The Socrates Award Winner

 Genevieve got the Socrates Award at the end of last school year for her "sense of wonder" in all classes.  Their classical school does not give many awards, only a handful per grade.  I am so proud of her Great Heart and all she does in school!

The Snake Farm

I have been trying to go on a field trip to the Snake Farm for years and it never works out.  I finally just bit the bullet and planned a last minute trip there with some friends (back in May), and I am so glad I did.  I almost feel like it was better than Sea World which I know sounds crazy.  It was definitely better than the zoo.  It's not a flashy place with rides and food, but you can see the animals up close, and they have a bunch of programs and accessible staff to answer questions.  They have way more than just snakes.  That is just how they started out.

Here's a white lion cub playing with a ball right behind the boys

The roosters and chickens are just walking around free.

The Snake Program with a Burmese Python. 

Hands on experiences!

You can feed the bison.  Drew was too afraid to get their slobber on him, so he didn't do this successfully.  He was trying to throw it to them, but it would fall where they couldn't reach it so I had to put a stop to that.

They were very slobbery!  Look at that tongue! You had to put it right on their tongue.

Someone got braver.

These goats were feisty!  If you had a bag of food, they were just plain uncivilized!  They surrounded me and got their horns all stuck on my legs.  Then they had the audacity to try and eat my dress.  I literally had to tie it up before they destroyed it.  

 It was shady and comfortable, and Roman did great there.  It is pricey, but they don't have a ton of things to make you spend more money once you are in.  We'll definitely be coming back here!

Sea World, Lunar Eclipse, and a Puzzle Expert

We had a chance to get free passes to Sea World on a Sunday back in June.  We weren't able to get there until late (1pm,) and so it ended up being a fairly short visit because Roman had a complete melt down like I've never seen before or since.  We had to leave after the 5pm show since he didn't take water well back then and he was getting dehydrated.  It was a hot day and although I didn't even have him wear his helmet, there was little chance of keeping him cool.  Mostly, Brian took the adventurous kids on rides and I tried to find shady or cool spots to hang out with the less adventurous (and the too short for rides) crew.

Overall, I was disappointed in how few shows they have nowadays and how short they have made them.  I am not a rides kinds girl.  I want to see the dolphins and the whales!

That's the rest of my family cooling off after a very long wait in line.

The Lunar Eclipse was visible from our cul-de-sac.  We had the best view across the street from our house on the sidewalk.  We just laid down and enjoyed watching the eclipse in action.

Mimi came and started a puzzle, but didn't finish it before she headed back home.  Judah sat and worked so hard for most of the day and finished it all in one day.  He and Genevieve are my biggest puzzle doers.

Judah was reading a book to Roman to help him practice sitting.  Seems like Roman decided to recline instead.

 

Genevieve's Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party

Genevieve is nicknamed Lobster around her because she always chooses the most expensive thing on the menu (completely on accident) and pretty much just has high society taste.  She wanted a Cottage Core Aesthetic Birthday Party on our new covered porch.  I was unaware of what "Cottage Core" even was prior to this request.  You may be shocked to find out after reading this post that I tempered her requests quite a bit.  We went all out on decorating the back porch with greenery and plants.  She wanted picnic style finger foods. 

Unfortunately, the flies were really bad and it was quite hot, but her birthday month has really unpredictable weather.  One year we had a pool party and it was freezing!

A friend of Genevieve's has a grandmother that makes and sells macarons.  They were beautiful and delicious.

Then it was picture time!

I got a special picture with the birthday girl too!

Then came to real fun.  We did a mini Chopped Junior Sweets competition.  I had basic baking ingredients available and each group got three of the same mystery ingredients that had to be used in a creative way to make a dessert.  The ingredients were French Toast Crunch Cereal, dried cranberries, and a can of Pillsbury biscuits.  While the girls cooked, they sang and danced and it was such a precious thing to watch!

Roman really enjoyed watching and dancing to their singing while they cooked.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

This was the only one I got a picture of before I taste tested them as the judge. 

The mess left behind from this frantic cooking competition was so big and so deep that it took me the entire movie to clean the kitchen.  The girls piled up on the trampoline and watched a movie on our projector outside.  Luckily it had cooled down enough to enjoy this.