Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

Friday, we had the opportunity to go to the Pittsburgh Zoo, thanks to the Buckles family. It was a beautiful day and everyone enjoyed it! One of the first animals we saw was the snow leopard. It was really active for us. He looked so pretty sitting up there on the rock. The tiger was also posing so nicely for us. The "mamma lion" was looking like she was ready to pounce! I just had to explain to Natalee that this one is the girl lion, but she is convinced that this is the "daddy lion" because she has short hair. The "daddy lion" was lazily laying on the rock. The penguins put on a show for us. We managed to get a spot up by the glass so the kids could get an up close look . It was quite thrilling for them when one would zoom by! The seals were swimming a lot when we stood outside their pool. Brady REALLY loved the seals. He continuously pointed them out.... ....and then he would smile and laugh! *The photos are courteous of the Buckles Family. ...

Brady "helped" us wash the truck this morning :)

This morning, we took a family walk up Flag Pole Hill. We went early in the morning before it got really warm. When we were up there, the flag was not blowing at all :( Natalee discovered that the you could draw on the big rocks with the little rocks. They both started to move--I missed a really great (smiling) picture of the kids by a nano-second: Meg was taking a rest by the stroller. You can see in this picture that Natalee's dog got to ride in the stroller while she walked with me :) It did get really hot today. As of 10pm, it was still 79 degrees outside :(

Last week, I took a few pictures of Natalee because she is nearing her third birthday in mid-July. She is such a blessing to us. Natalee adds a lot of joy and laughter to our lives. Although she is often quiet around other people, she has such a caring and loving heart. Natalee loves flowers. Everyday when we go for a walk, she asks to pick one. She also loves to cut flowers from our garden and put them in a vase for "her Mamma". Recently, she sometimes wants just one pony tail in her hair -- "like Marissa" -- a Penn State Lady Lion basketball player.

In honor of Fathers Day, I entered Jesse in the "Lets Hear It For Your Man" contest because I felt he was worthy of that honor. Here is my fotobabble entry: Penn State Chics Dig Nerds Through a really unique process (which you can watch on this video), Jesse was chosen-- or shall I say shot-- as a winner!

Tonight, we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather we have had so far this week. I honestly would love it if the weather would be like this every single day! We had planned to go see the Raptor Center (where they tend to birds that are too injured to make it out in the wild) at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center. However, Jesse worked later than planned. But, it turned out okay because we decided to drive up to Raystown Dam. We had not ever been to the actual dam part. This is looking downstream at the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River: (There is a fly fisher in the middle of the picture) Everyone looking for fish: Here is the dam itself: We tried explaining to Natalee what a dam is. I think she may have understood. We drove up the side of the dam so that we could see the lake from the top. She thought it was pretty neat that a "wall" held up all of that water for the lake :) Here's the spillway, although no water is spilling over right now: Now...

Yesterday, the kids and I had the opportunity to be a part of the filming for a bike commercial. The commercial is advertising biking opportunities in Indiana County. It is going to air on Pittsburgh area TV stations. We were filmed at Eliza Furnace , which is one site on the Ghost Town Trail , a 33 mile rail-trail. I rode a bike and pulled Brady in the trailer while Natalee was in a seat on my bike. It was a fun experience. I can't wait to see the final product to see how they used the scenes I saw being taped. We'll see if we get on the commercial or not! I don't have any pictures of us actually doing the commercial. But afterward, we took the kids back over to the one area (by the "bumpy bridge") where we rode for part of the filming. The three older kids all had fun riding their trikes around. Xavier, Lilly, and Natalee Lilly: Xavier: Brady decided he was going to race Natalee. Of course, Natalee was too fast, but Brady did make a valiant ef...