Where do I start? Week two was filled with so many free (and not so free)
activities!! The beginning of the week brought us to the Louisville Nature Center, so we will start there...
Louisville Nature CenterCost: Free
Fun Level: 4
Mom Stress Level: 1
On Tuesday afternoon we made our way to the
LNC in the early afternoon. This was sort of spur of the moment, so it was just me and the kids. I wasn't really sure what to expect; I had checked out the website, but it didn't really show many pictures or give too much info so we kind of went into it blind. Basically, it is just what the name says it is, a Nature Center. Everything you do here revolves around nature, being outside, looking at birds, bugs, flowers, plants, things like that. Good, if you have a kid who is "nature -y". Bad, if you have a kid who doesn't like getting dirty or who doesn't like walking or bugs. I happen to have one of each (plus one who is too little to know yet). When you pull into the parking lot this is what you will see:
a small
cinder block building surrounded by trees and "nature". They have a lot of the plants and trees labeled
in case you are interested in checking that out. Once inside the building you can...
check out your wingspan. Joe
Finney happened to have the wingspan of a mallard. Or you can...
stick your hands in small boxes to figure out what sort of "nature-y" things are in the box. The boys loved this. I, however, am a little
creeped out by sticking my hands into dark boxes. There is also a (very) small library inside, and that is about it inside. Then you walk through the building to the outside of the center. Here you have a couple of options; you can walk on the trail, which happens to be 1.5 miles long, or you can go into the bird blind. We did both. Well, we didn't actually walk the
whole trail since it was just me with all three kids, but we did walk some of the trail. On the trail you could...
look at worms and bugs. Here
joe Finney was attempting to step on a worm, which I quickly put a halt to. As much as I dislike bugs, they are God's creatures too and I don't need my kids trying to stomp them!
Sidenote: if you go here, bring bug spray. Lots of it. The bugs are rampant here. We all came out with our fair share of bug bites each. You have been warned! You can also look and listen for different types of animals, birds, etc. They have signs around telling you what sorts of things you should be looking for. We ended up seeing some sort of woodpecker.
Next you can...
try to walk the trail. Or you can walk for about 5
minutes and then turn around like we did! Next time I will bring
help so that we can walk the entire trail, which runs by
Beargrass Creek.
After your trail walk, you can check out the bird blind. The Bird Blind is a small building (sort of like a shed or something like that) with a big window where you can watch birds. There is also a notebook where they want you to record what you see. I am assuming this is what the serious birdwatchers do. We, however, are not serious birdwatchers and actually did not see one single bird while we were in the bird blind. The boys were very interested in why the building smelled and looked the way it did, though.
There is also a gazebo and picnic tables, so this would be a great place to bring a picnic for after your hike. So, all in all, a good trip. Will I go back here? Absolutely. Will I bring help with me next time? You bet. That way we will be able to go on our hike!
Also this week we checked out
Beef O Brady's on Tuesday for kids eat free night. We live right down the road, but for some reason, have never been here for kids eat free. We will be going back. They had a kids movie playing on the big screen t.v., the food was quick and the portions were generous. We were in and out in under 45 minutes and $20. Two thumbs up from the
Saylor Camp!
More activities to come!
and making these dresses:
stick your hands in small boxes to figure out what sort of "nature-y" things are in the box. The boys loved this. I, however, am a little creeped out by sticking my hands into dark boxes. There is also a (very) small library inside, and that is about it inside. Then you walk through the building to the outside of the center. Here you have a couple of options; you can walk on the trail, which happens to be 1.5 miles long, or you can go into the bird blind. We did both. Well, we didn't actually walk the whole trail since it was just me with all three kids, but we did walk some of the trail. On the trail you could...
look at worms and bugs. Here joe Finney was attempting to step on a worm, which I quickly put a halt to. As much as I dislike bugs, they are God's creatures too and I don't need my kids trying to stomp them! Sidenote: if you go here, bring bug spray. Lots of it. The bugs are rampant here. We all came out with our fair share of bug bites each. You have been warned! You can also look and listen for different types of animals, birds, etc. They have signs around telling you what sorts of things you should be looking for. We ended up seeing some sort of woodpecker. 
try to walk the trail. Or you can walk for about 5 minutes and then turn around like we did! Next time I will bring help so that we can walk the entire trail, which runs by Beargrass Creek. 
Carolena, my sweet little love. You are seven months old now and still the sweetest little baby I have ever known. You are getting big, though. You have gained 3 pounds since last month, which makes sense because we have found out that you LOVE to eat. Pretty much anything I put in front of you, you will devour. I can't feed you fast enough! You must get that from your mommy. It has been such a fun month trying new things and seeing your sweet reactions and curious eyes. You got to try out the baby pool this month and at first you were unsure of what was happening, but when you figured out how to splash the water, you wanted to play for hours!
The boys had a blast with this one, and Carolena had the best time watching them run around. We didn't keep score or anything, just would run with the ball and tackle each other. It was pretty amusing to be honest with you. I think thew must have played for about 30 minutes or so. Probably would have played longer except I made them stop because the tackling was getting to rough. Ahh boys, I can always count on them to turn any sport into wrestling!
Turned into this...
Carolenas first time in her swimming pool. She loved it. She thought she was hilarious every time she made the water splash. Love her! And yes, that is food on her chin, too lazy tonight to photoshop that out.
With summer quickly approaching and my fears of how we are going to fill our days, I was ecstatic when my Southeast Outlook arrived last week with the headline "25 ideas for free summer fun in Kentuckiana". "Perfect", I thought, "just perfect". You can only spend so much time at the pool and I had desperately been trying to think of things that we could do that didn't include making a run to Walgreens for some cheap toy to keep the kids occupied for five minutes. Sure, we have our Zoo Pass and Science Center/Art Museum Pass, and those things are great, but we are in need of something new and exciting. I was pleasantly surprised looking through the Outlook and found quite a few ideas that I had never thought of before. Sure, some of the things may not be quite age appropriate, but I can work with that. So then came my idea, "Let's try to do all of these things this summer and blog about it"! Cue the lightbulbs. So thats what we are going to do. We are going to pick a few different things from the list each week, do them, take pictures, and blog about it.
Can you believe that this sweet little boy has a tiny hole in his heart? I don't believe it, he is to full of love, and plus, I couldn't even really see it on the monitor while the doctor was doing his heart ultrasound. But there is a hole the doctor assures me, he called it a PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale). I knew he had one, we found that out when he was about 6 months old or so, but the doctor promised me that it would close up by the time he turned three. But that pesky little hole is still there, and now he is "hoping" that it will close up by the time Joe Finney is five. So "what does this mean", you ask? Well for now he can't scuba dive, and he can never be a Navy Seal. But he can do pretty much everything else, including sports (which is what I was worried about). We don't have to see the doctor again until his fifth birthday, and if at that point it hasn't closed up, he will have a 1% chance of surgery. I can live with that. I can live without him scuba diving too.
