The Little Nemeceks

We finally managed a trip to the aquarium!  I have been promising this trip to the boys all year, because we studied swimming creatures for science all year long.  I finally bit the bullet, crossed my fingers, and plopped all three kids in the car yesterday to head to the aquarium.  Avila did not sleep well in the car (only a half hour each way), but she did fine at the aquarium regardless, as there was plenty for her to look at.  The boys had a blast.  We saw the dolphin show, the beluga whales, the penguins, sea otters, sharks, sea dragons, jellyfish, lots and lots of different kinds of fish, manta rays, starfish, sea urchins, and just about everything we learned about!  The highlight for the boys was the Aquanaut Adventure (this has replaced the Georgia Coast hands on exhibit, for anyone who has not been to the aquarium recently).  They have redone the second floor for this exhibit, which allows you to check out an ipad for 45 minutes and wander through the exhibit, doing challenges and answering questions on the ipad to get badges.  They still have the manta ray and sea urchin touch stations, although the boys did not want to touch the sea creatures.  We were really pleased with our capstone field trip :)  (As a side note, they boys were much more engaged with the exhibits than they have been in previous years.  It is much more fun to take a 7 and 5 year old to the aquarium than a 4 and 2 year old, even adding a baby to the mix!)

Dolphins

David gets up close and personal with a penguin

And a whale

He also thought this crab was pretty neat

Nathan, for some reason, has forgotten how to smile for a picture

But he liked the fish

Lots of African fish

The bubble crawl throughs make for funny pictures

Of both boys

Move the marble to illustrate the water cycle

Checking in for our aquanaut adventure

One of the challenges: they had to find and scan the foods a sea turtle should eat

Measuring their wingspan compared to different sizes of manta rays

David created his own coral reef using magnetic pieces

My favorite picture

Avila watching the sea creatures swim over her head in the Ocean Voyager tunnel

Giant manta ray

The boys watching all the fish in the huge Ocean Voyager tank

Summer reading

Sweet sleeping baby Avila

Nathan helping David to read one of his summer reading books

Spoon silliness!

Avila loves her daddy!

And her toys

More Avila!

The boys also love entertaining their sister

Did I mention Avila really loves her daddy?

We skipped last week's library event because of VBS, but this week we are back at it!  The program today was talking about plants and animals that are environmental super-heroes (plants because they make oxygen, snakes because they eat rats, bugs and beetles because they eat dung, etc.)  I didn't take any pictures of the power-point, but after the show the director had a pet corn snake that he allowed the kids to hold.  The other kids, anyway, as Nathan and David were acting shy today and did not stray more than a foot from me.  So...I held the snake instead, lol!

Nathan and David really hate playing outside (and I guess I can't blame them, what with it being a high of 100 degrees for the next two weeks straight, humid, and the fact that Nathan gets attacked by mosquitoes all the time).  However, they occasionally draw with chalk or blow bubbles on our patio for a few minutes, so I decided to take a few pictures of some of their bubble fun.

My parents have big news: They are moving to Charlotte, NC!  My dad is retiring from the government and taking a new position in Charlotte (doing the exact same job ;)), so they will be a mere 3 hours away from us instead of 9!  They are moving within the month and we are looking forward to visiting their lovely new house, fishing on the lake, and visiting some of the gardens and museums in the area.  Meanwhile, they popped down here for a quick day trip while they were house hunting a couple weeks ago so that they could meet Avila for the first time.  Also, Nathan and David plied Papa with minecraft tips for quite a while, although I did not take any pictures of this!

Last week Nathan and David attended VBS at Warren Baptist Church.  Our church does not have VBS, so we pick a different church to go to for this!  This year's theme was Move, with music by Amber Sky Records (very important to Nathan, who has downloaded half the album to listen to on his own), and they learned about the shepherds visiting Jesus, Jesus's baptism, the calling of the disciples, Zaccheus, and Nicodemus.  We ended up with lots of crafts and some great memories for the boys.  David loves VBS so much he asks me all year long when the next one is!  Although I did not stay for their classes, I snuck a few pictures when I dropped the boys off and when I picked them up :)

The pre-school show area

Nathan involved in a game

David takes his coloring very seriously

Nathan's group plays hot potato at the end of the day

More activities for David

Off we went to the library again!  This week we had a magician doing a super-hero based magic show (because the theme for the summer reading program is Every Reader is a SuperHero).  The place was packed, so the kids found seats near the back, and I got one of the tall chairs when someone else left.  The kids all enjoyed the show (Nathan won't admit that he enjoyed the show, but he checked out two books on magic tricks......so.), even Avila enjoyed watching everything.  The magician also had a snake, which he wants the kids to submit names for on facebook for a chance to win a box of magic tricks.  I don't think they'll win, but they had fun coming up with names :)

The snake

The kid superheroes trying to lift a box

Avila was fascinated by everything

A trick involving hangers

He even had the moms get in on the tricks!