The Nature Center

We spent part of the day with some friends at a local nature center. My little boys were excited to see the ducks. I couldn't help but smile when I heard Kieran exclaim, "There's a duck. There's a duck."

 

We're looking forward to another field trip next week. 😊 

Old Spaghetti Factory's 45th Anniversary Celebration

The Old Spaghetti Factory has been celebrating its 45th anniversary by rolling back its prices on specific days. Tomorrow the 21st of January will be the last day of their celebration and great prices. All children's menu items are $3 and include apple sauce or salad, an entree, a drink, and ice cream for dessert. Select entrees from the regular menu are between $4 and $5 and include soup or salad and ice cream for dessert. It is really a great deal.

Since my husband has a long weekend, we decided to celebrate by going to the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch today. We all enjoyed our lunch and ice cream dessert. Kieran decided that he wanted to sit next to his daddy. I enjoyed watching the two of them and had a very relaxing lunch.

After lunch, we decided to visit a delightful toy store that is located fairly close to the restaurant. I was hoping to find this jump rope there (ours need replacing after 12 years and being chewed by our dog), but didn't have any luck.

We all had fun looking at the toys. Don't worry we made sure that everything was returned to its proper place and we left the store as clean as we found it. After leaving the toy store, the children all thanked their daddy for an enjoyable day.

Thanks go to my friend, Heather, for letting us know about the Old Spaghetti Factory's 45th anniversary celebration.

A Day at the Zoo

Aquarium

On Wednesday, the traditional feast of the North American Martyrs, we spent the day at the the zoo with some friends from our parish.

Looking at the Octopus

My two oldest children stayed at home. However, Brendan and Theresa joined us to help out and have fun.

Budgies

Monkey Time

In addition to holding my friend's son, Theresa enjoyed taking photos of the animals.

Arctic Fox

I didn't know that walruses kiss.

Walruses and Seal

We are looking forward to hopefully returning to the zoo with these and a few more families in October.

Group Photo

We all had a delightful time.

Playground Fun

As one of my friends said, "It was a lovely day!"

Blueberry Picking Again

My Little Clowns Taking a Short Break from Picking Berries

On September 15, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, the children and I went blueberry picking again. The berries were plentiful and we were happy to leave with gallons of blueberries (I had thought that 12 cups was  a lot) and a pail full of blackberries besides. Catherine made another delicious blueberry pie. I froze a bunch of blueberries. All of the children ate the berries by the handful out of a big bowl; they have also been adding them to oatmeal and cereal in the morning. Theresa made scrumptious oatmeal blueberry pancakes this past Saturday. The children want to go blueberry picking again, but I think that we will wait until next September to pick more of these delectable berries.

Blueberry Picking

Impromptu days are so much fun. This morning, we received an email from a mother in our homeschooling group, letting us know that she and her children were going blueberry picking. I couldn't resist accepting the invitation to join them.

We were supposed to meet Michaela and her family at noon at the blueberry farm, but I lost my keys and we only arrived around 12:30. Unfortunately, our late arrival resulted in our not meeting Michaela. Both of our families were at the farm, but with 20 acres of tall blueberry bushes, we didn't see each other. We did have a great time picking over 12 cups of blueberries though.

Elizabeth surprised me by filling her little pail over halfway. She even picked a few blackberries that she saw growing.  She ate very few of the berries until we arrived home.

Video courtesy of Catherine

This evening, Catherine made a blueberry pie for dessert. It tasted absolutely delicious with vanilla ice cream. Tomorrow, she plans on making a blueberry cobbler, assuming we don't eat all the remaining blueberries first.

Tomorrow, in addition to eating blueberries in our cereal or pancakes and for dessert, we will be reading Blueberries for Sal and possibly Peter's Adventure in Blueberry Land too.

Olympic Game Farm

In addition to visiting the Dungeness Spit National Wildlife Refuge on Friday, we also thoroughly enjoyed going to the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim. The children were thrilled to see llamas, rabbits, peacocks, elk, zebras, horses, prairie dogs, yaks, a rhinoceros, bison, deer, tigers, lions, coyotes, wolves, and bears.

Little Black Rabbit

Prairie Dog

Tibetan Yak

Peacock



Llama



Niece Feeding Yak

Spotted Fallow Deer

Kodiak Bear

Black Bear



Elk



Fallow Deer

American Bison (aka Buffalo)

Buffalo's tongues are huge! Needless to say, I was panicking a little bit as my son fed this big guy. The wheat bread would sometimes slide off his tongue and land on my sandaled foot. I also couldn't help but think, "Don't lick the camera and pleeease don't lick me!"

The Dungeness Spit

My brother, sister-in-law, and their five children are visiting us from Switzerland. Yesterday, we all had a great time at the Dungeness Spit National Wildlife Refuge. The drive out to Clallam County was beautiful.



I was in awe as I looked at the natural beauty of the Spit and couldn't help but marvel at how amazing God is.