Drowning Worms with the Zoo Crew

We had sooooooooooooooooo much fun spending the last Saturday of Uncle Larry's visit chillin' at a local man-made lake drowning worms.  It was a beautiful day, not too hot outside, breezy and sunny.  First, of course, we had to feed the peeps.  Had a nice picnic, with made to order sandwiches, courtesy of Mrs. Ashley and Mommy.  And then, it was off to the lake...

Abbey fed a few geese--we will excuse her since the "Do not feed the geese!" signs were waaaaaay above her head!-- by chasing them down and pelting them with bread crusts.

Thanks to Mitchell & Uncle Larry, this Mommy never had to touch a worm. (YAY!...so NOT my thing!)  Hooks were baited, lines were cast and children were amazingly patient. 

Matthew came up with the first fish...YAY!  He caught a total of seven for the day.

Ben was the king of "I caught one!" that turned out to be a clump of grass or a rock or a soda can...  He DID catch a fish or two, but Mommy was off trying to score some more worms, so she missed it.  (And do you THINK anyone else could use the camera??  Of COURSE not!) 

Looking for the big fish near the bridge.

Abbey caught two.  Patrick's best catch was Katie. YUP--Katie!  She was sitting next to him as he fished, when he decided to recast his line.  He flicked it up with a hook full of lake bottom gook, which landed right on her lap.  Never saw a lethargic summertime teen move so quickly out of a chair!!  She hopped up, shrieked like a banshee--and might have wet her pants just a little.

Matthew spotted a "really big fish" that ate at least 2 of our bobbers, so he followed it over toward the bridge.  Turned out it was a turtle that REALLY liked ham. ;-)

What a fun day!  Thanks for clueing us in to this fun spot, Mitch & Ash!!  Check out more pics in the slideshow here:

Matthew on the Move

Mrs. Blumenthal & Mrs. McDonald hand out the certificates.

June was a busy month for Matthew-man!  He finished his elementary school career at the Valley Celebration of 5th Grade Excellence.  What a lovely event...each child was featured with photos from their time at Valley, including side by side kindergarten & 5th grade photos.  The majority of these kiddles have been together since kindergarten; they were the very first class of full-day K students at Valley, too.   BIG moment for our Matthew-man!

Matt & his Fave Teacher, Mr. Nikirk

At the end of the month, Matthew celebrated his 11th birthday.  Hard to believe our middle beastie is now a 'tween!!  (He has quite proudly announced that fact with great glee!)  He's very excited about the summer and heading off to middle school in the fall.  Even better...he has a summer Kids on Campus class with his very own Mr. Nikirk!  Celebrating with the family yielded a plethora of wonderfully silly photos...enjoy the slideshow below:





Funny story on the cake...I stopped to pick the cake at Cold Stone (hey...why mess with a winning combo?), but thanks to all the traffic, I missed the cake designer by a few minutes.  The only folks left to do the writing on the cake?  A couple of VERY high school boys....not a one of 'em could write with the icing, LOL.  So it was left to the Mommy at home...and even then, da Mama did better than the samples from the guys. Poor Matthew.

Happy birthday, Middle Child of Mine!!

Miss Gremlin Turns SEVEN??

SEVEN Year Old Abbey--complete with icing!

Is it even possible that it's been a whole seven years since this adorable face joined the Zoo Crew?  Not sure how it happened, but, well...there it is.  Abbey celebrated seven years as the youngest beast in our menagerie this month.  On the big day, we celebrated with family time, presents & a tasty Cold Stone Creamery ice cream cake.  YUMMY!!

Even the Abbey sets cake aside for presents. ;-)

To celebrate with her friends, Abbey invited a few beloved darlings to join us for a movie and ice cream.  We checked out the local multiplex and a matinee showing of Judy Moody's Not So Bummer Summer.  The girls were sooooo much fun to hang with!!  Don't think that Maggie Moos will ever be the same after we descended on 'em...and, of course, we made time for a little impromptu photo shoot.

The movie-going girlies!

Silly beasties posing prettily!

Happy 7th birthday, darling bunny baby!!