Month of July: Spanakopita Burgers, Camps, Classes, Southwick's Zoo, and Tougas Farm

On the plate:  An oldie but a goody:  Turkey spanakopita burgers

Soundtrack to cook to:  The song, "She's a bad mama jama" by Carl Carlton.  Play that song and tell me that you can't shake your booty to it.  I dare you.  Love this jam! 

The month of July brought a lot of fun and activities to our household.  We tried some new activities, visited new places, and re-visited places that we hadn't been to in a while.  Every day was packed full of errand running with a smattering of fun.  :-)

This month, William started My Gym for the first time!
(I had taken Alex when he was younger.)
He absolutely loved climbing up all of the structures
and doing simple gymnastic moves.

William on the balance beam.

William doing a forward roll.

William climbing through an obstacle course.

William having a swinging good time.

This kiddo was smiling from ear to ear the entire hour.

While William was in My Gym, Alex started his own new adventure of summer camp!  He was finally old enough to participate in drop-off summer camp programs and really had a blast.
The first week, he was in a Science camp.  The teacher was amazing and had SO many hands-on experiments and activities for the kids to do.  Plus, it was a curriculum that was designed for kids between the ages of 5-7, so it was really great for Alex to be around kids his own age.  He had so much fun!

William, getting ready to give Alex a big hug as
we were picking him up one afternoon.
The kids were experimenting with colored water
and eye droppers, making different combinations of colors.

Another morning, while Alex was in summer camp,
William and I visited my friend Roshni and her son
Rayaan for a play date at the park.
William loved splashing around in the small fountains.

William splashing around in the small fountains.

Our cool little guy.

This kid has major swagger.

William and I played on the teeter totter while we
were waiting for Roshni and her son to arrive.

What a little stinker!

I love this picture for two reasons. 
Reason #1:  He
is having SO much fun and I'm glad I captured the sheer
joy in his face. 
Reason #2:  Doesn't he look like Ray Charles
playing at a piano??!  LOL!!

This month was so great because William and I got
to have some quality, one-on-one time together,
which is something he hasn't had since he was an infant.

Joseph and the boys having some sweet snuggle time
together on the couch.

This month was great because it meant the beginning of Joseph's fellowship program.  Which also meant that Joseph would start to have some weekends off!!  It was such a wonderful feeling to feel like a whole family once again.
The first weekend Joseph had off, we took the boys to Southwick's Zoo.

William, checking out a rhinoceros...apparently
Alex was like, "Eh, been there, done that."  :-p

One of our favorite parts of this zoo is its encouragement
of animal interaction.
Here's Joseph showing the kiddos how to feed deer.
The deer were so docile and sweet.

William's turn!
Alex fed a few, but didn't like getting the deer slobber
all over his hands.  (That's totally the ME in Alex...I
don't like that feeling either.)

William was totally into it.

Woo hoo!!  If you get to the zoo early enough, then
you can pay to be able to feed the giraffe!
The spots fill up pretty fast, so we always do our best
to hustle to the zoo so we can get a chance to do this.
It's so much fun to feed the giraffes.

I had to help Alex hold the branch because the giraffes
pull really hard on the branch to eat the leaves.

Joseph helped William feed the giraffes.

Me and Alex with a giraffe.

The Franses fam with a giraffe.

These creatures are so sweet.

Feeding the baby giraffe!!  The zoo staff said that this
was her first time to eat solids!  We were very excited.

Hee hee hee!  Giraffe photobomb!

A teenager giraffe getting the last few leaves off of the branch.

Then we went on a small train to take a tour through their forest.

Joseph and the boys checking out the wild life.

Now it's time for the petting zoo!!
William LOVED petting the goats.

The boys, crouching down to see a capybara.

Mmmmm!!  One of my favorite things about summer is grilling and fresh vegetables from our small garden.
That evening, I made my favorite spanakopita turkey burgers and topped it with some home made tzatziki sauce, arugula, tomatoes, onions, and jalapeno peppers (because I love my food super spicy).

Dagwood, eat your heart out!!

Here's a link to the recipe if you'd like to indulge in this
super delicious, healthy, and easy to make burger:
Spanakopita turkey burgers

While Joseph bathed the boys one night, I got some
snuggle time in with Oscar.  He likes to be the little spoon.

Happy 4th of July!!  Instead of trying to brave the crowds downtown, we decided to stay local and had a wonderful time at a fair that was in Newton.

The boys loved riding on this motorcycle ride.

William "driving" a car.

William riding in a car at the fair.

I think their favorite ride was this small roller coaster.
We have some young thrill seekers, for sure!

The boys loved riding this small roller coaster together.

Me and the boys, showing off our festive 4th of July garb.

Since I'm pregnant, I can't get on these types of rides
for now, so Alex rode his first big boy ride by himself
while Joseph took William on another small ride.
As you can see by the thumbs up, this kid was ready to
rock and roll.

