Ice cream!!

Last Sunday Sarah & I took all four kids with us to the grocery store. I bribed them with ice cream if they behaved themselves. It worked. All four of them were great. It helped that I strapped them into the car baskets.  ;)

Charlie Daniels Park

The kids asked to go to a different park one day. I didn't know of any other parks, but Uncle Scott suggested Charlie Daniels Park. It's in Mount Juliet, that's the next city West of Lebanon. So I loaded up snacks, drinks, scooters, helmets & the kids and took off at 9am Friday morning to go to the park. 

Their website said they had a skatepark there and my kids were SOOOO excited to try it out! But when we got there, I found a No Scooters Allowed in the skatepark sign. LAME! Maryam was so upset she nearly cried! I felt terrible. Fortunately they kept themselves busy on the playground. 

We stayed over 2 hours before the humidity just became too much for them. Once the, "I'm too hot to play!" complaints started, we took off. We stopped at Sonic for some slushes to help them cool down on the way home. 

We tried to go to the pool Friday afternoon, but about 10 minutes after we got there a storm hit. 

Enjoy the park pictures!

Addison & Jax on the teeter totter 

Maryam & Jax climbing a web

Charlie posing

The dreaded scooter NOT ALLOWED sign

Maryam 

Jax playing in the sand

Addison riding a toy

Big girls on the baby teeter totter

Addison & Jax on the tire swing

Addison at the top of the climber

Charlie posing on the twirly whirl 

Jax at the tippy top of the chain ladder

Jax playing with a very loud toy

Addison & Jax saying cheeeeese through a window on the slide

Maryam telling a secret

Addison monkeying around

Mommy & Jax 

Pool fun

I've been trying to get the kids to the pool 3 or 4 times a week, and so far, so good. We've gone everyday this week except Wednesday. We couldn't go Wednesday because there was a storm. 

I'm driving them to the next town over today to check out a different park. I'll post pics of that soon. In the mean time, here are pictures from the pool this week. 

Summer reading program

I signed up the four kids for the summer reading program at the local library. Every time they read 5 books they get to draw a prize out of the prize box. The first book log was for 15 books and the kids finished and returned their logs today. When they turned in the logs they each received a coupon for a free cookie from Chick-Fil-A, a free ice cream from McDonald's, a free day pass to a family fitness center, and a free ticket to a baseball game!! 

We saw a magician today named Mr. Barry Mitchell! He was fun! All the kids seemed to enjoy the show. Every Tuesday & Thursday is a different activity or entertainer. It's great because it keeps all four kids entertained for a few hours, twice a week! Yay! 

Fire truck

So this pulled into the parking lot next door to the library on Tuesday. The kids wasted no time running over to check it out. 

They asked to go for a ride, but the fireman said no but allowed them to sit down. 

They took turns wearing the headphones. 

They sure had fun!!

Hiking

On Monday I took the four kiddos hiking in the Cedars of Lebanon. I hit up the Ranger Station first because I had to drop off the big girls' Junior Ranger Camp applications. While I was in there I asked about age appropriate hiking trails. The nice lady gave me a map & told me there was a half mile trail behind the building and down the road there was the Nature Center with another half mile trail behind it. 

The kids and I did the trail behind the building first. Along the trail there were signs telling us what we would see on our like. They described the different plants, trees, rocks, insects, birds & animals. The kids loved having me read the signs to them, then we'd set off to look for new things. 

After the first hike we headed over to the Nature Center. The Nature Center had three Rangers inside and no other visitors than us. We had their undivided attention. We got to see snakes, birds, fossils, bugs, frogs, salamanders, & animals. Behind the center there was a butterfly garden. Unfortunately the kiddos were awfully loud & none of the butterflies wanted to stick around to see what was headed their way!

We did the second trail behind the center and the kids loved it. We saw & heard a red headed woodpecker! It was really neat. I had never seen one before! We crossed a long, narrow bridge, and even found a neat cave. It was a fun way to spend a Monday morning, that's for sure. 

I'm happy to report all four kids were on their best behavior. They were all really polite to the rangers, didn't take anything from the trails, and didn't bicker over being the hiking leader. It was very pleasant. 

Heading out on the first trail

Locating some reindeer & glade moss

Holding hands

Trudging right along

Photo op on a bridge

Sticking to the trail

Cruising through the butterfly garden

Heading out on trail two

Crossing the "super huge" bridge

The cave

Holding it up

Addison making sure it doesn't collapse on anyone ;)

Jax holding a snake

Checking out some pelts of animals found in the park

Ranger bringing a raccoon pelt to life

Charlie holding it

Addison's turn!

Jax holding a skunk

Maryam holding a skunk

Group photo!