Norah Schools the Zoo Kids

Here's a clip from our trip to the Omaha Zoo in August. It was a very cool moment where one of the gorillas was observing the humans as they observed him. Norah was annoyed that one of the kids kept referring to him as a monkey, exclaiming "It's not a monkey -- monkeys have tails!" Although she could have made her point in a little nicer way, I was tickled, and proud of my four-year-old for knowing how to distinguish monkeys from apes.

The Dentist

These pictures are from spring, but I thought they were worth sharing. Not long ago, I finally figured out how to get them off of my cell phone. It was Norah's first dental appointment, and she did wonderfully. Usually for the first appointment, they consider it a success if they are able to count the teeth (at least at our dentist). I really like that gradual approach, plus, unlike some pediatric dentists I have heard about, I can go back with the kids...and take pictures!

Not only did N get her teeth counted - she got a full cleaning!

Look ma -- clean!

G had a good cleaning, too, but he's an old pro by now. I think he looks uncomfortable in the pic, but he was fine, and chatted away with the hygienist. When I went in for my own cleaning a couple of weeks ago, she asked, "How's my guy Griffin?", and said that he is one of her favorites. Awwww...

Bunk Beds

Last weekend, we acquired and set up a bunk bed set for the kids. They were very excited, and (so far) are actually using them!

Norah aids in the installation.

It seemed automatic that Griffin wanted the upper bunk and Norah wanted the lower one. The lower is a full-size -- quite a big bed for a little girl.

Here's G up in his bunk with his current set of "guys". So far, none of them have fallen overboard. Not sure about my camera angle in this one -- I assure you that this is not a Craftmatic© adjustable bunk bed. I tried straightening the pic, but that made it a little fuzzy.

Horses and Apples

Here are a couple of the outings we've had with our homeschool group in the last month or so.

In late August, we got to hang out with some horses at a local stable. We learned a lot about horses, and, among other things, got to check out a hoof trimming (kind of gross, but cool). As you may notice in the above photo, Norah brought her beanie horse to show to the horses there.

We got to pet a lot of horses, too!

Earlier this week, we visited an apple orchard. The kids were each able to pick three apples to take home.

We got to see the apple washer and cider press, and everyone got to sample cider, too!

Legacy Park

A couple of Sundays ago, seeing how many of the leaves had already turned and were falling, I decided that we needed to do a little family outing to a park, since there probably weren't a lot of warm weekends left. The guys were not too thrilled with the idea, but Norah was up for it. We went to a nature park that just opened, and is not too far from our house. As is usually the case, I took a lot of photos...

We had a good (and long) walk. I didn't know if there was a loop to walk (there wasn't), and so we ended up going quite a ways up the bike trail before deciding to turn back. I knew that N would poop out before we got back to the car, and she did. Luckily, a ride on my shoulders wasn't too difficult, and she was pretty thrilled by it.