Alex riding a big boy ride!

The boys gliding down the slide after they had gone through the
obstacle course.

Time for some ice cream!

After the afternoon of festivities and a nice nap, we kept the kids up to watch their first set of 4th of July fireworks.  We stayed in Newton to watch them and it was so much fun to hear the kids, "Oooh! and Ahhhhh!" at the sight of the fireworks.

William didn't want his picture taken, so here's
Joseph and Alex right before the fireworks went off.

The bump of baby number 3 with baby number 2 on top
viewing the fireworks.  What a perfect evening!

The boys watching their first 4th of July fireworks display.

William, playing around the house while Alex
was in camp one morning.

Alex outside of his classroom for his second camp
of the summer!  He was so excited and ready to meet
his new classmates.

Our silly dog Oscar, as he made himself comfortable
on the massage chair.

William playing around in his music class.

William after he climbed a hill and was hanging
outside of the community pool, waiting to pick up Alex.

A rare moment when Oscar allowed Alex to hold
him and snuggle on the couch.  It's so great to see
this relationship blossom.

William wanted me to take a picture of him sitting on this
rock while we waited to pick up Alex one afternoon.
What a cutie pie!

Each afternoon when we went to pick up Alex, the boys would always run to greet one another as if they hadn't seen each other for years.  It was so sweet to see them run up to each other and embrace one another so sweetly.  They really did miss each other!

The boys enthusiastically and sweetly greeting one another
at camp pick up one afternoon.

Reunited and it feels so gooooooood!  :-)

The weekend the Minion Movie came out, we absolutely had to take our little minions to go and see it.  Since we were up already, we took the boys to the 10:45 am showing.  The boys loved it!

Joseph and the boys, ready to watch the movie.

Joseph, William, and Oscar playing with each other.

William was a little grumpy in the morning when the
boys and I sang, "Happy Birthday," to Joseph.  So,
later on, William was willing to sing and make a video
for Joseph's special day.

Our little William on the balance beam at My Gym.

He loves to run around and play.

William on a swing.

Woo hoo!  Look at our little strong man lift himself!

William, flying down the zip line.

On July 13, we celebrated Joseph's birthday!!  Unfortunately, that was one of his toughest days at work, so he came home a bit late.  The boys were excited to surprise him with a birthday cake, some of his favorite foods, a few presents, and lots of hugs.

I made Joseph's mother's recipe for shrimp teriyaki.
It was deeeeeelish!

Joseph blowing out his birthday candles.  Happy birthday, darling!

Get 'em all, dear!

Success!!

William began his second class this summer, which was a music class and free play time that went from 9:30-11:15 am.  William had an absolutely wonderful time playing around with the toys, and then singing and jamming along with the amazing music teacher.

William at the sand table during free play.

Time to get cooking at the play kitchen!

My coffee house date one morning.  :-)
William enjoyed a cinnamon bun, while I indulged
in a delicious egg sandwich and iced coffee.

Another one of our adventures brought us to the Children's Museum.  It was great because we dropped Alex off at camp and drove straight to the museum.  We got there early enough that we were able to be there right when it opened.

William loved making bubbles in the bubble room.

He also had fun watching the golf balls go down a huge ramp.

He also had fun with the smaller ramps.

William brushing a large set of teeth.

The boys giving big hugs to each other at Alex's pick up
another afternoon.  I couldn't get enough of this each day.

Another weekend, we ventured out to Tougas Farm in Northboro to pick blueberries and cherries.  The weather was perfect because it was overcast and not too hot, so we didn't have sweaty little babies.

Joseph and the boys, ready to pick some fruit!

The Franses family, ready to fill up our buckets
and bellies with blueberries and cherries.

The boys, filling up their smaller buckets with cherries.

They loved filling up their buckets, but also taking
a few to pop into their mouths.

Joseph looooooooved this, too!

Picking cherries at Tougas farm.

Our happy little fruit pickers.

Now it's time for blueberry picking!

Joseph was also guilty of eating a few blueberries....
you know....for quality control.  :-)

Make sure not to pick the green ones!  :-)

Picking blueberries at Tougas Farm.

William also enjoyed indulging in a few blueberries
while we were picking.

A successful trip to Tougas farm!!  Our buckets
and bellies were full and I couldn't wait to whip
up a few recipes with all of the fruit that we picked.

Time to have some lunch!  After all of that fruit picking,
we were ready to sit down and have some lunch from their
small cafeteria.

After lunch, we checked out the small petting zoo that
they have.  The boys love goats.

Joseph was quite amused at the goats who were butting
heads with one another on the stairs.

Afterwards, the boys played on the playground for a bit.

This was just the first half of the month of July!  There's lots more adventures in the next post.  We had lots of fun, Alex had his first successful taste of camp, William started some classes, and Joseph started his fellowship and celebrated his birthday.  What a great start to the month!
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki