photo free for all....

Well, the car lot has not come through for us, Caden and I are still car-less. The "rental" they had offered ended up to be broken. Just like a lot of promises....Luckily my mom was able to pick us up to get a couple of errands done and we were able to get a ride to Caden's school to go on the field trip that he has been looking forward to for days. Needless to say, our life has been filled to the brim with stress. Ok, enough of that ugly subject!

We were able to get away from the hustle and bustle and attend the spring kindergarten class field trip to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum and Frederick Meijer Gardens. I will let the pictures to most of the talking....

This week in pictures starts with April 15, the evening Caden lost his second tooth.

the tooth fairy left $1.50 in quarters which is burning a deep hole in Caden's pocket already!

Tuesday's field trip began with the Grand Rapids Children's Museum. Caden has been there two or three times. I think this will be the last, unless they do a major change up, it kinda gets redundant after so many trips.


domino stacking...

mirrored tunnel posing...(this is the only unsolicited pose I got, Caden bemoaned the fact that I was shooting so many pictures)


Caden particularly enjoyed working at the wee bank drive Thru window, and had his go at robbing the ATM also.

as always, the bubble area was a big hit.


such concentration!

and finally a little practice for backyard camping in the summertime..



Next it was time to go see the butterflies!

they set out nectar fulled sponges for the butterflies to feast upon. You can see the star of the show on the left, it is a clear wing butterfly. Beautiful!



views inside the butterfly incubator....


the moon moth, my favorite this year.



so pretty!

so many cocoons in various stages of development. What a wonderful sight!









and moments after:

it hopped onto my pant leg. We got it safely off the walkway.





a final close-up on another clear wing.

They also have a beautiful display of orchids...







and a family of flightless Japanese quail, but only one little guy kept following us around...


we finished up our day quickly observing some of the sculptures in the sculpture garden and playing in the playground.


sculpture made out of bicycle parts.

As you can see I got a lot of practice using the macro setting on the camera!

ps...Caden did his own hair, especially "spiked" to give the butterflies a place to land! so cute!

Michigan Farm Field Trip

Well, it is that time of year again, the trees are changing and the air is getting crisp. Time for the annual school field trip to the pumpkin farm. This time we went to an apple farm that happens to grow pumpkins and other stuff too. I am so lucky to be able to come along on the field trips. Caden was proud to have his mom there, he held my hand and introduced me to everyone. I am not looking forward to when he will inevitably get embarassed of having his mom tag along when he gets older.

I will let the pictures do the talking (well, sorta....)
We arrived and went through an eight acre corn stalk maze that was shaped like the state of Michigan. We had to locate eight different cities. After that we got to see how they press the apples to make cider. The kids also got to see the bees.


Caden is so ready to read, he is studying the letters and trying to read the sign, who cares if is is upside down :)....

Next it was time to see how they make those delicious fresh donuts that is a requisite for any visit to a farm in the fall...

Caden and our neighbor friend Aaron were struggling to get on the top rung of the ladder to get the closest view.

Snack time followed...

mmm, tummy rubbing good, fresh donuts and just smooshed apple cider.

we had to wait a while for our hay ride so it was playtime...

nothing beats a pick up game of football between kindergarteners and an imaginary ball.

tackle!

but still the best of friends.

This was followed by duck, duck goose...



and some rest time...



finally..

hay ride time!




some trees are changing...

some are not quite ready.


The twist on this hay ride was that we actually got to pick some apples right off the tree tops while on the hay ride. We all got to enjoy some fresh red delicious apples picked right off the tree. The lady in the background had her pockets stuffed with like 30 apples! Caden enjoyed his "baby" apple.

A great time was had by all.

Now, if only we can all feel better, I went to the doctor today and picked up some anti-biotics to get over my month long sinus infection that turned to a migriane. fun fun.