We had SOOOOO much fun today! My friend Deana invited Colin and I to join her kids, Jack and Kelly at a place called Morgan's Wonderland. Colin and Jack absolutely adore each other and always play really well together and I like hanging out with Kelly and Deana, so I immediately said yes!
This is a park designed with special needs kids in mind, but it's really perfect for everyone of all ages. I think Kelly and I had as much, if not more, fun as the two boys! In fact, we had so much fun that there were a lot of things I just forgot to get pictures of: carousel rides, catch and release fishing, and an
enormous water table.
One of the first things we did was ride these cars that the kids got to drive along a track. I took a really dumb looking picture before Colin really even starting driving, but he liked this a lot and was glad that he and Jack both had red cars! The second time we did it, Jack had an orange one and Colin a blue one and he wasn't quite as pleased with that - crazy kid!
(at the bottom is a really short video I accidentally took of Kelly spinning Colin on this seat)
Jack liked these seats, but I think Kelly liked them more! I pushed her and she got to spinning really fast and high! LOL!
Kelly was so good with Colin all day and he always wanted to sit by her. Here they are together on one of our train rides. We were lucky that Jack likes trains as much as Colin because they both wanted to get back on again!
Uh, Deana and I went down this as much as the kids. :)
Jack swinging really high:
There was a lake with remote controlled boats that the kids could drive - you can see them standing on the pier driving them. I did remember to take a picture of it once we were riding on the train again...
Another awesome area was a music garden. They had xylophones, marimbas, HUGE chimes, and more. Colin loved playing in it!
One building was a "sensory" building and one of the rooms was all dark. The floor had a mat that rippled water when you stood on it and them sprouted flowers. You can see where Kelly just jumped below and made a ring of flowers around her feet. I didn't get a great picture of Colin doing it though. :(
This room also had 4 screens in it that you could interact with using your shadow. One had butterflies land on your shadow when you held really still and another had tiny balls dropping from the top and you could make them pile up in your arms and then drop them all at once. Colin liked this!
They had a few green rooms where you could see yourself on the screen - didn't think to get a picture until Colin was already moving on to something else though...
They had some similated cars you could drive. Here's Colin not doing too badly - he went off the road a few times before he got the hang of it though...
And here's Kelly checking Colin out at the mini-grocery they had. He choose all produce and bread. Mmmm, that's my boy!
And here's the ultra-short video!
Totally, totally awesome day! We spent almost the whole morning and afternoon! Thanks Deana for the invite! :)
Here are some more of the flamingos still sitting on their eggs.
Scarlett Ibis are some of Colin's latest favorite birds, so we had to see them today while we were there. Colin has two ibis figurines he plays with (one scarlett and one white) and he pretends that our little craft pompoms are their eggs!
The hippos were really active today and we sat and watched them swim for quite a while.
Then Colin wanted to see the lorikeets.
And of course the fish...
...and the lions before we could leave!
Hug!
Goodbye SA zoo!
(at the bottom is a really short video I accidentally took of Kelly spinning Colin on this seat)
Jack liked these seats, but I think Kelly liked them more! I pushed her and she got to spinning really fast and high! LOL!
Kelly was so good with Colin all day and he always wanted to sit by her. Here they are together on one of our train rides. We were lucky that Jack likes trains as much as Colin because they both wanted to get back on again!
Uh, Deana and I went down this as much as the kids. :)
Jack swinging really high:
There was a lake with remote controlled boats that the kids could drive - you can see them standing on the pier driving them. I did remember to take a picture of it once we were riding on the train again...
Another awesome area was a music garden. They had xylophones, marimbas, HUGE chimes, and more. Colin loved playing in it!
One building was a "sensory" building and one of the rooms was all dark. The floor had a mat that rippled water when you stood on it and them sprouted flowers. You can see where Kelly just jumped below and made a ring of flowers around her feet. I didn't get a great picture of Colin doing it though. :(
They had a few green rooms where you could see yourself on the screen - didn't think to get a picture until Colin was already moving on to something else though...
They had some similated cars you could drive. Here's Colin not doing too badly - he went off the road a few times before he got the hang of it though...
And here's Kelly checking Colin out at the mini-grocery they had. He choose all produce and bread. Mmmm, that's my boy!
And here's the ultra-short video!
We also experimented with how the chalk writes differently when it's wet. Later he ran through it and made some really great footprints in the wet chalk.
Then we caught rain drops on our tongues.
When Michael got home, the rain had stopped, but it was still wet out and he and Colin ran through the grass while I grilled.
I love my silly boys!
See, handily placed leaves.
I tried to get a good shot of the two of them before we got in, but alas, Colin never seems to want to pose for pictures!
He was trying to be silly and make faces at his Sunday School teachers from behind Michael's leg as we dropped him off. Goofball! I'm trying to collect pictures of all his church friends (and little notes from the adults) before we leave town.
Here's one of his Sunday School teachers, Miss Lori.
And Miss Rhonda, reading yet another book to him.
They always do fun little crafts each week. I think he may have had more than the usual amount of help this week though!
We spent the rest of Sunday hanging out as a family and watching the fireworks all our neighbors were doing (and waiting, sure we would have to put our a fire in the yard before they were done!).
After I finished mowing later in the morning I came in to find Colin and Michael finishing up some playdough sushi! Too funny!
Yesterday evening we headed over to James and Lauren's for Lily's birthday party. Lauren had the whole backyard set up with different water toys and all the kids loved getting soaked! Sorry, not too many pictures of that as I was also getting pretty wet!
Here's the birthday girl, taking a turn in the swing:
And opening her presents:
And blowing out her candles:
Such a big girl now!
And a final one of Colin, "playing" with one of Lily's new toys...
