And Dance!

He may look like his dad, but he gets his dance skills from his mama! James just started doing this dance sequence during our animal search at Lone Elk. Disclaimer: it's hard to search for animals all tied down in carseat. Both kids were out of their seats, searching for buffalo, elk, and turkeys. We were going about 5mph and were one of the only cars on the trail........

ABC

So, James has been singing his ABC's forever but he will never let me film him doing it. Finally, he allowed me to tape him! I love how James uses the pan as a microphone and does his little dance on the chair. Enjoy!!

Spooky Spooky Spooky!

The kids love dressing up in their skeleton costumes and running around saying "Mr. Bones"! Keira says " Ahh Eeee Booo". We have had lots of fun this fall season apple picking, pumpkin picking and spooking people with these cute little skeletons. Every year the St. louis Zoo is haunted at night. Everyone is welcome to visit in their costumes and enjoy the spooky jack o lanterns, ghosts, gobblins and scary lights and sounds.






Keira

James

Check out the video!

Bison, Elk and Dodo Birds....Oh my!!

A perfect day for the kids always includes a drive through Lone Elk Park and a visit to the Wild Bird Sanctuary. Lately, we have been going almost daily! The kids will wake up and say "look for animals, buffalo..and deer...and what else.....bird house....and water and trees and ....what else.....mama coffee"!




Look, a little cage for the kids when they are naughty! They like it!

Here are some cranes. There are all sorts of birds here including vultures, bald headed eagles and owls. All of the birds at the sanctuary have been injured and are being rehabbed.

Look, a lone elk!

Bison!!

Check out this video. It was bison mating season and the animals were getting a little too close for comfort....

Baby for Hire

Will play at weddings, funerals, other special events. Will work for snacks.

NO, that's James's coffee!

Ahh, a nice long walk in our favorite park on a cool morning. I was helping Keira feed our favorite horse, Tommy-Oh, when I turned and discovered that James was enjoying my cuppa joe! Watch the video at bottom.

Be sure to watch this video for a laugh!

Catching up.....Fun in Florida!

We took a little road trip to Destin, Florida last week. The kids were great during the 12 hour drive! They watched movies, read books, and snacks.

The kids played for hours in the sand and surf. It was the perfect family vacation with little ones!

Ben dug a giant hole in the sand, threw in some toys and the kids had tons of fun. We called it our "Trap n Play". It was....perfect!

Here we are at Beachside, Fl. This is the small town where The Truman Show was filmed.

James and Keira have decided to be buddies this evening. Here they are on our balcony overlooking the ocean.

Sand, ocean, tons of fun!

Mmmmm, Nan!

This is our favorite Indian restaurant. We usually go here for the lunch buffet on the weekend. The kids love the food and music, see for yourself in the 2 videos below! In the first video Keira is loving her nan and dipping her nan (this usually ends in quite a mess). In the second video, the kids are dancing to the Indian music playing in the background (you can't really hear it in the video). Doesn't James look like one of those cute little kids in Slumdog Millionaire? Enjoy!

Swing, Swing Swing

The kids love the swing at Grammy's house! They will swing in it all day if you let them. Be sure to check out the video at the end!

Chillin at Grammy's house....now where is my latte?

Swimsuit is on, let's go to the pool and eat pizza and swim!

This is Tina, my grammy's lesbian dog. Seriously....

Keira is about to plant a big kiss on James, how sweet!

Gotta love this video....

A Day at the Farm

"What are you looking at?"

We have discovered a new favorite place to spend a day in St Louie.....the farm! The kids love this farm, which is actually a county park. There are several barns and pastures, a very nice playground, walking trails and a lake with fish! So much to see, do and smell! Animals include horses, cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, goats, ducks, and more!

The kids just ran free on the farm, going from barn to barn checking out the sounds and smells of the farm!

This sheep's wool was so thick!

The pigs were stinky and made loud oinking noises!

"Baa, Baa!

Horses Gone Wild!

Our favorite park...Longview! We love feeding the horses, taking long walks and playing on the playground.

Check out this video.....Horses Gone Wild!

Fun with Sprinklers!

Summer fun. The kids love running through this wave sprinkler. We have the fancy Elmo and octopus kid sprinklers, but to be honest, the kids really do prefer the old fashion kind!







Keira always gets hit in the face by the wave! James will say "watch out Kiki", but she still gets it!

"Watch out kiki!!"

Goats Gone Wild

Gotta love Grants Farm! Here we are having adventures with goats. It is tons of fun feeding and petting the goats, with the exception of the occasional nibble....or bite!




James loved petting the goats at the farm.






Umm, this is Ben's finger after the goat bit it!




Ouch, the goat finally let go of Ben's finger!


Here is the goat munching on Ben's finger. It wouldn't let go! Ben kept saying ouch!! There wasn't much I could do to persuade the goat to let go, so I decided to take some pics!

Ugg, the things you catch on tape. Keira is so cute petting the goat. Goat wanders, sniffs another goats butt, then proceeds to nibble on our camera strap. Gross!

Blackberries and Peaches

We recently enjoyed a morning at Eckerts picking blackberries and peaches. It was fun, the weather was cool and cloudy...perfect! We had fun riding the wagon and picking the fruits! Can't wait till apple and pumpkin season!

MMM, blackberry! Keira just kept stuffing the berries into her mouth...as fast as we picked, she ate!

James was very good at only picking the balck ones!

I love this pic of James and Ben. James also loves eating the peaches. Wow these kids were a stained, sticky mess, but it was so worth it! Also, they were in crappy clothes so who cares!

Keira argued back and forth with us the entire time we were picking peaches. She insisted that the peaches were "apples". If we said they are peaches she would say "no, apples".

"Tractor". The kids loved riding the tractor into the orchards.

Surf and Turf

This week we experienced much surf and turf (sprinklers and parks...not lobster and steak). I do like this combo, the kids love water! We discovered two new parks this week. We met Grammy and her doggie, Tina for a walk at a really nice park in Town and Country (not sure of the name). We loved it! There were great trails that were shaded, a stream with turtles on rocks, and a pasture with horses! These animals were....spoiled!! Also, there was a nice playground geared for the under 5 group. We also discovered Kirkwood park, which we loved! Umm, there was sand, sprinklers, concessions, playgrounds....you name it!



Bring on the surf!

Chillin at Grammy's house!

Next time we bring carrots and apples....

Keira is "all done" with her walk....

James and Alex enjoying some water fun!

Fun at Gymboree!

We recently joined this gym and learning center for kids called Gymboree. We are lucky, Gymboree is very close to our house, a stroller ride away! Anyway, the kids love it here, it is so engaging! There are a ton of things to play on, and there are classes also! We currently take the family music class and are also eager to try the gym class as well as the family art class.

Citygarden

So, once again James is a "celebrity". He was on news channnel 5 (NBC) sitting and playing in the fountains. So cute! It was like a 5 sec clip focused on him! We went to St. louis's newest downtown attraction, Citygarden. It is a 35 mil sculpture park, complete with hundreds of light up water fountains, pools, waterfalls, beautiful landscaping, and more! Here are a few pics....


If you could turn this still shot into a live action clip, you would basically see what was on the news!

Awesome waterfall and pool

Umm, a giant head. What is cool is that there is a steady flowing wall of water surrounding the head. The kids loved playing in it.

Keira loves Mr. Birdman

This is an old time firetruck that has been turned into a snack store. Yum!