Alderbrook Park

A friend of mine recently made me aware of an amazing hidden gem in Brush Prarie, it's called Alderbrook Park.  For $5 a person we got all this...

 

Bouncy Houses

 

Petting Zoo (Isabelle stayed in this area for a long time)

 

Paddle Boat rides

 

  

A pirate ship to explore and a fun maze.



A pool with separated deep and shallow ends.

 

Train Rides



And the drinking fountain spouts lemonade!

For $3 each the kids could also get a pony ride.

Isabelle was in heaven.

The first day we were there the boys wanted to stay in the bouncy houses the whole day! 

Robert made friends with two brothers there whose mom worked there.  So, he got special free treats like ice cream sandwiches and chips.
  
Talia was hesitant to go in the bouncy house until I got Kaime to take her in with her.  Kaime was so cute with her that they held hands tons in the bouncy houses and went down the slides together.  They had lots of fun. They also played together in the pool.
 

Talia was a little nervous on the paddle boats. 

She said she wanted to ride the horse too (only the girls ended up wanting to go on the horse.)  The helmet didn't last for long.  

After the first day, on Thursday, the kids begged me to take them the next day.  So, I did. 

Austin actually came with me on the paddle boats the next day.  There was a boy there catching a whole bunch of newts too and he was really sweet to help us find more and let us pet the ones he caught. 

Austin also came with us on the train.  

We have been there three times now and every time Isabelle has wanted to ride the horse.  That is her favorite animal right now.

    
Talia rode the horse for two of the three days we went. 

Robert pretty much stayed in the bouncy houses the whole time all three days!  What a crazy kid!

Zoo

We were so happy that Rob could take off work for a day and join us at the zoo.



   



 
If you read my last post, you may recognize the pig ears that Isabelle is wearing here.  She wanted to wear her pig stuff to the zoo.




 


  

Although most of our kids enjoyed the petting zoo, it is still a struggle to get Robert to be willing to touch the animals.....

 

 

Kids measuring themselves after one of Austin's favorite animals right now.

  

The whole time we were at the zoo Isabelle was collecting different leaf samples and comparing the differences between the leaves.  Do I have a little scientist on my hands?


We also had to get a pic of her in front of the only pig they had at the zoo, since she was being a pig that day.
   

Robert's favorite animal, and has been for some time, is the Hippo.  He used to call Talia a baby hippo when she was first born.

  



  

That night we went to Nona Emilia's in Portland for dinner.  Rob's favorite pizza place.  Isn't that pizza just a monster!

Pig Day!

So, sometimes we here at the French house get an idea in our head and just let it run wild.  I had posted a fun cupcake on Pinterest that looks like a pig.  I had also checked out a book from the library called "Pigericks"  (limericks about pigs).  So, we decided to make a whole pig day out of it......  

First I made pig pancakes in the morning.  I had to use bacon as too!  They ended up as the ears.  

Isabelle didn't like the strawberry bow ties for her pancake, so she made them a bow in her pigs hair.

 

After we ate, Robert read to everyone "If you give a pig a pancake."

We invited a bunch of kids over for the rest of the festivities.

One of our friends gave us Spam to celebrate the occasion.
 

We made pig ears, noses and tails.

 

 

My friend Sara read to the kids from "Pigericks" and other pig books.

We had the kids roll their own "pigs in a blanket" for lunch.

 We also played some pig games.  This was "Australian Pig Snort".


 Then we made what started it all- pig cupcakes!



 



  

Cub Camp and more

So, last week Robert went to cub camp.  It was a knight/medieval theme, which I thought was very fun, especially since we just studied that stuff in history.  They made helmets.



Only at camp is it cool to wear milk jugs on your head.


Robert loved the archery, and the fact that we played chess too.








The leaders chose me to make the flag.  I had a bunch of cool stuff from homeschool that we used earlier to make coat of arms, so I used some of those things to make this flag.  I tried to incorporate Boy Scout stuff and medieval stuff as well.  Our group was the "Lords".















 
The boys got to be part of a knighting ceremony.  Robert was so proud!

The kids played with this giant chess set at the mall.
 
Rob made Austin this cute balloon turtle.  Turtles are Austin's new favorite animal, that and bears.  He has been checking out tons of turtle and bear books from the library.
 
Isabelle has been really into horses and decorating.  She has been putting tons of hair things etc on her stuffed animals...
 
and on Talia


 
Here is my first ever Key Lime Pie.