Ye Be Warned

So I'm going to have to admit that in my 20 some odd years of living in Ogden I have never been to the Ogden Nature Center.  It would have proven very helpful today if I had because I went completely unprepared.

Every Saturday there are several organizations in Ogden that are free and today one of them was the Nature Center.

We found out about the free summer programs by RAMP through our library but HERE is a link for the calendar if you do not have one yet.

Anyway, this is the beginning of our experience and we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because the path quickly went from this

to this

We had to turn around because my poor little stroller does not have all wheel drive and we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. 

Bird peek...(no birds)

Mouse Hole

Her walking stick

Eating a snack

I don't know if you can see it but there is a snake in the grass...no pun intended.

I don't think I've ever seen a live turkey puff up its feathers.  They make a loud puffing sound like blowing up a balloon and then they really do "gobble gobble"  I thought it was hilarious.

Bald Eagle

Another type of eagle.  I didn't catch its name.

So please be advised before you venture into the wild nature center of the things I wish I would have known to bring.  Unless you're cooler than me and know more about stuff like this than I do:)

• BUG SPRAY!!!
• hiking shoes (I was trying to dodge mud puddles in my flip flops)
• pants
• hat
• sunscreen
• sack lunch (they have picnic tables there)
• extra water
• there are no paved paths so the stroller didn't work very well
• allergy medicine
• and bug spray:)

Shark Bait Ooh ha ha

I can't take credit for this activity.

My mother-in-law did it for us:)  Thanks Keri!

We all went down to the Live Planet Aquarium in Sandy.

I didn't even know it existed.
I was quite impressed, as was Leilani, but luckily she's been pretty easy to impress lately.

Anyway, I'd highly recommend it for your little ones.

Touching the sting rays.

Those are penguins:)

20 foot boa....yuck!

It took 4 adults to keep up with Leilani.  Her little feet were going about 90 miles a minutes.  She wanted to see more and more.  We went through the whole thing in fast forward about three times, but she didn't care, she loved it:)

Swimming Good for the Soul

We've been doing a lot of water activities as of late.

And I love it!

Summer and water are my domain.

We've gone to spash pads, back yard pools, and Cherrie Hill and so far Leilani is a fan too.

We went to Cherrie Hill today with my sister and her family and I am very sad I didn't take any pictures.

Leilani loved the lazy river.  She just sat on my lap as we floated around and said, "weee."

Love her.

Here are a couple of our other outings.

My sister-in-law's back yard.

Kooper really wanted me to take a picture of his muscles.

Splash pad with a play group from our ward.

Shedding

I am down 2 more pounds!

I don't usually do this...but I think that deserves a

WOOT! WOOT!

I've started exercising again which apparently helps.

Huh.  Go figure.

Fitness Tip #8

Eat with your family

You don't have to eat different food than your family.  Just choose the protein and vegetables from your family meal.  You can leave off half the fun of the sloppy joe and skip the side of fries, or have a taco salad while they enjoy a flour taco.  You will find that you will prepare healthier meals this way, like making sure there is always a side of vegetables.  Everyone benefits, but it doesn't have to feel weird.  Remember, this is a lifestyle for you, and eating with the family is part of life.  Learn to do it healthily, stay within your portion size, and calorie limits.  Fill your plate with what you will eat, enjoy it, then clean your plate and put it away, to avoid second helpings. But, if you'd like to sit back at the table to chat with your family, you don't have a plate to tempt you.

p.s. every picture I found of a family sitting at the table eating were smiling...I don't think that's a coincidence.

Click on the picture to read a good article I found about the benefits of families eating together.

Sand and Colors

We've been going to a lot of parks lately with the weather finally getting warm, YEAH!!!

Leilani likes to play for a few minutes but then is ready to do something else.  I noticed some mothers bringing sand toys to the playground and thought...Genius!

So that's what we did today.

I also wanted to tell you about another way to play in the sand if your like me, living in an apartment, or just don't want to buy a big truck full of sand and deal with it in your backyard.

Get one of those shallow storage tubs and fill it with a bag of sand.  When you want to play, take it out on your deck.  Then when you're all done you can snap the lid on and store it in the closet.  Cool huh!

Also, we've been working on our colors lately.  That is sure a hard concept for kids to grasp.  I mean if you think about it from their perspective it doesn't make sense.  It's a circle.  Yes, but it's a yellow circle.  It's a circle.  Yes, but it's a green circle.  To her, it already has a name.  So we pulled out her bucket of toys and color coordinated.  Her answer is still "Blluuuue" to any color question, but hey, we're working on it:)

Oh Baby Baby!

We went up to Eden today to pet some baby animals.

They were adorable!!

It goes on until June 30th, so you should definitely go.

(admission is $7 a person and includes a horse ride for all kids under 12)

From what I could tell this cute little lady ran the farm and the animals herself.  What a job!  But it was very low key.  Not a lot of people there and you could just take your time petting and feeding all the animals.

It took Leilani a while to warm up to the animals being so close, but when she started getting into it she was almost giddy with delight.

Why are babies so darn cute?

Lama face!!!

This dog was hillarious!  She chased our shadows around everywhere we went.

Even the baby pigs were adorable.

I didn't think she would get on the horse, but she totally did and said, "trot trot trot, hhheee" the whole time:)  She loved it!

Maybe we should move to a farm?