Eli Turns 4!

Birthdays are special times for little boys turning 4! Eli had a fun birthday that began with having a few friends over for play time in his new sprinkler then lunch and cup cakes! Later in the evening we celebrated as a family and had Stephanie and Tim join us for dinner and cake.... a cake with a pink scorpion that is... (Eli's request of course).

Notice the nice sticker collection.... Grandma Debby and Grandpa Gary sent those and they all ended up on Eli's shirt.

Here's the cake. We decided that it was an earthy rustic birthday cake this year - it cracked, but that just made for a place for the scorpion to be crawling out of.

A birthday surprise - we caught a cicada killer!!! We added it to Eli's bug collection.

Tim and Stephanie

Otto found the cup cakes....

Words From Little Otto from capture box on Vimeo.

Cookies! from capture box on Vimeo.

I guess I am the "moth keeper" according to Eli... pretty sure he is just a little excited about these bugs.

Silk Moths! from capture box on Vimeo.

Smoky Mountains

We have had a very very busy few months, so we left the city for a couple days and escaped to the forest in the Smoky Mountains. It was a wonderful refreshing break for us as a family. Here are a few pictures we took while there.

Butterfly hunting here was a favorite for Eli!

Chocolate covered marshmallows!

What's wrong with this picture?

Trying to warm-up after a DOWN POUR of rain. No rain gear, but that just added to our rustic adventurous experience.

Yes, it was chilly water, but the sun was hot and it sure was refreshing!!!

This one is a little out of order, but on our way there we stopped by this rest area and there were large silk moths all over this stone wall. And, well, Otto is playing with the hose (what two year old can resist the call of water play!).

Papa?! and how did he get way over there?

2nd Sunergos Location... the days before and after opening

Brian working on the sign- painting with chalk.

The kids found all sorts of odd things to play with these days in the shop during the construction.

Last cleanings before the opening.

Open!

One tired Papa!!! Relaxing after a few days of very hard work!

Our New Birdie!!!

Here is our white bellied caique! It is only 4 weeks old, so we will have to wait to take him home until he is weaned in October. We plan to visit him once a week if we can until then. He is sooooo sweet!

Eli isn't in any of the pictures. I think he was a little overwhelmed at the place - the breeder, Carol, has a lot of birds and they were very loud. She also breeds dogs as well as having two very large dobermans (one was missing an eye...). I think as we visit more often Eli will warm up to the bird and the breeder's home... as for this visit he just clung to our legs.

What do fossil hunting, butterfly hunting and hiking all have in common???

Father's Day 2010! We spent some time doing a few of Brian's favorite things... We stopped by a road cut in Indiana for a little fossil hunting. Then off to the forest!

Crayfish!!

Okay, I was trying hard to capture this "natural" setting using the camera timer, little did I know that Eli was going pee. I laughed pretty hard once I discovered it - so I just had to share this picture.

Eli looking at the prize Papa caught. Eli covered in "sun tears" (sweat) as he likes to call them.

Brian helping Eli mount his first butterfly.