The girls dancing in the car.  They do this all the time!

Cincinnati Zoo

We had heard great things about the Cincinnati Zoo, so we decided to check it out for ourselves, and it lived up to our expectations.  It is a really beautiful zoo, well maintained, a great layout, and lots of animals to check out as well as a nice kids area with a playground and petting zoo.  The only problem with out visit was that we happened to go on one of the hottest, most humid days we've had since arriving in Dayton!  It was very HOT and STICKY!  We toughed it out and saw a lot of the animals and when we'd had enough of the heat we decided to call it a day and made plans to go back in the fall when its a little bit cooler.  We did happen to catch the Jaguar show which was pretty incredible.  They had the Jaguars in a big open field showing off their running speed of over 70 MPH, pretty amazing to see that in action considering most times in the zoo they are just laying around their cages napping!!!

Abby trying to cool off in the misters!

Abby and Daddy by the peacock.  This is the only picture I got before they were told to step away from the peacock because apparently they are not that nice, and the peacock was quickly shooed away by some zoo officials. 

The girls at the playground, playing on the spiderweb net.

I don't know why these 2 turtles "were fighting"

Boots, Dora and Abby.  Olivia liked seeing them from the safety of my arms and would smile and wave, but screamed when I asked if she wanted to give Dora a hug!

The statues outside of the Manatee exhibit, I think this was one of Abby's favorite animals we saw all day!

Young's Jersey Dairy Farm

In the midst of all the unpacking, organizing, and getting settled we have done a little bit of exploring too.  One of the places that was recommended to us by quite a few folks was Young's Jersey Dairy Farm.  We decided to take the girls there one weekend and we had a really good time.  The girls LOVED feeding the goats, and checking out the baby cows.  They had an area for kids with a bouncy house, some slides and a sand box filled with corn which they loved.  And of course, no visit to a dairy farm would be complete without a little ice cream.  I can't wait to take the girls back in the fall for pumpkin picking and a corn maze!

One of the goats standing on a box, trying to get a better angle for being fed.

Both girls were laughing hysterically as they were feeding the always famished goats!

Playing in the corn.

In line for ice cream!

It was a high melt factor day, but Abby still enjoyed her bubble gum ice cream!

Making Cookies on a Rainy Day

It was raining, so we made cherry chip cookies....yum!!

I don't know how Olivia managed to get cookie dough in her hair!

Time for frosting and sprinkles....Abby's favorite part!!

Olivia like the frosting too!

Kept them busy during the rain!!

4th of July in Ohio

Our household good were delivered on July 1st so needless to say we were still living out of boxes on the 4th, but that didn't stop us from having a great Independence Day!  The girls were decked out in red, white, and blue till the weather got too hot and they sought a way to cool off.  After and afternoon of splashing we went inside and had a wonderful dinner of grilled steaks, twice baked potatoes, and veggies cooked by Grampa Peter and Andrew.  After dinner we went outside to do some sparklers and snappers while waiting for the fireworks to begin.  We didn't have to go far to see the fireworks, we had a fantastic view of the city's display right from the comfort of our own driveway.  It was great, we had a perfect view, didn't have to deal with crowds or traffic and only had to walk inside to put the girls to bed when the show was over!  

Swimming!

Olivia had a cupcake and was asking to be wiped off.  She hates being dirty!

Sparklers

Daddy helping Olivia with her sparkler.

The girls having a popsicle while waiting for the fireworks to start.  It stays light so late out here.  The show didn't start till 10pm!!

Cuddling, drinking some milk, and waiting for the show to start in our jammies!  

Unpacking Adventures

You would think that I would have a system down for unpacking seems how we do our fair share of it.  But, you throw 2 kids into the mix and unpacking becomes an adventure.  A slow, long, drawn-out adventure that never seems to end!!  We are getting the house together slowly but surely.  I am sure things would move along faster if I was able to lock myself in the house, but there are things to see and places to go, so in between all the unpacking we are also doing some exploring.  It will get done eventually......at least I keep telling myself that :-)

Here are some pictures of our unpacking process.

Our new house!

The girls playing in Abby's room while I was unpacking elsewhere.  They were having so much fun!

This was Olivia's solution to "keeping busy" while I unpacked.  Those are dixie cups in my toilet....lots of them!

Another HUGE mess made while I was unpacking.  The girls used some styrofoam packaging from some new furniture we bought to make "snow".  Its hard to see in this picture but, there are little styrofoam balls everywhere!!!

Daddy made paper dresses for the girls out of the packaging paper.  They thought it was great and they spent the afternoon putting on a fashion show for us.

Olivia's "mad" face

The girls LOVED helping Daddy put together furniture.

July's Random Ramblings

ABIGAIL:

• Andrew took a picture of me from behind and Abby came running up to me and snickered, "Daddy just took a picture of your bum, I bet he is going to put it on Facebook."
• At dinner one night I took the last of the fruit and Andrew was a bit jealous, Abby came to my defense and said, "it isn't for Momma, its for the baby in her belly!"
• Since moving to Ohio I have been relying on my GPS quite a bit to get around.  I have had to make quite a few u-turns, backtrack a bit, and at times alter my route completely.  One day in the car, I was following the GPS when Abby warned, "Be careful Mom, you can't ALWAYS rely on the GPS to be right!"
• At the beginning of Vacation Bible School (VBS) Abby kept calling it survival school.

OLIVIA:

• For some reason whenever a word ends in "t", Olivia replaces it with a "k".  Hat = Hak;  What = Whak.  This just recently started and I know she can say it correctly.
• We were out to breakfast one morning and were waiting for our table outside.  A man with a big, round belly, and a long white beard walked by and Olivia immediately started saying, "Ho, ho, ho!!" very loudly. 
• Olivia thinks Abby walks on water and whatever Abby says goes.  She will often ask Abby "waz dat?" and point to something.  Abby will answer her (sometimes she is right, sometimes not) and Olivia just takes it for what she says and replies with "oh" and moves on.
• When Olivia doesn't like something she says "HEY" very loudly.  
• Whenever Olivia sees a baby she asks, "I pet baby?!?"