We are acting like tourists this week! On Monday, we arrived (it wasn't a long trip!) at our destination: Tallahassee, Florida! Cute city, birthplace to some famous people (Abby and Tyler Schnittker - have you heard of them?), good football team ... but what do people do for entertainment here during the summer!?! To find out, we did what tourists (ones who don't use the internet!) do: we hit the Leon County Visitor's Center.
We picked up some brochures, something my brother and I used to really love doing when WE were little. And we bought some postcards!
Truly, that was going to be our
only outing on Monday (I had things to do back at the 'ole "Home-tel") but the kids declared our trip to the visitor's center "NOT FUN!" Well, they had been to the chiropractor and gym with me, so I took pity on them and extended the outing - suggesting we visit the state capitol (a short walk across the street from the visitor's center).
The photo above is outside the historic capitol (a great museum that Abby could have walked around in for hours!), but the shots below were taken from the top floor (22nd) of the "new" capitol. The kids LOVED riding in the elevators, then finding things like "Daddy's office" from WAY up above. We also got to see where the governor works, we learned about the state seal, and we visited the senate chamber gallery. Not bad for a little staycation diversion!
We forgot our passports at home! But they put a stamp on paper for us to paste in later!
This morning, the kids were treated to a bunch of "sugar cereals" in those little boxes you get when you're at a hotel. I tell 'ya - I've never seen such excitement!
Now we're off to one of the
free movies! I didn't want to plan an all-day activity NOR do I want to be outside (have I mentioned it's REALLY hot out?). What I need to do is spend a good amount of time here cleaning up this "home-tel" this afternoon. Would you believe they don't offer turn-down OR housekeeping services!?!
Then, we mixed two of the larger-size boxes of Jell-O (we did a combo of cherry and strawberry flavors - couldn't agree on just one) with a total of 5 cups boiling water. Don't follow the instructions on the box or it won't gel in the melon correctly. Now, even using two of the larger (8 oz.) boxes of Jell-O, we did not fill our melon. But, we proceeded anyway. We let the mixture chill in the refrigerator for about an hour and a half (firm but not totally solid), then I added some mini chocolate chips ... some sank down to the bottom, some floated, and some I had to press through the Jell-O with a skewer. 
We chilled it overnight ... and voila! As you can see, I had to trim the top ledge so it was even with our Jell-O. But it worked.
We sliced it up ... 
And dug in ... 
Correction: I tried the watermelon, but ABBY and TYLER dug in! Guess we should have waited to give Abby that bath AFTER dinner!
There's my father-in-law Bill. This picture is an older one, but it captures what I love about Bill. Through his grandchildren, he is getting to experience, once again, the joy of little kids and the wonder that comes when you introduce them to something for the first time (like this shot of Tyler's first tractor ride). I think he's having a lot of fun being "Grandpa!" Now, hopefully he'll still appreciate that joy and wonder that comes with it in July, when he and Martha watch the kids for a week while Dennis and I are in CA!
And then, of course, there's the main man in my life now ... Dennis. I wrote this in the Father's Day card I gave him, but it's so true. I should have known he would be, but Dennis amazes me daily with how truly good he is at being a dad! I always knew he was a great guy, but I couldn't have picked a better man as the father of my children. It's such fun to see Dennis loving on these kids, and to see their adoration for him. Abby and Tyler are so lucky ... and they should feel proud to claim Dennis (a.k.a. Superman) as their dad! 
Happy Dads Day to all of the other wonderful fathers (uncles, godfathers and friends too!) out there that read our little blog. Hope you enjoy yourselves today!
After dinner, we headed outside to make the fire (thanks Bevis family for letting us borrow your firepit!) I love this shot of Dennis (he's such a smart*@&!) ... YES, I know most people don't have fires in triple digit temperatures! But, wouldn't it have been worse to have a fire in the fireplace in June? Our neighbors might have talked about us (like they don't anyway!)
Funny! The marshmallows were melting off the sticks faster than we could roast them ... 
... but they sure were yummy!
Okay ... I admit it! It was SUPER hot out, so we took pity on the kids and let them run through the sprinklers. You could call this the "au natural" part of Nature Week!
Nice Dennis! Hiding behind the three-year old!
We hit the bath, then the sack! Before bed (we had to wait until it was dark), we played a game of "Flashlight Find." I read about this one in Family Fun magazine. Each child chose five stuffed animals (you can use any toy), then Dennis and I hid them in certain rooms of the house. It was to have been in the backyard, but we were DONE with that! The kids used the flashlights they got in their "Welcome to Summer" buckets, and shined them around the room to find their stuffed animals. Such fun. While it was a bit difficult to get the kids to fall asleep (Dennis had to lie between them at first), both kids slept all night in the tent without getting out! 
Today, we returned the campsite back into a living room, and Nature Week came to a close. Awwww ... bummer! Well, I do have one more nature-ish food craft up my sleeve. We'll get to it sometime this weekend amid Father's Day fun and plans for "Our Staycation!"
And, in addition to learning lines, moves and songs for the show, they even worked on props and backdrops (like the mean Nazi faces behind them in this shot and the goat puppets in the next picture). 
Lucy, Mary Leah and Abby would sign up for another week of Petite Players camp in a heartbeat, but being that it only lasts for 2-1/2 hours a day and costs a pretty penny ... we'll be finding other ways to spend the rest of our mornings this summer! 
Our magnifying glass didn't work real well, but it was fun to experiment with... 
And we were MUCH too close to make the binoculars do their "magic." I included this shot because I think Tyler looks like Wall-E! 
The plan is to chop these pieces up for firewood. Hope we plan to have A LOT of fires! 