Family Trip to the Asheboro Zoo

My dear friend Michele or as the kids like to call her "Aunt" Michele and family were in G'boro this week making their way to the beach from Philly.  We planned on meeting up with them on Friday at the Zoo.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and it was blazing HOT.  With Michele being 8mths. prego they opted to stay in G'boro and keep cool.  We on the other hand had already told the kids we were going, Chad took off work on Friday so off to the Zoo we went.  Before we left I finally gave the kids Aunt Michele, Uncle Dan, Chase and Logan's B'day gifts.  I've been keeping the gifts until the time was right.  So Kaitlin's gift was a little late and Williams gift was 6 mths. early but, they LOVED them as you can see in the pictures below.  It works out great so Madison can listen to her Wiggles, Barney and all the other favorite toddler shows and William and Kaitlin can enjoy their shows in the back. 

OK, so on our way to the Zoo we went.  We got up at 6:45 to get ready.  We were hoping to be at the Zoo when it opened at 9:00 but as always got a later start than expected and had to stop for breakfast.  We finally arrived at the Zoo around 10:30.  We decided to do Africa first as it seemed to have more outdoor stuff and we thought we could cool off in some of the North American exhibits.  The kids really enjoyed seeing the animals and William walked the entire day not complaining one bit.  He had a blast.  Kaitlin on the other hand was a different story.  About 30 min. into the day she was ready to go home.  Not interested in walking.  The one thing that Kaitlin was interested in was how many animal statues could she stand or sit on and get a picture.  She loves to have her picture taken.  She made it through Africa and when we went over to North America we took time out to finish our pancakes from breakfast on the way and get the other stroller for Kaitlin. 

Kaitlin's favorite part was the 4-D Dora the Explorer Adventure.  First it was air conditioning and second she like how the seats sprayed water on you, shook, and air came out of the back.  Was so neat watching her experience everything.  She would grab for things as they were coming out at you.  William enjoyed the same but, he opted for his second choice to ride the Carousel again.  I think he enjoyed the breeze he got from riding.  Madison enjoyed the elephants and most of all the giraffes.  She kept pointing at them and giggling. 

We had a fun filled day and in the end they both got a little toy and a mask to wear.  William got one of a Lemur animal mask and Kaitlin got a Butterfly mask.  Madison got a little stuffed giraffe.  We left around 4:00 and Madison was asleep before we even pulled out of the parking lot.  She was such a good baby.  Not one cry from her.  She had a lot of fun too.  We got back into town around 6:00 and Chad dropped us off at Good Sheppard Church in Charlotte for our next adventure, Go Fish Guys Concert. (see next post) 

 

Madison (15 1/2 mths.) William 6 1/2, Kailtin 5
Love my family... We have truly been blessed. 

William's Swim Team Banquet

We finished the swim season with the end of the year banquet tonight.  William has improved so much since the beginning of the season and we are so proud of him.  He earned his swimteam award at the banquet along with his first "real" ribbon.  He won 10th place in the City League Meet for boys 6 and under.  The funny thing is he earned this in the stroke he likes the least, Backstroke.  We're so proud of him. 

Kaitlin's Princess Camp

While William did art camp Kaitlin went to Princess Camp at the Perfect Step and boy did she LOVE every minute of this week.  The week was a full of art, crafts, dance and friendship.  At the end of the week they put on a little show where the girls dressed up in their favorite princess costume and did a couple dances for the parents.  The show was called "A Fractured Fairytale"  Kaitlin did two short dance performances, "Beauty and the Beast" and "A Dream is a Wish" then they crowned each princess.  At the end of the program they had refreshments.  Kaitlin was so excited to hear they were having cupcakes.  Several of her friends were in dance camp but, her buddy, Gracie Hite from dance this past year took the camp with her.  These two had fun this week together.  I did remind Kaitlin now that she was crowned a princess that meant she had to act like one.  Lets just say that not much has changed since the camp.  Oh well, nice try at least.

William's Art Camp

This week was full of camps.  William went to art camp, Create A Masterpiece at St. Michaels.  He created 3 birdhouses and put them together to make one big birdhouse.  They also made a bird for the house.  They molded some clay into a bird shape added the eyes and mouth then rolled it into feathers.  He called it his "Cat in the Hat" birdhouse.  He had so much fun working on this all week.  He asked me all week if he could attend this camp next year.  He also drew and painted a 3-D picture of a bird house with birds.  The last two pictures was of a fish (front and back side) he did at a 2 hour camp (Splash into Color) at our local library where he enjoyed hands-on watercolor painting with award-winning artist/educator Matt Psomadakis.  Matt is also his art teacher at Robinson Elementary.  He had a wonderful time.  Won't be long before he starts 1st grade and he'll see Mr. Psomadakis again.  My how the summer has flown by.