Celebrating Summer

I had to top the College World Series? Really?

Thursday was the 1st official day of summer, so we had some fun summer things planned today. May as well still do them, right?

I called up our morning play date, and they were still a go for the forest. Yeah! The girls..."NO! WE DON'T WANT TO GO!!" Seriously? I would rather be at the ballgame! :)

We went to the Forest, since I am that mean of a Mom. We arrived and our friends arrived shortly there after. I'm going to put this out there, not happy that the forest does not allow guests on my pass anymore. I think that is total crap (sorry, no better word for it). I mean really, I pay for 3 kids and 2 adults. There were 4 kids and 2 adults today. They would not allow it. UGH! Whatever, guess we know where we will NOT be going to take friends from now on. But anyway...

...the dinosaurs are at the forest, again. Déjà vu anyone? We started at the Acorn Acres area, playing, getting wet and muddy after last nights rain. Krissa and I somehow convinced them to go on the boardwalk to look at the dinosaurs (I believe the goldfish crackers I brought may have saved us for utter meltdowns here). The kids RAN the boardwalk, maybe stopping at half of the dino exhibits. I may not know much, but I do know that kids typically stop and pay attention when they are interested. These dinos just really were not what these 4 kids wanted to see. At least they got some exercise, right?

Finally, we sat down for a picnic. It was nice, shaded, and the weather was perfect. The kids were quite full of energy...perfect way to bring in summer. Everyone seemed happy (after the morning...this came as a surprise).

We moved to the basement and upstairs exhibits before calling it a day. The kids were WILD! It was crazy! The Forest was quite busy, busier than I have ever saw it. We had fun, but it seemed like more work than fun this time. The exhibit upstairs was fun and interactive, and the kids seemed to enjoy that.

We found highway 75 to be closed (cows in the road?! Only in Nebraska), so we took our way home. Our afternoon play date now had other plans, so I quickly came up with something new to fill our afternoon. Asher was now at home, so we decided to roll out, frost and decorate our summer cookies from yesterday. We invited our friends over to help. The kids had a fun helping me roll out the dough, pressing in the cutters, and baking them. But, they had way more fun decorating them! You should have seen the piles of sugar on the floor (and in the cracks of my hated kitchen table!). Pippa, our dog, was in sugar heaven. My friend Krissa helped with the sugars while I frosted the cookies. And, just as I got our friends full of sugar, it was time for them to go home (Sorry, Krissa!).

It was a full day, full of fun and sugar!

Sugar anyone? At least they are cute!