Saturday, December 1, 2012

Thanksgiving, Spence's Birthday, and Amy's Blessing Day

We had Thanksgiving in Dallas with Grandparents and cousins!  They have an amazing community playground for the kids that was extra fun with cousins.  Cousin Carly was so good with the little boys.  They adored playing with her!
 Leaving the playground we stopped for a cousin shot!
 And then while I ran into a store with Jen the boys and Dan entertained themselves in the car by making crazy face pictures!

We also played with cousins at the park right by Grandma and Grandpa's house.
 Spence celebrated his 2nd birthday with his cousin Cierra who just turned 4 and Aunt Mia.  They each had their own cakes with their name on it.
 Amy had a tough first day at Grandma and Grandpa's house after too long of a drive!  But after that she warmed up and enjoyed her extended family.  She loves to talk to anyone who will listen!  She's a babbler.
 We went on a little adventure to a museum in McKinney and when we pulled in we were a little leery.  It didn't look like much.  Even as we walked in I wondered if we should stay, but it ended up being tons of fun!  The boys dug for dinosaur bones together.  Of course Benson who has an aversion to sand dug from the rocks on the side.  :)  But Spencer didn't hesitate to make a mess.
 After going through the little indoor museum we headed outside to hunt for dinosaurs.  We went on about a half mile hike meeting life size animatronic dinosaurs roaring, hissing, mooing, and spitting water at us.  The water spitting dinosaur shot his stream a good 20 feet right at us.  It was great!  Spence and Benson thought it was cool but they were pretty realistic and the boys were definitely timid...particularly Benson.  He usually walked on the very edge of the path furthest away from the upcoming dinosaur and sometimes he stood a good 10 feet off the path.  Only with Dan or I right by his side did he get up close and personal with the dinosaurs.  

 The grand finale was this T-rex that would lift it's head high into the trees and roar!  So cool!!
 After our walk through the land of the dinosaurs we went to the mini zoo.  Benson who is my little geographer led the way by following the map they gave us.  We stopped and collected rocks along the path.  The cupholder on the stroller was full by the time we got back to the museum and we had to return all the rocks to their natural habitat.  :)
On the wall behind the boys there were wingspan images of different birds.  The boys decided whose wingspan matched each bird.
Our nurturing little Spencer got a doctor kit for his birthday.  Dan and I returned from a shopping trip to find Grandpa getting his blood pressure checked and receiving shots.
On our last day our little Amy received a beautiful blessing in Grandma and Grandpa's ward.  It was extra special because cousin Jenna was blessed too.  

 Thank you Foster Family for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!