MORE Mini-golf

What do you do when the mini-golf courses around here get boring? (well...boring for me, not for the boys) Go visit your friends in Front Royal and make them take you to the ones closest to them.

When we woke up to pouring rain, I feared our mini-golf plans for the day would be shot. But, as luck would have it, Rebecca found an indoor mini-golf course not far from their house. It was only 9 holes, but more than sufficient with all the other things to do. They had a playland, a rock wall, quarter operated rides, bumper cars (which we didn't do) and even roller skating (which we also didn't do). But some of the best time killers were all the game machines that only cost a quarter to play and spit out tickets for candy and junk prizes.
We left the funland and ate at Cracker Barrel where everyone started to unravel a bit. Since the rain had stopped we had one more mini-golf course to play before we left for home. And this one was only $1.00 per kid! What a deal!

This picture is out of order: This was the last course we played once the rain stopped. Appleland Mini-Golf.

At the indoor fun center: Mini-golfing

Ball pits are always fun

I had to take 3 pictures because I could never get them all to look at me at the same time:

Hold on tight!

Mikie used his tickets to buy a candy necklace.

Outside Cracker Barrel

A week later we returned to Front Royal to take care of Leah while Rebecca had teacher training. Zachary woke up that morning with diarrhea and so we had to stop every 10-15 on our drive so he could go potty. Luckily I put the little potty in the back of our mini-van and it was easy to pull over on the side roads without having to get Mikie out of the car too. Once we picked up Leah, we returned to the 2 mini-golf courses pictured above and played them again and AGAIN! I can't complain when it's only $1 to play!

A Barbie Party

It was bound to happen when you're friends with two little girlie girls......my boys were invited to a Barbie birthday party (which was also a pool party) My friend, Kathy and her birthday girl, Kaitlyn.


Mikie actually wore the blindfold to play pin the tiara on the Barbie princess.

Although he does look like he's being tortured:

Video:

Zachary and Lily

Bouncy house fun video:

Time for the Barbie Pull String Pinata

CANDY!

The boys thoroughly enjoyed their very first RING POPS.

Rain Forest Field Trip

After Mikie read the Magic Tree House book #6 Afternoon on the Amazon I took him to the rain forest exhibit at the zoo. It was a very quick trip as we were headed to a birthday party later that day and then to the airport to pick up Michael on the way home. The boys were so cute looking at the fish in the Amazon river and we even got to watch them feed them before we left.

We found a monkey in the canopy and had our book signed by a volunteer information guide.

Zach's a big boy now!

Even though he's only 20 pounds, he's still a "big boy" in other ways:


#1. He doesn't fit in his crib sideways any more:
#2. He is wearing big boy underwear now:

And uses the potty at home and most of the time when we are out.
I have this same picture of Mikie drinking on the potty, only his was a milk cup and Zach's is a juice cup. My children are so well hydrated they pee A LOT!

#3. He can sing his ABC's and 123's like in this video:

#4. He can answer questions with a cute answer like in this video:

Since I've last posted, Zachary is on a Casein free diet and still has fluid in his ears. He's holding steady at 20 pounds, but is growing vertically. He's becoming less picky all the time and more willing to cooperate and try a bite or two of new foods. We go back to the Dr. in October to find out if the fluid in his ears is gone and pray that it doesn't turn into another ear infection in the process.

Michael's Promotion

On the day my mom flew into D.C. we went to Michael's work and watched as he was promoted to Commander Michael Kennedy Jones IV.

Mikie pins on Daddy's new silver oak leaves.


Zachary wasn't too happy to help.

So, I finished the pinning.

It's official!

Jungle Mini-Golf

Last month, we took the boys to one of the top 5 mini-golf courses in America (rated by Newsweek Magazine). Woody's Perils of the Lost Jungle was almost a perfect fit for our Amazon Rain Forest field trip after Mikie finished The Magic Tree House Book Afternoon On The Amazon. I say 'almost' because it was actually a Congo theme course with African animals and landmarks, but hey....it was still a jungle and it was MINI-GOLF so of course my boys loved it!

Walking through the jungle to reach the entrance.

Earlier that morning, I bought the boys each a $5 stuffed animal from Khols 'Cares for Kids'.
Mikie got a jaguar and Zach chose an iguana.

With their animals in hand, we are ready for our adventure through the rain forest.

Mikie encounters some creepy tarantulas

I think every hole had some sort of animation/motion that was triggered by a motion sensor. What you can't see in the video below is that Mikie seemed to be in a hurry to finish the holes with the animated creatures and Zachary was sticking very close to Mommy and Daddy. I guess it was a little too real for toddlers, but he eventually got over being scared and started enjoying it.

I think this was my favorite hole. You can see how realistic the monkeys were in the video below:

Mikie is holding his breath to walk over the bridge where the piranhas were jumping.

Standing under an anaconda.

This video shows how you have to open the tomb to get to the next hole:

The poisonous dart frogs spit water at you.

Watch out for the Aborigines and their blow guns.

Who wrote this message? It must have been the guy in the video below:

Do we really have to golf through a cave with Vampire Bats?

Look up, Zach, see their glowing eyes!

This picture is hysterical to me because Michael has started calling me a witchdoctor and sings the little "Ooh, Eee, Ooh, Ahh, Ahh..." song whenever I mix Zachary's homeopathic medicines (which can sometimes be close to a dozen viles, powders, capsules, liquids, etc. In fact he is taking 11 different things right now)

Stirring my brew :)

Run....Killer Bees!

Zachary is standing in front of the crocodile that leaps out of the water and squirts you as you putt the ball in the hole. At first, it startled them both, but then they found the sensor and took turns being "attacked" by the gator. Not a very good video:

This picture was taken on our second round of mini-golf. It never fails, as soon as we finish playing 18 holes they both immediately ask "Can we play it again? Just one more time, Mommy?" This time we told them that we were going to go grab a bite to eat and then come back when it was a little darker so we could play after they turned all the lights on. They were both very well behaved at the Macaroni Grill because they knew what their reward was going to be. When we played the second time around, the lightning bugs came out (as well as the mosquitoes) and it really felt as if we were in a tropical jungle! It's been almost a month since we've been there and I am not joking when I say that Mikie asks us almost daily when we are going back to "Perils of the Lost Jungle." I think we'll take them next week (but I'm sure I'll hear about it tomorrow)!