Big Girl Haircut

My mom said that Audreys hair was Stringy.
So I decided to trim up the curls and give Audrey her first Big Girl Haircut!
A cute lil Bob!

So if you read my blog, you know this is one of my favorite places! What a great way to spend the day, and so afforable!
My mom, Aunt Robin and Audrey and I headed to Lake Tobias last Friday to see our favorite animals and hit the safari. We have learned to sit in the front because the animals often get on the bus and you can get up close and personal with them, sometimes TOO up close. We really enjoyed the safari ride this year. Lots of new baby animals to enjoy. We also got to go to the reptile show for the first time. That was fun.
It was a hot day and we ended it with a slush puppie! Great fun as always at Lake Tobias!

A visit to Harrisburg's City Island

This morning, I decided with the nice weather, I would check a place to visit this summer off my list.
So I packed up Audrey and headed just 10 minutes down the road to City Island.
It costs $5 to park, which is kinda yuck, but whatever!
I put our necessities in my camera backpack, put Aud in her stroller and we made a trek around the island.
It was nice and shady for the most part, so I just covered up my little darlin with a hat.
she spotted one of our famous City Cows, so I sat her on top and she posed for a picture with a MOO Cow!

We passed Harrisburg Senators baseball field, so she posed for a photo opp:

One of the greatest little places on the island is the John Harris Trading Post. I made sure to get her out and take a few pics there.

Then we got in line for Train tickets and had a little juice.

We then boarded the train. On our ride, Audrey managed to wave to each set of walkers that the train passed by, she even gave some of them her best dance moves:

For those following the blog to learn of fun places to take your kids. The train goes all around City Island, about a 7 minute ride. Adult are $3, kids are $2.
Our last stop of the day was the Childrens Carousel, $1.50 for each rider.
She started out pretty good on "Rocket" her horse, strapped on a ready to ride with mommy at her side, but then, her feelings went south. Needless to say. I have checked off 2 other "places to visit this summer" from our list: Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland...my girl just ain't ready for it...Big girls dont cry, but little girls often do!

Hi Ho Hi Ho...a Campin' we will go

A few months ago, Jim and I decided, after much thought and evaluation, to buy a camper. We purchases our new luxury home at Martin's here in Mechanicsburg, PA. We felt good about our purchase from such a family friendly and owned business and would highly recommend them.

So, since then, we have been camping 3 times, 2 of which resulted in torrential downpours.
Our firs outing was with Jim's sister and her family to a campground about 25 minutes away from our home, Mountain Creek Campground in Gardners, PA.
Our second outing was to Kent, NY to camp within my Dad's campground for Memorial Day weekend.

Jim got to go out on the "Big Boat" with my dad and a few family friends to catch some fish. He managed to reel in a few nice keepers, and we have fish in our fridge to last us a few weeks.
Our third camping adventure was to Gettysburg Campground with the Shumberger Family this past weekend.
What a beautiful campground. We really enjoyed our time there.
It was Civil War encampment weekend, so we managed to take in a Civil War Dance and Candle Light Camp Walk. We had great food over the campfire and managed to relax a bit.
But the 2 night stays are over way too soon!
I would like to just park the camper for 1 full week and do just about nothing but read and play outside with my kiddo.
The nice thing about camping as a family vacation is that it is affordable, despite the cost of gas right now, although that seems to be going down a bit. AND, Audrey can play in a pool, at a playground, walk throughout the campground, and do some new things without much pre-planning and worry. So for the next few years, that will be the bulk of our family vacations.
Here are some pictures of our jouneys thus far, more to follow.

Clyde Peelings Reptiland

I had to drive to my warehouse today to pick up and an order. When I woke up this morning, I decided since I would be so close to Clyde Peelings Reptiland I would pack up some snacks and get an early start for a visit.

Reptiland is about 2 hours north of our home.
It is a small zoo specializing in, you guessed it, reptiles and the like.

Audrey and I made it just in time to enjoy the reptile show, where we learned about dinosaurs, which is the now theme for the park for spring.

We then traveled around and visited the turtles and tortoises.
Then, we enjoyed some time in the butterfly house.

To say that Audrey LOVED the butterflies would be an understatement.
She yelled, Butterfly, quite a few times.
She was also energized by the kindergarten class visiting the butterfly house during our time there.

The other kids energy, coupled with hers, made it for a fun show.

More than once a butterfly landed on her hat( which I never caught on camera)and it excited her little friends.
Then, we made our way through the reptile exhibits.
Our last stop was the Dinosaur exhibit. There, we found animatronic dinosaurs, incredibly lifelike. They moved and roared.

Since Dinosaur Train is one of our favorite shows on PBS, Audrey was excited to see each dinosaur and talk to it. Never scared.

It took just 1 hour to make it through Reptiland, perfect for a toddler and parent, and kids are FREE under 2. My ticket was $14.00
I am excited to schedule many trips to share with you our family and friends for summer. This was our first stop.

A Marriage in Paradise

This Monday evening I headed to Baltimore, ready to board a plane for Providenciales, Turks and Caicos on Tuesday morning. There, 30 people gathered to see the wedding of my best friend of 20 years. We had a wonderful time at Beaches Resort, enjoying the beach, many pools, wonderful food, drinks and friendship.

Pam was a RADIANT bride, married now to Mr. Paul Hernandez, the great guy we always knew she would find.

I was quite honored to be her Maid of Honor.
It was my first time away from Audrey, and I only really cried when the Sesame Street parade came along my walkway. She would have loved it!
She was in good hands with her Daddy and My AMAZING MOM, who took off a week of work to come and stay with her.

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Hernandez!

Aplish Splash

Whats a little water between good friends.

Tonight, Val and I decided to pack the kids in the wagon, as we so often do and take them down to the park. After some fun playtime on the playground, we headed home...where we then proceeded to play on our swingset out back. The kids and dog had a ball. We ended up on our deck splashing in Audreys Artic Splash water Table. The kids quickly got soaked and we took them down to their diapers. They had a ball, and we had a wonderful time watching them enjoy their time together.
So blessed to have Lathan and the Natales in our lives!