lawn mower rides. swimming with fishy's. boat rides. g'pa and g'ma block. baby frog.

saturday, july 17, 2010. this morning joshua left to go get g'pa and g'ma block at the airport in peoria.

uncle ralphy gave the boys 2 rides each on the lawn mower.

he let levi drive all by himself!

turning.

going up and down the hills. they would go super fast and ralph would have to hold them around the waist because it was actually quite steep.

dragonfly in the pond.

side view.

yay! g'ma's here!!!

purple cone flower. my new fav.

the boys taking the grandparents for a tour of the pond.

i like levi's REFLECTION in the water. this is one of two fishys that swam around the dock this afternoon. he is just above the blue not in the rope in this picture.

the fish swam all around joshua and abraham too! my worst nightmare, but right after these pics i was in the water again. knowing they are there is way less scary than an unexpected brush against my leg.

the fish is super close, but hard to see.

coming to the surface looking for some food.

levi was excited because he tied a not.

getting ready to jump.

big slashin'.

levi's new favorite thing to do. pulling a wagon around after filling it with as much stuff as he can.

papa found more clams.

the fish are still swimming even with all the activity, so...

aunt mic got frozen corn for the boys to feed them.

it's hard to see, but there are two here. at one point there were three!!!

time for a boat ride. watching joshua put gas in the boat.

eating guacamole from one of the clam shells joshua found. (mic washed it in the dishwasher 1st;)

joey with the amazing clouds.

so puffy!

i know i'm obsessed, but these are like the clouds when we were at lake shelbyville. always changing super fast and, well, ginormous!!!

brothers.

mason wanted me to get a pic of him on the swing!

pink clouds. purple martins.

joshua, aunt mic, joey, and mason having a swimming race from the middle.

joey went to check the crawdad trap. no crawdads, but he did find the tiniest frog i've ever seen!

unfortunately, this guy didn't last long:( abraham was a little too excited and too rough.

night time boat ride.

a little later benji, mandy, and ava came by.

levi had to show everyone how he could jump, so abe had to too.

this doesn't happen very often any more. abraham fell asleep in my arms!

the frog and the tortose.

saturday, july 3, 2010. uncle ralph found a FROG and brought it to the screened in porch for the boys to check out. it was so incredibly CUTE! then about 10 minutes after we let him go, we noticed a TORTOISE roaming around in the grass next door. turns out there were two. abraham made me take him over to check um out. i was way OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE (talking to stangers), but ended up enjoying the experience just as much as he did. levi came with us, but was being way shy, so eventually he left.

papa was daring and picked it up!

the boys following it under the table.

levi blowing on it to get it to jump.

abraham was a little shy at first.

just watching him move along the screen.

papa picking him up again.

abraham leaping like a frog behind him.

levi ran in and grabbed blocks to make him a home.

abe trying to pick him up. he kept asking if he could pick it up. then would start to reach for it, look at me and say "you pick it up?" i'd say no. then he'd ask the next person and the next.

aunt micky got him. yay!

he was pretty hard to hang onto.

they put him in levi's house, but he jumped right out!

he made it all the way to the other door.

he wasn't how i imagined he'd feel. he was kind of rough and bumpy. i had to touch him to help nudge him out the door. who'd a thunk, huh?

watching him go bye bye.

one last attempt at holding him. then he hopped into the the bushes to the right of the stairs.

this is a female african spurred tortoise named alice. she ways 20 lbs. the owner just got her the day before. she was tank raised and is pretty weak. she can only walk about 10 feet before she has to rest. as a female she is naturally more calm though. abe pet her a lot, but levi wouldn't.

this is oogway. a 50 lb male african spurred tortoise. he just booked it everywhere. SO FAST! the owner said he is 12 years old, but he's only had him for 2 years. he said when he got oogway, he was as weak as alice! now he is super strong.

abe was just so fascinated by them.

oogway loves to eat weeds.

abe was allowed to touch alice's legs and the top of her head, but was instructed only to touch oogway's shell. oogway is more skittish and you can get your finger pinched in his shell if he pulls in super fast!

the owner told abraham he could sit on the stronger male, so abe took him up on it!

he'll gain about another 100 lbs and live to be 200 years old!!!

it was crazy animal day in illinois. hahaha.