Blueberries for Cora

Okay so really it was Blueberries for The Rogers', but the experience reminded me so much of the book "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey, the part when the Mom feels tugging on her pail from behind when Sal (or the bear) is stealing berries from her bucket.  For the most part Cora would pick her own berries to eat, but she didn't really understand the difference between the unripe green blueberries and ripe blue ones.  After only about 1/2 hour of the five of us picking on just one bush we picked about 6 or 7 pounds of blueberries!   Yummy!  Blueberry buckle, blueberry jam, and just plain bowlfuls of blueberries for everyone!

Okay! Here are the pictures from the title of this blog, what I saw when I would look down to the tugging on my bucket!

We have to go back for more tomorrow.. there's just something about picking berries in the peace and quiet of the earlly morning.. even wth the kids!

Fisher Cats HHHhhhhoooooo!

Okay so maybe I love the Thundercats a little too much :)  Last week, which seems like an eternity ago! we made our annual venture to the Fisher Cats game with the Sevin's.  Kelly brought up a great idea.. to keep track of the kids interest each year we go to see if they watch more of the game as they get older rather than live for the treats!

The big guys!

The middle guy

The girls.. baseball who?

Sittin' pretty!

Snow cones...  does anyone else feel like these are the biggest rip off ever?  A chunk of ice with flavor that all goes to the bottom, yet kids LOVE them!

And the infatuation with tongue color.. does this happen at your house too?!

These two pictures of Cole and Cora might be my favorite from the night.. Cora stealing Cole's snow cone. then "what WHAT?! Mom! Cora is eating my snow cone!"

So Cole then hijacked Mr. Brendan's popcorn to make two wrongs a right

Then we took a break from the game and let the kids roam up on the upper deck which overlooks part of Manchester, the kids loved this railing which was high above the ground below!

And from this balcony are the most beautiful sunsets!

The boys were yelling something at each other while laughing hysterically.. I forget now what it was exactly, something about dancing, I am sure it made sense in their kooky heads

Seriously!  The skyline here is amazing!

Ew! These were millions.. maybe trillions of bugs attracted to the mega-Watt field lights!  Hey better up there than on us!

York's Wild Animal Kingdom

During our camp weekend we went down the road to York's Wild Animal Kingdom.  Part zoo, part amusement park.  We saw some of the cutest animals, a baby bobcat and a little joey in his Mama's pouch!  We watched him get in, they dive in and do a somersault to get heads up and their feet stick up over their head!  It was quite comical.

While we were there the kids all touched a snake!  I tried it myself.. creepy!

Our cowgirl princess nieces..

There were several petting areas, here the deer roamed free and wandered right up to you!  A sign before you entered the area had rules, one of which stated do not touch the antlers.. but they were HUGE! and they touched you, so you couldn't help it.

After the zoo we meandered over to the amusement area... really it is just a bunch of carny rides for kids.. but it was fabulous!  There were hardly any lines and they gave you a long time on the rides themselves.  Perfect!

At last some one to ride roller coasters with!

We then took over the bumper cars! Uncle Brian stayed out with Casey and Cora.. for the rest of us... it was war!

Bumper boats were a big hit

Choo Choo!! Caden, Cole and Casey were big fans of the train.

Cora kicked and screamed when the merry-go-round ended

No one else wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel with me, but Cora can't put up too much of a fight so I took her!  She sat for a bit, but she was getting tired and when were up at the tippity top she decided she wanted to snuggle on my lap.. the bar doesn't fit over both of us so I held on real tight!  and was thankful when the ride ended.

This place was great!  We highly recommend it!  just be sure to seek out the go karts first thing.. we didn't see them until the end when the kids were wiped so we didn't end up going on, but there was no line!

Camping Adventures

Our first camping trip with all three kids.  We went back when Caden was around 18 months, and for some reason hadn't been since.  So we equipped ourselves with a tent large enough for all of us, packed the car to the brim and set out to meet the Chirco cousins in Cape Neddick, Maine. We hit this area so that we could use it as home base for York's Wild Animal Kingdom (more on that next time!)

We spent most of the day away from the site, so I'm now realizing we didn't take many pictures.  But Cora and Cole both managed to figure out how to operate the latch on the cooler, not all that surprising for Cole, but Cora will do anything to get her hands on her milk!  Not only that, but both kids have a thing for apples.  Every time we turned around they were gnawing on one.

Our resident owl.  He hung out at our campsites the entire time we were there!

You better behave or Aunt Roberta will put you in the Cargo holder!

Rob spent much of the day trying to convince Gabrielle to share her hat.. she was not buying it!

Cora might be She-Ra reincarnated, this stick she was carrying around was HUGE!

Such a cutie!  Casey was not a "happy camper" and does not like sleeping in a tent! 

Cora loved the sparklers and grabbed a hold readily (this is actually after she'd already been holding it)

I think we regret not camping sooner!  I honestly think we thought Cole was going to give us a run for our money and we were going to lose him to the wolves in the woods!  Surprisingly they were all very well behaved (for the most part!)  and we made it home without losing anyone.  Fabulous!  The kids had so much fun hanging with their cousins, they were sad to see the weekend end.  We are looking forward to doing it again!