Another Family Trip to the Zoo!

Yes...I know we've posted zoo pictures many times in the past...but when you have a membership, and the kids love to go, that's what you do when you have a free day! Ok, so we also went because Kaleigh had a coupon for a free treat for her birthday that we just couldn't waste!

Enjoy our visit!


Ema petting one of the baby goats at the zoo.





Nachos....YUMMMO!!!!
Good to the Last lick...even if it is off the elbow!




Ema says Hi to the camera!!


The family watching the elephants do their thing




Ema was finally big enough to really enjoy seeing the different animals. It was fun to see her reaction to the birds and big animals.

8 Is Great!!!

Kaleigh turned the Mighty 8 Years old this year! In preparation for her baptism, this birthday was the special one.

For her birthday this year, Emalee gave Kaleigh some High School Musical body wash and shampoo with a little bath sponge and some body lotion. I think Kaleigh liked the idea that it was High School Musical the best.

Merryetta gave Kaleigh a beautiful necklace with the letter K on it, and some beautiful hair clips with little...what she calls diamonds...on them. Kaleigh thought they were so beautiful, and they look just stunning on her!

Marley gave Kaleigh a nice scrapbook. Kaleigh had been asking for one ever since Marley got one for her birthday! It's so cute how she and Marley find special things to put in their scrapbooks!


Mike and I gave Kaleigh a scripture case filled with scriptures, and a marking pencil. We also gave her her baptism dress that made her look just like a little bride!


I can't seem to find any pictures of the birthday cupcakes we celebrated with. :(
We put cake batter into ice cream cones and baked them up then frosted them. We stuck candles in them and had her blow them out....Emalee tried to blow them out as if they were hers :D

Unfortunately the day of Kaleigh's birthday was her primary teacher's memorial service. Her primary teacher passed away from injuries sustained in a serious car accident earlier that week. It made celebrating Kaleigh's birthday kind of an after thought. We only had a little bit of time between church getting out, eating dinner and celebrating her birthday. Kaleigh and Marley both insisted on going to the Memorial service which we had no problems with. We did have cake and Ice cream with grandma and grandpa Reece, Nathan, and Braxton while they were here.

Overall, Kaleigh was happy and had fun celebrating her birthday! She had cards and money from the Reeces, and Debbie. She keeps spending it in her mind...but can't seem to do it for real!

Emalee's 2nd Birthday

Emalee celebrated her 2nd birthday!
She wasn't quite sure what to do with the presents or the birthday cake! Luckily she has 3 big sisters to help her out right?
It was kind of late by the time we got things moving! For her birthday she got birthday cards with money from Aunt Debbie, and the Reeces. She'll have fun at the store for hours now! The Bates gave her pretty turquoise/teal summer dress with a little white shirt underneath. I LOVE those colors and they look good on Ema!

Ema got a new little potty chair, and some training pants...she is starting to potty train herself! How could I get SO lucky?!

She also got some fishy "Nemo"like bath toys! Lately she's figured out the word "mine" and she repeats it over and over...just like the seagulls in Disney's Finding Nemo. Mike has been teasing her by repeating "mine-mine-mine" in the same tone as the seagulls from the movie so much that he had to get out the movie and watch it. OH MY GOODNESS!!! Ema LOVED it! Unfortunately, she started repeating MINE even more often, and laughing about it too!

While we were out birthday shopping, I found the CUTEST little outfits! The girls helped choose out a couple that we thought were the cutest ones for Ema. Both had white shirts underneath, one was orange with flowers printed over it, and the other was pink and white striped with a little watermelon on the front of it. She also got a few little hair clips to keep her bangs out of the way. She was in love with them when she saw them!
The girls each found a little outfit for her... A Tshirt that says "daddy's cupcake" and a pair of khaki pants, a strawberry shortcake shirt with a pair of levis. She loves her new clothes. Now if we could just keep them nice and clean for more than a day! She also was really excited about her new...although pretty warped...outdoor kick ball! She hasn't seen a problem with it, so neither do I! ;)


Mom and Dad gave Ema a "Barbie Tough Trike"
Grandma and Grandpa Arnold sent Ema a package that arrived on her birthday! What luck! Inside, was a Little People toy, and a beautiful summer dress. She's put on a show every single time she's put it on!

After all the presents were opened, we went to the kitchen to enjoy the yummy cake. Ema got to taste it before anybody else...that sneaky little girl has a nose for baked goods! She will climb up on anything to get any place just to get a handful of a pretty cake. We managed to salvage most of the cake, and hide some of the finger prints. She was a little nervous about blowing out the candles, but once she figured out what to do, she happily blew out the candles.


All in all, She had a Happy Birthday!

More Family Vacation Pictures

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First of all I am pleased with my performance and glad I was able to ride and support the ADA. I would like to thank all those who supported me in my efforts. And now for the report of the ride. Well I did it and I beat my goal of under 5 hours. I completed the route in 4:34:00 min as you can see, but you will see that I also went more then the 80 miles that I was supposed to. this is because of a little mistake on my part where I took a right turn when I was supposed to take a right. I made this small oops when around 70 miles in and if I hadn't taken a minute and thought about it I would have been making the ride an extra 30 miles. That would have made for a long day especially since I would have been doing the bulk of the climbing again. Looking at the weather it shows 86, but that is only the start of it. As I finished it was really in the 90's and the temperature still went up from there. In fact there were many people that suffered from heat exhaustion, I had a mild case myself as well as my oldest daughter. The ride went through some very beautiful areas of NJ, and if you look at the map of the route you will see where we started was the Verizon center and then made our first loop which is the big almost circle you see. When we started out on the first loop there was a good amount of mist and fog which seemed to have a calming effect on the riders. By the time I started the second loop I was in the leading group and we were riding well and fast. And the funny thing is that on my second loop passed some of the areas I got to see new things like a big house just off to the side of the road that I missed the first time because of the fog. The second loop we took the extra little bit that extends off the first loop and then hooked back up with the lower part of the first loop. When the lower section started we were down to about 10 in the lead group and three of us were from Verizon Wireless. The hills began and they weren't bad. They would jump up and then you would get a little ride down the another jump up and so on. Even the big one was a series of small ones but then were good. After we past the rest stops (without stopping) around mile 10ish, 25ish, and 40ish I let myself get dropped from the pack on some of the steeper hills, but I caught back up at the 60 mile rest stop. After we started out again I kept up with the group again for a few miles until we hit some more hills and I just didn't feel like pushing it to hard. This is where I got separated from the group and why I was alone to make the mistake of right turn when I should have gone left. When I got back on track I kept close to another rider who had a queue sheet. When we finished and I thanked him for keeping me on the right track to finish he thanked me for pulling him in for the last 6 miles or so. Anyway life is good and I can't wait to ride again. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 273 ft Location: Basking Ridge, NJ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/07/08 Up/Downhill: [+5072/-5072] Time: 06:58 AM Difficulty: 5.0 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy with Haze   86 F temp; 65% humidity   93 F heat index; winds SW 6 Performance Distance: 82.87 miles Time: 4:34:06 Speed: 18.1 mph Pace: 3' 19 /mi Heart Rate: 156 bpm (Avg) Calories: 4157 189 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Speed (mph)

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Metta is DONE with training wheels!!!

Metta is so confident on her bike now! She took to riding a bike like a fish swimming. If I can't find her in the house...chances are she's out on her bike enjoying the great outdoors!!!