"You gotta try new foods, cuz it might taste gooooood"

If you've ever seen Daniel Tiger, then you know the song I'm referencing.  

We bring that up a lot at our house!

We ended up at a different market the other night.  Everyone was in awe of some of the strange looking foods.  So we decided to get a few and give them a try.

We have had a big struggle around here lately with eating more fruits and vegetables.  Especially from a certain brown eyed boy.  So we thought making it fun would help.

We had a starfruit, a dragon fruit, a papaya, and a pepino melon.

Olivia chose the pepino melon, and she couldn't wait to try it!  It tasted a bit like honeydew. 

Who knew there was such a thing as a black and white fruit?!?!  Not us!

Michael liked the starfruit the best.  Logan only tried about 2 of them, and I'm not sure he enjoyed any.  Olivia and I both liked the papaya the best (which was not surprising).

It was a fun little family night activity.  Then we took the fruit that was leftover and threw it in our spinach smoothie.  Perfect!

Wordless Wednesday--Cosmic Kids Yoga

Hiking

On Saturday we headed out to Arbor Hills Nature Preserve to go on a family hike.

Because of Hurricane Harvey (down south), the weather in our area had cooled off a little.

I'm really looking forward to fall weather when we can get out more!

They loved throwing rocks in any water we came across.

Trying to learn how to skip rocks

It started to rain, so we stopped under a shelter for a picnic lunch.

They played on the playground for a bit.  We had been there for a few hours.  I assumed we would head home, but Olivia wanted "more adventure!".  So we set out for another hike.

Who knew cactus grew here? We were a little surprised.

It was nice to find, point out, and observe all sorts of aspects of nature.

I spy a pretty butterfly.

Spider!

We made it up to a high look out spot.  So fun!

These two.  They just did this ll on their own.  Love them!

We were there from 11 until nearly 3.  Now that's a hike! 😉

The mall with friends

On Friday we met up with our friends at the mall.

The Vorlicky's live about 50 minutes from us, but they had to come out our way to pick up a specific dance item at a store near us.  So we took the opportunity to hang out for a bit.

We had lunch at the food court, and then or course we had to head to the carousel.

Why does he look so big!?!

Rides that go around are not my thing.  I usually send Michael.  I asked Logan if he could just ride by himself, but he insisted he needed an adult there. 😷

Apparently Alison really doesn't do rides that go around. Ha!

From there we went to the Lego store.  They played at this little "build a person" station for quite some time.  Olivia could seriously do this for hours!

Then we walked on over to Barnes and Noble.  The boys played trains.

And the girls read books!

(I swear Jordyn was there too!  She just didn't end up in a single one of my pictures.)

It's always fun to see our Ohio friends!

The Coop

We met up with my friend Robin for a play date at The Coop.

It was our first time checking it out.

Robin has a Logan too!  Our Logan's have a birthday a week apart from each other, so they've been in a MOPS class together for 2 years now.

This is the best picture I got of them. HA!

Jumping in the bounce house together.  Crazies!

Olivia did great with playing with both Logans.  It was a little on the younger side for her, though.  So she was ready to go after about an hour.

It was nice to check out a new place, play with friends, and have good conversation.  We're entering that new stage where one of our kiddos isn't a preschooler any more.  Times are changing!

Mommy/Daughter Date

A few weekends ago we split up and had a girls date and a guys date.  The guys went to see a super hero movie, went to a gaming store, and bought Logan his first comic book.

I gave Olivia all sorts of ideas... go to a painting class... go paint pottery...

She's very opinionated.  (Not clue where she got that! ha!)  She wanted to go to Hobby Lobby and look at the Christmas decorations.

She loves these sequence/mermaid pillows.

Then the ONE thing she wanted to do is go to her favorite park and play with me.  She usually goes to the park with Michael, and if I am there, I tend to be on Logan duty.  Out of all the things she could have chosen, she just wanted to run around the park with her Mama! :)

I did warn her that it was blazing hot outside and that we would likely melt.  She was unwavering in her idea.  So off to the park we went.  We went through the playground in rainbow order, just as she wanted.  We made it about 20 minutes before we both wanted to die of heat. 

So we headed to Babies R Us to shop and cool off.

She walked through the aisles reading this Beauty and the Beast book. 

 A dad was shopping with his kids, and I could see him watching her and listening.  When we made eye contact he asked me how old she was.  I replied that she was 6.  He kind of nodded to one of his kids, like "he's 6 too".  Then he said, "She reads VERY well."  I told Michael that I really wanted to say, "Thanks!  She's homeschooled!  I did that!"  Ha ha!  But instead I just said "Thanks" and we moved on. :)

From there we headed to get some ice cream.

We went home and played with a new toy she bought and colored some pictures.

I love spending time with my favorite girl!

Safari Run

Our church has a mom's group that does random meet ups and play dates for moms with preschool kids.  We don't get to go much now that Olivia is 6, but every once in a while they do something where we can all participate.

A few weeks ago the play date was at Safari Run.  We love going there.  It's big and clean and fun for both kids.

I didn't get any pictures of Olivia.  She was playing with some friends from our life group, and I barely saw her.  They were running around the entire time we were there.

This guy... an entire play place and he wanted to sit with mommy.  I sent this picture to Michael and said, "Good thing I paid for him to play".  Actually, we used some Christmas money and had a great groupon/punch card.  So that was nice.  He's not so much the independent type.  (Which is why we are hoping preschool will help with that!)

They had fun.  I got to chat with a few moms.  It's always nice when we get a morning out of the house.