Flat Nate & Buzz

Harvest time!!  we finally got some ripe eggplant and zucchini before the kids picked them.  We made vegetable lasagna for dinner.   You both liked it because it had lots of sauce and cheese!!

We went for one of our weekend hikes.  This time we went to Mendon Ponds to feed the birds.   Mendon Ponds was formed by glaciers and is now a nature preserve.

New York state usually has some really great Maple syrup.  This year there really wasn't much of a season for it since it got too warm too quickly, but here is a huge Sugar maple!

Mendon Ponds is a nature preserve, so although there is miles of hiking trails throughout it, they ask that you do not take plants, animals or other materials from the park, that you carry out what you carry in and respect the bird houses and nature education centers there are all around Mendon Ponds. 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendon_Ponds_Park

 

Checking out the bacteria growing on the piece of wood in one of the education stations.

Here is one of the Chicka-a-dee's eating sunflower seeds from my hand.  We tried to get them to eat near you, but they weren't very cooperative.  This is the only one that we got to eat from our hands that day.  There's too many other natural sources of food for them to come to humans.

Sharon's Sensory garden has me wanting to make a sensory garden of our own.  A project for next Spring and Summer.  There are wind chimes, hand chimes, odorous plants, and small waterfall in the sensory garden.  The kids love the wind chimes the most.

This was picnic we went to for the play group that we belong to.  we had a great time.   there were two bounce houses, a playground, water balloons and TONS of snack food.  We are in the first row, sitting down, to the left of the middle.




Here we are at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.  We were having lunch in the cafeteria with some of our friends, when Izzy discovered you and wanted to play.  we played house, and fed you lunch and told you a story about an alligator that went to bed with Izzy.

Longwood gardens was fun.  We went for another great hike, IKEA and Please Touch Museum.  we almost lost you there, so we decided to leave you in the car.

We had a great time with you and taking you around to some fun places.  We hope you had a good time too!!

Flat Buzz & Flat Nate

We welcomed Nate and Buzz from Loveland, Ohio.  They arrived yesterday, 8/11/2010.

Lucas immediately grabbed Buzz and flew him around the room for a nice welcome flight.  Leona took Nate, "her boy," and showed him some of her dance moves.

I took the flats to work with me on Friday but was too busy to get some pic's.  So the first thing we really did as a family was go to our favorite park Harris Whalen Park, which is just five minutes from our home. Harris Whalen is a 45 acre park in and maintained by the Town of Penfield.

The park has a playground, basketball and tennis and bocce courts, softball fields, nature trail, cross country skiing, etc. There are an open pavilion and an enclosed lodge available for rental. We like it most for the trails and the play ground.

 And of course the view.  It is the highest point in Penfield and the surrounding towns. 

Buzz and Nate meet Goldie.  We have had Goldie for several months and the kids love him!

We love doing most anything nature related.  One of the things that we did this summer was started a terrarium.  The kids and I put it together over a course of a week, adding different things.  Some died, and come to find out- there are many that lived!

We have seen "tracks" on the glass, leading us to believe that there was some sort of snail living in there and eventually, we finally saw it.  It was a small slug.  But when we were taking pictures with Buzz and Nate- we found this tiny little speck of a snail!  It's right in the center of the picture.  It is so small, that was the best picture I could get.  Incredible!  i think we will have to learn a little about snails to find out if it is possible that this little guy was hatched "in captivity."

Here's a very blurry picture of the small slug.

We found Buzz and Nate playing with Joey- our Melissa & Doug magnetic dress up doll!

Lucas and Leona wanted to show Buzz and Nate their garden.  Lots of green veggies, and a few ripe egg plants, but mostly the kids are picking it too early or the deer are getting it.

As if reading my mind- Lucas picked this baby green pepper for you Nate!  LOL!  He said,  "Awe, he's hungry." and picked it.

It was warm out so I sent everyone outside to wash my car- with spray bottles.  It turned into a water fight then just fun on the swing set.

We found out that the play house has an infestation!  Wasps and spiders!  The picture above is actually a sack where all those small dots were hatching from.  Baby spiders.   Not going in the playhouse today!