Zoo day!

Since the weather is finally below 100 I decided to take the kids to the zoo today. Alex was super excited - he asks to go there at least once a week! The zoo was not crowded and we had a wonderful day watching all the animals. Alex's favorite animal is still the elephant and he likes watching the zookeepers bathe them. According to Alex, Megan's favorite is the giraffe. After walking the zoo for awhile, we stopped and ate lunch, rode the carousel, then went to the Children's Zoo. It's been a long time since we've gone in that area of the zoo. The kids had fun brushing the goats, playing on the playground and I even let Alex run around the spray park (which is a first). Megan fell asleep and we finished our day by looking at the snakes... yuck!

July 4 ranch weekend

The guys were hard at work all weekend. The project this time was to clean up the ranch. They quicky filled a dumpster with trash then continued working on the fence. The fence posts are in and most of the barbed wire is run. Next time, they will run the last strand of wire and remove the old fence. Hopefully they will build our new patio/deck soon. When the weather cools, Lisa and I will have to finish painting outside. Here are a few pictures from our July 4th weekend at the ranch:

Papa riding the mule with 6 grandkids:

Megan sitting on the tractor - Alex is so proud!

Taking a break...

More summer fun!

Our busy summer continues! The kids had a great time at Jumpin Jungle this week. We met our playgroup friends for jumping then went for pizza afterwards. What a fun day!

It's fun to play at home too:

Playgroup swim party at Jack's house:

Riding Gavin's new ATV with neighbor Joey:

Super Alex!!

Alexander LOVES his new cape from Aunt Lisa! Here he is running around our house as Super Alex!

Painting

I recently painted the study in our house. I did a faux paint technique and I just love the way it looks. It was a lot of work but definitely worth it. David added the chair molding and hung a new TV on the wall. He has used the office a few times now and I like that it gives him space at home to work. I plan to do something similar in the dining room but need to wait for the kids MDO to start in September. I also painted a column and under the bar in our kitchen.

Close up of the wall in office

Similar technique as the office but darker colors

July 4 ranch weekend

Happy 4th of July! I took the cutest picture of all 7 cousins this weekend at the ranch. Lisa and I took the kids on a walk to the barn just to burn off some energy. Who knew they would cooperate for a picture! Love it! We had a wonderful weekend at the ranch with family.

Back row: Ashley (Lisa), Cameron (Shelly), Brenna(Shelly)

Front row: Alex, Megan, Laurie (Lisa), Daniel (Lisa)