Camping Part 2

We decided to take a walk in the woods after playing at the playground.  Grandma Weidner has a tree there so we hiked out to try to find her tree.  Hiking time was during nap time so N2 were a little tired and needed to be carried for most of the time.  They did walk a little bit but the ground was uneven or there was horse poop or we had to cross a stream so they needed to be carried.  They were troopers but unfortunately we never found Grandma's tree.  Brian thinks we took the wrong path.

We headed back to our campsites and decided to try to get N2 to rest in the tent.  We didn't expect them to sleep but we did want them to get some quiet time as they were really showing signs of being tired.  N2 thought the tent was a really fun place to play!  We heard lots of giggling and we saw parts of the tent bulging out in places.  Then finally we saw this:

They figured out the zippers and found it really fun to find all the zippers all over the tent to play with them.  Clearly that was the end of rest time!
More to come later!

Camping Part 1

Brian has been wanting to take N2 camping for a couple months now.  His father's day present was camping gear.  We had a day set up in the summer to go camping at Starved Rock.  The date arrived and we had to cancel due to the weather forecast-about a 90% chance of thunderstorms.  Guess how many thunderstorms there were?  ZERO.  But we had canceled the site so we couldn't even go.  We couldn't find another time to go this summer.  Brian decided for his birthday that he wanted to go camping.  His parents and siblings met us at Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Park on Saturday.  We had 8 adults and 3 children under 3 on 3 camp sites.

We set up our tent and had a picnic lunch.  N2 were great helpers (or at least they tried to be!).  They were so excited because Grandma and Grandpa brought their big wheels!  So they rode those for part of the time while we were setting up.  They were hungry though so they kept coming over to me and asking to eat.

After lunch we headed to the playground which consisted of a metal slide, a merry go round and swings.  Apparently the equipment is the same from when Brian and his family went camping when they were kids.  However N2 loved the merry go round and the slide.  They liked to ride and push the merry go round.  They wanted daddy to ride the merry go round and Brian was sport enough to ride even though he HATES going round and round.

More to come another day.

Better Safe Than Sorry

I came home from work the other day and N2 were riding their bikes (tricycles and little bike) on the driveway with daddy watching them.  I drove up to see Natalie wearing her bicycle helmet while riding her bike.  I guess you can never be too safe!

In the past she has thrown fits wearing it in the trailer on Brian's bike so I have no idea why she decided she should wear it on her bike!

Twins are fun

We get a lot of fighting around here because Natalie wants to play with what Noah has and vice versa.  It's frustrating for everyone involved.  But we also have some really fun moments that could only happen with twins or siblings really close in age.  The other day Natalie and Noah decided to give each other rides in their shopping carts.  I'm not sure how it started but they had a great time and they even took turns with who was pushing and who was riding.  It seemed harmless enough so I let it continue.  I think it may have ended in the shopping cart tipping but oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

Noah's photography

After seeing Natalie take pictures Noah decided he needed to take pictures.  He's more about pushing the button rather than looking into the screen to see if he is taking a picture of anything.  Most of his pictures are of nothing except for his lap which turn out really blurry because it's way too close!  I helped him to take some photos and he decided to study the bookcases and the backpacks.

 When we were at the train museum in Union Noah snapped this picture while we were riding the train.

A Study in Composition

Natalie has begun to love taking pictures with my digital camera.  She will grab the camera, look at the picture on the screen and start snapping.  She's following in her cousin Amelia's footsteps of being a good photographer.  She takes pictures of something rather than just pushing the button like her brother.  A while ago she decided to study the composition of the laundry basket and shot it at different angles.  Quite interesting.  I like how the laundry basket is offset in each photo.  What are your thoughts?  Do you have a favorite photo?

Balance

N2 have learned how to balance things on their heads and they practice all the time, well mainly at meal times.  Empty bowls and cups end up on their heads and sometimes their sippy cups (those are generally not empty).  The think their sippy cups make good party hats and then they may start to sing happy birthday.  I would really like to know the inner workings of a 2 year old's mind.  Anyhow, here are my munchkins practicing their balancing act.  (These pictures are from the end of July-so just a little old!)