butterfly kisses

On Wednesday afternoons, the locals get free admission to the Museum of Life and Science. Today we spent most of our time at the outside exhibits. I wasn't expecting the animals to be that active since it's been hot and muggy here, but this afternoon a storm moved in and it seemed to stir up some activity within the creature features. We saw the bears, wolves, and lemurs in "natural" habitats and the domesticated goats, sheep, a donkey and a steer at the farmyard. The steer was quite talkative and I think both the intensity of his mooing and his size (although he couldn't have been much out of the calf stage of his life) intimidated Madeline. Most baby books don't give you anything to compare an animal's scale to, so I'm sure she was taken aback at how big this steer seemed in comparison to all the other animals she's ever seen close-up (dogs and cats). We also leisured around the butterfly house, enjoying the flora and the fauna. Here's Madeline's version of butterfly kisses:

yummy

Madeline discovered a bag of peaches on the counter and pulled it down so she could inspect the produce. After taking bites from all three specimens, she settled in on one and chomped away. She wasn't even phased by the juice running down her arms.
We missed it this year, but I think she'll enjoy the NC Peach festival next year. And I think we'll need to re-evaluate just how far "out of her reach" really should be.

new playground

Sink cabinets are so fun! Mom and Dad have moved all of the yucky stuff out from under them so there's plenty of room to sit and explore. The drain pipes and the disposal are fun to tap on and my kitty friend likes to come into this little cave, too.

happy birthday

Josh turned 29 today! It was a low-key celebration (per the birthday boy's wishes): we celebrated by grabbing some NY-style pizza for dinner and then perused the shelves at a video game store so that Josh could pick out his birthday present. He chose:

summer daze

We spent Sunday afternoon at Gma and Gpa L's with our friends Zack, Fer and Curtis -- most of our time was spent lounging in the water. What a relaxing way to spend a summer afternoon!

Grandpa L, Josh and Madeline

We capped off our summer fun with a trip to the local ice cream shop, conveniently located just down the road from Gma and Gpa's house. We give the Black Walnut, Cookies & Cream, and Dark Almond flavors two thumbs up (the Cookie Dough was not as impressive).Madeline also got a quick introduction to the world of bikers while we were there -- since this little shop is located just off the highway, it seems to be a popular spot for the weekend motorcyclists. I think Miss M might have been a little jealous of their rides, considering the motorcycle she "rides" in the park doesn't make any fun noises like the real ones do!

independence day

We met up with Adrian, Abby, Linus, Chelsea & Jonathan on the morning of the 4th to participate in the Children's Independence Day Parade in Durham. It was a hot and muggy morning, but the kids and parents were there in droves. Ben Franklin was there, too, leading the festivities (bless that poor man who had to wear that costume on such a sweaty day).The starting point was the Farmer's Market pavilion where The Scrap Exchange had provided lots of red, white and blue materials to gussy up bikes, trikes, strollers, wagons... whatever you deemed needed decoration. After everthing was beautified and patriotized, the kids (and their keepers) were sent along the parade route that wound around the block and through Durham's Central Park and back to the starting point. Abby brought along a battery-operated bubble blower and that made our wagon the hippest little float in the whole proceeding!

The parade route wasn't a long distance to walk, but we were all rewarded at the end of our journey with frozen lemonade pops. The fire department also brought along one of their engines with a water cannon mounted on top and created a huge spray of water for the kids, big and small, to play in and cool off.


After the parade, we headed off to the festivities at the Little's family gathering -- thanks for including us, Zack & Fer! We swam, we ate, we played Kubb -- it was great! After this action-packed day, bedtime came early for all three of us and we missed out on the fireworks this year.