A walk in the Woods

We went hiking in Basking Ridge in Lord Stirling Park. We've done several trails this summer and fall and each time have seen an abundance of interesting things. These pics are from our most recent walk.

It wasn't until we downloaded the photos at home that we realized by the time the baby tried to pet the frog it had already hopped into his stroller! Do you see it? Yes, that's G & M investigating scat (yup, poop). They found small rodent remains. Decided it was fox.

"Teaching children about the natural world should be treated as one of the most important events of their lives." ~ Thomas Berry

Boyz Cooking

What's better than boys learning to cook?!?!

A dad that vacuums!

Bike Rodeo

The boys participated in a local bike rodeo. The police officers walk the kids through a bunch of safety guidelines and check for properly fitted gear. Then they send them on an obstacle course. This is also part of earning the cub scout pin for Bicycling.

A day at the beach.

Every year, September rolls around and I start missing Summer already. Then it happens - the weather report predicts an 80-something degree day ahead. Ethan gets called out of school and Dad takes the day off work. We fit in the Jenkinson's Aquarium and some beach fun. The funny story of the day was my decision to leave Ethan sitting at a boardwalk table with some coloring he was doing while I used the ladies room. I thought there was a really good chance he would stay where he was. When I returned, he was not in his spot. I did a quick 360 a promptly saw him sitting in at a bar with his coloring books. The bartender was obviously amused. When I walked up and asked Ethan what he thought he was doing he pointed to the TV and told me the Yankees were on. Fair enough.

A pack of boys.

Pack meetings are a good time for scouts. There are opening ceremonies, the kids are presented with awards such as belt loops, pins and any other acknowledgements of things that went on during the month and then there is usually some type of activity. Tonight was games.

Cub Scouts starts again.

Welcome to the cub scout year...

Afternoon picnic for everyone and then...Frisbee Golf for Webelos

Lego Quests

Gavin started following a blog here and this is his first submission. It is really cool because they post each entry - so you get to see your creation on the blog!

Entry #1 Playground

Try it, we hope to see your creations, as well.

First day of school

Here is what we did the day our town started school.

Counting, weighing, adding and purchasing.

Just celebrating the fact that we don't "do" school.

"We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Opening Day of Hockey

Gavin & Mikey play inline roller hockey with Greenbrook Hockey. Gavin is playing in the U10 Division on the Vikings and Mikey will play U8 for the Vipers. Go Costello Boyz!

Insectropolis & Popcorn Park Zoo.

We visited Insectropolis. We all (yep - Smoosh included) touched a scorpion, a trantula, a huge millipede and a hissing cockroach. We ate dried crickets - seriously! We used our Roadside America app to find Popcorn Park Zoo. We saw lots of great animals and read all their stories. They were all interesting as most animals come to Popcorn Park because their owners got in over their head, they were abused or neglected or really had nowhere else to go. We were especially excited to find that Doris Duke's beloved "Princess" the camel was still alive and well there! We have had several run ins with her story from a letterbox and a Ripley's book!

Secret Codes

Secret codes were sent to far off places (Long Island) for decoding! Hoping to get some back in return.