Nashville Zoo

 This morning we loaded everyone up and set out to see the animals at the Nashville Zoo.

After a quick look at the map, we set out for the elephants

And got there just in time to see the elephant show with the keepers.

This particular elephant showed off her mad skillz by playing the harmonica, playing catch with the keeper, and drop kicking a football.  We were all very impressed.

Josh was sweet enough to be Eli's keeper for the day (he fit right in at the zoo!) and made sure he got a good view of all the animals.

And when it got too hot to stay out in the sun, we made our way over to the shady playground

 

 Where we bounced until we were exhausted!

Cooling off

 We spent Monday recovering from the long drive and getting reacquainted with cousins.  These guys haven't seen each other for over a year, so it was fun to see them all playing together.

 

This morning dawned hot and humid, sending us all down the street to the neighbor's pool.  The coolest thing about this pool (for parents anyway) is that it is a chemical free, saltwater pool.  I love that they didn't smell like chlorine when they were done!

 Of course, it was a little deep for the smaller kids - so they solved the problem by filling up their own little splash pool... and had just as much fun!

And it's always fun to dry off on the trampoline afterwards!

Road Trip

 Saturday morning we headed out on the first leg of our road trip up to Fort Campbell.  Andrew had his annual attorney's conference in Nashville this year - since that is only an hour away from where his brother is stationed, we decided to make a family vacation out of it and hang out with cousins while Andrew attended  his conference.

 We left from Houston since we had to make a quick detour for Andrew to attend Bishop's Night at Girl's Camp on Friday night.  It gave us a chance to hang out with grandparents and have another birthday celebration for Lincoln.

 It takes about 14 hours to drive straight through to Fort Campbell, so we made a few stops along the way... at the Blueberry Festival in Nacogdoches, this cool park in Tatum, and the birthplace of Bill Clinton (Hope, Arkansas) to rest for the night before tackling the last leg of the trip.

 

 After attending church in Little Rock this morning, we pushed through and pulled into Fort Campbell just in time for dinner (timing is everything!) where we were welcomed with open arms and popsicles!

This was the first really long road trip we've taken with all four kids - and they were amazingly good!  We rented a van for the trip since ours needs some brake work done.  Unfortunately, the rental didn't have a DVD player.  So we stocked up on Books on CD at the library and they worked wonders, especially when interspersed with pit stops and guessing games.  Eli was the only one to get a little stir crazy from time to time, but he usually just pulled his blanket over his eyes and went to sleep when that happened, so a good time was had by all.

Birthday Boy

 

Our #1 Son is now seven years old!

How does that happen so quickly??

Lincoln spent the morning at basketball camp and then went out to lunch with his buddy JD.

He then requested that we spend the afternoon at the pool before coming home to a dinner of Dad's chili - yum!

We had to be a little creative this year since my oven is still out of commission, so we made cornbread in the donut maker and ...

 

a Rocky Road cake in the crockpot.

I'm beginning to think an oven is more of a luxury than a necessity... but no, it would definitely make life easier around here!

By the end of the night we were surrounded by BeyBlades and space clocks and marshmallow shooters.

But the prize of the night was the harmonica - now we just need to learn how to play it!

We are so happy to have Lincoln in our family.  He loves to learn and has a super imagination.  It's so fun to watch him play with his siblings or listen to his latest scheme or watch his enthusiasm for whatever activity he happens to be doing.  Lincoln lives very much in the moment, so when he's happy...he's really  happy.  And when he's sad or angry, he's really sad or angry.  It's actually rather refreshing because there's no guess work involved.  What you see is what you get!

And we love what we got!

Happy Birthday Lincoln!

Our First Adventure

We headed out for our first Texas Nature Challenge today.  Lincoln had basketball camp this morning, so we picked an easy one that we knew wouldn't take too long.  Besides, my boys have been begging to go to the "Dinosaur Museum" for the last two weeks. 

  And that is how we found ourselves completing a scavenger hunt at the Texas Memorial Museum

  I put Leah and Lincoln in charge of finding the answers to the clues

While I spent my time trying to keep this wild child from getting into too much trouble!

 

Peter took the scavenger hunt very seriously - although I think he may have confused being a scavenger with being a secret spy so he decided to go incognito and wear a disguise.

 

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, since this is how the child comes to Family Night - you know, in case there is a freak flood or snowstorm :)  

You can never be too prepared!