September Roundup

The boys and I missed a good portion of September while we were traveling, but we fit in plenty of fun adventures while we were home. Here are some other photos from this month:

Kids Night at Freddy's - free kids meals, custard, face painting and balloons!

More slushies at Sonic because September was so hot 

Sophie lost another tooth on bottom, bringing her total to five

ALL CHARGED UP: The Discovery Center opened a new exhibit in September. We like the Discovery Center, but it's very small so it's fun when they change things up. The new exhibit was all about electricity and we went on a Saturday so Dave was able to join us!

I couldn't get the bike to light up to the top and told Sophie it was too hard for her, but she wouldn't give up and after a few minutes of pedaling she got to the green! 

Messing around with circuits 

Dressing up in lineman gear. Our friends' dad/husband is a lineman so the kids enjoyed seeing what kind of tools he uses at work each day. 

Having fun with the shadow wall

Baby Iron Man - Charlie has really been enjoying the dress up box lately

SCALES & TAILS: the home school group in our area went on a field trip to Scales & Tails, and since the kids love animals so much I invited our family along. I checked Sophie out of school early and we had a great time meeting and handling different critters!

I held the big lizard and it was surprisingly light for its size. She liked resting on my shoulder just like a baby with extremely long finger nails. 

This girl loves her snakes!

The kids were not allowed to hold the tarantula (even though they really wanted to), but they did get to stroke its legs and belly. Later that month Sophie and Emery actually found a wild tarantula at the fields where we play soccer! We wouldn't let them hold that one either. 

September 2019 Video Clips

Weekend Fun in Amarillo

There have been a lot of community events happening around Amarillo lately with the warmer weather, and our family has gone out to a couple of them.

The first was the grand opening of the Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. The fundraiser where we purchased the Scales & Tails birthday party for Sophie at a silent auction a few years back was for this operation. The kids love animals and so it was fun to tour the new facility, meet some critters, and we even got free burgers for lunch, catered by Outback!

They really enjoyed this skunk and raccoon cookies

Eating lunch with an owl!

Peeking through the window at an orphaned raccoon pup

The next Saturday we went to Family Fun Fest at a park closer to downtown. There was lots to do, but we didn't stay long because the boys both fell asleep on the way there. Dave took Sophie around to meet animals and run through the inflatable obstacle course, while I hung out in the van with the nappers. 

You had to purchase a $1 ticket for the obstacle course, but then you could cycle back through as many times as you want. Sophie complete it 20 times!!

Sophie loooves reptiles and would be so happy to get one as a pet someday

Charlie woke up towards the end, but Davey kept on sleeping until we got home and never knew what he missed...

A Monday with My Zoo Crew

Sophie has been asking to visit the zoo again, and since we only have a few months left before she leaves us to start full-day kindergarten, I packed up the kids and a picnic lunch and to the zoo we went! Even though our zoo is not very exciting, it's perfect for small kids we had a great day together enjoying gorgeous weather and seeing the animals. Highlights from this trip were feeding the goats dead leaves, seeing the lion roar, making "birthday cakes" in the sand pit, and petting a donkey. 

I had to get creative to fit three kids on a double stroller, but we did it! Davey is sitting on the tray table, which luckily can support 30 pounds. 

Cute little prairie dogs eating breakfast

Sophie loves the "fake poop" display in the education center. She is holding the very real-looking bear excrement sample.

Someday we may have enough little faces to fill all those holes :)

I remembered to bring some sand toys this time and the kids played in the dig pit for an hour. The fun ended when Davey decided to start throwing sand at people, including me, thus prompting a "time out" on top of the log tunnel.

Charlie enjoyed looking at the trees and feeling the breeze

Video: A few clips from our zoo trip, including hearing the lion roar

Scales & Tales Birthday Party

Back in October we were at a park after one of Sophie's soccer games. There was a silent auction to raise money for a wildlife rescue charity, and one of the items up for bid was a "Two Hour Birthday Party Package" from Lonestar Scales & Tales. We had no idea what that entailed, but no one had bid yet, so we put down $60 and ended up winning!

Months later we redeemed our party for Sophie's birthday. I found out the actual value of the party was $250 (we got a deal!) and it turned out to be awesome! The facility was great, almost like a mini zoo. There were animals everywhere, and the kids just went from enclosure to enclosure saying "Wow! Come look at this!" We brought a cake and a craft for the kids, but the rest of the time was spent looking at and handling different critters. We didn't even end up doing the pinata because time ran out. It was the perfect party for our animal loving girl!

We invited Sophie's preschool class, a few friends from church, and a friend from swimming lessons. We ended up with 10 kids at the party, which was about perfect. Grandma and Grandpa Howe also came up from Dallas and it was so nice to have them their to help with Davey and Charlie so we could focus on the party.

These parrots greeted us when we entered and kept chattering throughout the party. I kept hearing them and thinking it was Charlie crying :)

They had a tub of little baby chicks and ducklings that the kids got to hold

Even with grandpa's supervision, Davey's poor chick may have been strangled a few times. 

After everyone arrived we did cake. I never took a good picture, but it was a big purple snake made from cupcakes. I used Oreo cream and mini chocolate chips for the eyes and some fruit leather for the tongue. 

After cake we moved over to the other side for the animal presentations. They started off with a snake, one of Sophie's favorite animals, and she got to hold everything first since she was the birthday girl. 

Sophie brought her stuffed snake "Sissa" in case any of her friends were too scared to hold the real snakes. 

Her favorite animal was "Rainbow" the chameleon. 

Holding the big snake with all her friends

No fear! Wearing a Madagascar cockroach instead of a birthday crown. Later she held one in her hand as well. 

After Sophie had a cockroach on her head, all the other kids wanted to do it too.

Bunnies! They were so soft and fluffy and a nice change from the creepy crawlies. 

With "Happy" the cockatoo

Dave had a cockatoo growing up and Happy seemed to know he was safe with Dave

We didn't get to hold any lemurs because they are aggressive towards anyone who isn't a member of their "tribe," but they watched us intently throughout the party