Adventures with ABBY!

Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to get to know our cousin Abby better.  Abby is the 13 year old daughter of Matthew's first cousin and she lives near Chicago so we've only seen her a few times.  Abby loves kids and is an avid follower of our blog so she has basically been watching our kids grow up online.  When her parents asked her what she wanted to do this summer once school was out, she asked if she could come stay with us.  When her dad called to ask what we thought, we were thrilled that she would want to do that and of course we said, "Yes!"  Abby was a wonderful help with the kids and we had so much fun, although the week went by so fast.  We hope that this will become an annual event!

Abby is helping Tysen ride his trike.

Supper time!

Enjoying the sunshine at Hoover Resevoir

Bowen is staying cool in the shade of his hat and stroller.  He's just adorable, love that smile and dimple of his!!!

Yep, that's my daughter in her bright and white dress, playing in the dirt....

Feeding some baby ducks

Abby helped me take the kids to the movie theater.  We saw the movie "Epic" and the kids loved it, especially Alexa and Gavin.  Bowen slept through most of it.

After the movie, we walked outside to the fountains and let the kids play and cool off.

I love this picture of Gavin spraying the water with his foot partially over the fountain.

Bowen is hanging out with Abby in the shade but enjoying watching the kids play in the water.

While the kids were napping, I put Abby to work matching all of our mismatched socks!  She said that she didn't mind and was able to watch television while she made some extra cash! (Please don't judge about all those socks!!!)

We took Abby to the Columbus Zoo.

The kids were thrilled to ride the carousel three times in a row!

Bowen and I rocking in the shade while the older kids are on the carousel.

We went to the Dinosaur Island and Boat Ride!

My kids loved this because they all love dinosaurs. 

Along the way, we came upon a zoo worker that was holding a snake.  The kids tried to get me to touch it, but I couldn't do it.  They are braver than I am.  All three of them eagerly petted the snake.

Feeding time at the zoo

On the dinosaur boat ride
(Because Gavin wasn't quite tall enough to ride alone, a zoo worker rode next to him so we could all go together.)

Train ride

Next 2 pictures are by Gavin

Polar Bear exhibit

So fun to see the polar bears swim

Rides at Jungle Jack's Landing

It was the perfect day for this because there were absolutely no lines!

Abby brought some markers and crafts to share with the kids.  They loved this!

Abby and Alexa helped decorate the cupcakes for Father's Day.

We were able to squeeze in a pool visit before Abby had to leave.  It was a little chilly, but the kids didn't seem to mind at all!

Jumping in!

A short video from the Dinosaur Boat Ride

Fun in the sun

Alexa's new bike

Since Alexa has gotten so good at riding her bike without training wheels, we decided to get her a new bike since she had gotten too tall for the other one. She went with me to Target and picked out the Disney princess bike. I was thrilled because there happened to be a box marked down $30 because someone had opened it and the store repackaged it. It was a perfectly brand new bike with all the parts so we got a great deal on it. She loves riding this bike and there's even a doll carriage so she was able to take Lucy for a ride. However, as soon as I helped her get the doll in the seat and put its "seatbelt" on, Alexa got very concerned that Lucy didn't have a helmet! I love that my kids are smart about bike safety, but does anyone know where I can buy a helmet for a Cabbage Patch Doll?
She wanted to go for a bike ride after supper last night. It had been raining on and off for most of the day, but we were lucky and didn't get rained on even though there were some dark clouds. Since her brothers were with Daddy, I decided to rollerblade alongside her instead of jogging like I usually do so that I could keep up better and we could go farther. She ended up biking 3 miles and we also stopped at the park to play and also at the pond to check on the baby ducks. All 8 were there and they were excited to see if we had any bread. Once they realized that we did not, they disappointedly got back in the water. Alexa found some daisies, my favorite!