, she is trying to prove that nail biting can be cute..

 Always sticking "treasures" in his pockets.  He hates pants with fake pockets.

Jojo.  SUCH a pretty little lady.  And so, so sassy.

He is a stud muffin.  I know.

*I* certainly love him.

A keeper.

I love this one but Eric says he could be removed from it too easily.  We have been watching to much Prison Break lately..

Two of my favorite people.

I hope she never loses her deliciously chubby cheeks.  I adore them.

 

and I adore her.

OH.MY.WORD.  Miss Attitude.  Haha.

Thanks again, Rachelle!  I love, love, love them.  For the 23rd time, so sorry the mass chaos.

A Pinterest craft that actually worked...

...really well.  I saw this on Pinterest a while ago and knew I would want to try it when the fruit flies got crazy.  I canned 4 bushels of tomatoes and fruit flies LOVE tomatoes.  I had hoards of them in the house.  After I started canning I made my contraption because I was sick of them buzzing around.  It worked so well.  Eric was so impressed when he came home from work.  He went to work the next day and told everyone about it and made one for the break room.  Ha.

Proof.  The nastiness that is a lot of fruit flies.  So, SO gross.

Applesauce.

Ugh.  Every year I am a glutton for punishment when it comes to the month of August.  But then we enjoy the benefits for the rest of the year.  Last year I did 3 bushels of apples and we ran out in the middle of winter so I bought another bushel and made it last until now.  I decided to start off with 4 bushels, right off the bat and that is a lot of sauce.  My mom also did 2 bushels and Tiff did 2 bushels too.  If you were counting that's a total of 8 bushels that we had to do...  I have 50 something stuffed quart bags.  My inside freezer has a ton of bags and so does my outside freezer.  

It was only my mom and I at first so these cuties "had" to help because Papa decided to work over time and not come watch them.  They were actually pretty good.  We just kept them busy gently putting throwing apples in the sink to be washed.  Tiff came over around 6, my dad came over at 7 and Eric started helping us after the kids were in bed.  Then we were cruising.  We managed to finish 6 bushels that night..and 2 another day.

How bout dem apples?!?!

Not sure what was going on with the blurry pictures but it is what it is sometimes.  They are still cute.  It's a good thing I like my kids.  AND my kids LOVE applesauce.

Daddy's Work Party::Michigan's Adventure!

Eric had his work party at Michigan's Adventure again this year and while a bit chilly for the water park it was awesome for the rides.  We had my mom and dad watch B and J again and just took A.  So much easier.  They would be a wreck and there isn't much they can ride.  We felt like she enjoyed it so much more, this year.  She's 3 1/2 and can finally, truly, handle not having a nap.  She actually gets excited about rides and expresses which ones she wants to do.  She has reached the magical 42 inch height requirement and can ride most of the rides.  46 inches is the final stop before you can ride everything.  Maybe next year the way she keeps growing. 

**Eric doesn't do rides.  That's why I am in all the pictures ;)**

The whale ride.  One of the most annoying rides there.

Except for the Merry Go Round.  I made him step up to the plate for that one.  Ha.

Roller Coaster!

Adelyn loves the car rides (and fire engines!)  The little girl next to her was so sweet and moved over so Adelyn could sit in the front too.

The boat ride.  Another of A's favorites.

Dumbo.  At first she wouldn't make it go up and down.  Then she realized how it worked.

The water park.  We were in there for about an hour, which was plenty long.  We went down this slide multiple times.

Daddy managed to stomach this slide too.

One of the little slides she would actually do by herself.

We squeezed in quite a few more rides before we left.  This is a new one for Adelyn and she loved it.  It was actually pretty crazy and I didn't think she would like it.  But she did.  ...and in every single one of my pictures the boy in front of us has the same expression on his face...

The motorcycles.  Love her face :)

Had to ride the boats again :)

So much fun.  I love that they have their work party at such a fun place.  We talked about taking Brecken and Joelle next year and I think they get to stay with Nana and Papa one more year.  3 was so much better than 2.