The Little Nemeceks

Now that Josh is home, we wanted to do something fun as a family before he has to go back to work (tomorrow).  So we decided to take a trip to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, because we knew both of the kids would love seeing all the fish.   The trip was rather exhausting for the adults - the aquarium was very busy, even though we went on a Monday.  David really wanted to run free, and I was terrified of losing him, so I did a lot of up and down with him, and some dragging too as he would.not. hold my hand.  Despite that, he loved seeing all the fish, especially the huge tank in the Ocean Voyager section.  Both kids were also enthralled with the dolphin show, which featured the "Star Spinner" whose ship had been sank by the sea monster.  The audience had to help the dolphins raise the ship by singing and fight off the sea monster.  Cheesy for the adults, but the kids loved it. 

Also, Nathan has been begging for school (yes, we have only had a week off), and really wants to do a lapbook on Ocean habitats, so I used the aquarium trip as a jump start to a short "summer school" session on oceans.  He did a great journal entry (see facebook) that he illustrated, and today we did a map labeling all of the oceans.  I plan to stretch this unit out over the next three weeks, then he will have two weeks off before starting 1st grade the first week in September. 

Nathan loved the starfish, and both kids got to pet one in the Georgia Explorer area!

Watching the Beluga whales

South African penguins (having a party on land!)

Wide eyed David at the huge fish tank

Guess where the whale shark is?

David comes down the whale slide

Before the dolphin show (we weren't allowed to take pictures during the show)

The Georgia Explorer section had a kids tunnel

The tiny sparkly fish

So, I think the movie themed building projects leave a bit to be desired.  However, the kids don't seem to care, and were running around the house yesterday morning yelling 'build something!'.  So, off we went, to build "stacking friends" from Kung Fu Panda 2.  Really, all this was was five blocks with cardboard characters nailed to them, and a base to stack them on.  David was so excited that he would not let me help, hence his nails kept going in sideways, if at all.  Then when I tried to help he banged me in the finger with his hammer because the nails were so small.  I tried to get him to let me start the nail, and then he could finish, and that sort of worked.  Nathan was perfectly content to let me do the whole thing and just read me the directions, haha, but enjoyed stacking and knocking over his blocks repeatedly. 

Nathan gets ready by reading the directions

David jumps right in with hammer and nails

Here Nathan, nail this so I can get a picture of you working...

Nathan stacks his blocks

David insists on punching out his figures all by himself

Crash!

I attempt to help David without getting hurt

David's final stack!

Last week was David's very last Mom and Tot gymnastics class - in the fall he will be in the 2 year old class all by himself!  There was another parent there taking pictures of her child, David saw it, and from then on out, went to every item and said "Picture me!"  So, I got a lot of pictures of David at his last gymnastics class of the summer!

This is a U shaped mat that the kids like to get in and rock back and forth

Doing the bear crawl

The short and wide balance beam

Swinging from the bar

Hanging from the rings

A puzzle balance type thing...

David doing a pencil roll

I realized that I hadn't gotten any pictures of the kids in the pool this summer, so I made sure to get some this afternoon with Aunt Becky and Uncle Greg.  David did really well this time (he had been refusing to go in the pool all summer, and we convinced him a bit at a time, till he was loving being bounced and thrown in the air), and Nathan swam all by himself with his water wings and swim belt!

Nathan swimming by himself!

David gets used to the water

Getting the water gun ready

Nathan shoots his shark gun

Up in the air!

David bouncing in the water with Mommy

Greg lifts Nathan up...

...and Nathan makes a big splash!

Ok, ok, here's a Lowe's post.  Over the summer all the projects are movie themed.  So in June, we did two projects from Madagascar 3, and now we are doing projects from Kung Fu Panda 2.  In August the projects are from Shrek.  So today we put together a spinning panda.  This project was remarkably simple compared to the luxury assault vehicle we did three weeks ago, so it did not drive Mommy crazy and both kids were able to do a lot of the work.  Nathan was very excited to go to Lowe's and build something :)

Getting started

Nathan working on his project

David hammering while I hold the project still

The finished spinning panda!

The trip home from MI is a whopping 15 hour drive, which I cannot do in one day all by myself.  So on the way home, we stopped for the night and my Aunt Jo and Uncle John's place near Cincinnati.  While there, we took a walk to one of the ponds in their development to feed the geese.  The geese were quite tame, while not coming all the way up to us, were very excited to get the bread the boys were throwing.  The boys both had a great time throwing bread and watching the geese snap it up. 

Also while visiting Grandma and Grand-J, we took the boys to visit the Chelsea Teddy Bear Factory.  Nathan had an absolute blast.  We toured the factory, getting to see how all the bears are made and lots of historical teddy bear facts.  Then Nathan got to pick a bear and stuff it himself, and then pick out an outfit for his bear.  He picked a Spider-Man outfit for his bear, named it Stuffy, and says that Stuffy is Baby Minnie's boyfriend.  David was overtired and a bit overwhelmed, but likes the stuffed tiger that Grandma picked out for him.  A thouroughly enjoyable trip!

Grand-J hugs the life size bear

Nathan on the rocking horse

David on the rocking horse

Nathan poses with the giant stuffed teddy bear

Stuffing Stuffy

Nathan poses with Baby Minnie and Stuffy

After spending several days with Papa and Nana, we drove from WV to MI to see Grandma and Grand-J.  We were also able to take a side trip to Grand Rapids to see all of Nathan and David's cousins.  The kids had tons of fun playing all day long!