last weekend

We took a road trip to the mountains last weekend for Will's cousin's annual BBQ cook-off in Asheville (where Will has been a judge the past few years), and the girls and I made a brief detour to my folks' place.

playing kitchen with cousin Morgan

beagle "B"

dueling rocking chairs

tickling the not-so-ivories

playing in a giant tent

play-doh station

playing peek-a-boo with Granddad

Easter egg hunt

We had our Easter egg hunt on Saturday, and after "practicing" all last week (i.e. insisting that we hide eggs in the house over and over and over again) Maggie was ready for it! And I am so tired of hiding eggs, that I've hidden them one more time (in the closet). I guess that's what I get for being lazy and using only plastic eggs this year.

thanks to our neighbors for letting us spill over into their yard

Maggie just getting warmed up

Eli searching by the mailbox

Jacob getting a little help from his daddy, Chris

by this point, Lilly had dumped out all her eggs and was discovering jellybeans for the first time
Maggie and Eli sorting through their loot

putting sticky frogs on my car

family hike

After the rain cleared today, we took the girls out to Clemmons Educational State Forest for a picnic lunch and a walk in the woods.

Lilly pointing out the "tee, tee, teeee!"

the girls investigating some moss

feeding the fish and turtles at the pond

snapping turtle

"cheeeese!!"

"leeeeaves!"


Daddy's girls

dendrology lesson

Clemmons ESF has a "talking tree trail" with buttons (i.e. "beep boops") to push and little snip-its of information about the different species of trees

they also have a cut-off fire tower for folks to explore

Maggie in the tower

"farm animal days"

Every spring, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University has a "farm animal days" open house at one of their field labs just outside of town. It's specifically aimed at young children, and is designed for kids to see, touch, and learn about farm animals. Maggie and I went a couple of years ago, but we didn't go last year so Lilly has never been. Leslie and I took the kids last week, and it was a hit (especially with Lilly...she was so excited). Lilly really likes cows, and she likes saying "moo", so she was freaking out when we saw the cows, pointing at them and screaming "mooo...mooo...mooo!!" And Maggie got to see some horses close-up, pet a bunny rabbit, and hold a baby chick (although she has held a baby chick before when we got our chickens, she seemed more excited about this one).

Lilly's favorite cow

moo!!

they had this fake cow set up w/ "udders" to demonstrate how to milk a cow...Maggie didn't seem too interested in this, but Lilly was very curious

for some reason, Maggie isn't too fond of pigs (and never has been)...she took a quick look and then moved on

mmm...bacon

adorable little lamb that Lilly was very excited to pet (although Maggie didn't want to)

sheep family

Maggie, Lilly, and Eli looking at the goats

petting the rabbit was the highlight of the day for Maggie

this picture is for Archer...a line of big tractors to sit in
and to end the day, strawberry ice cream from the N.C. State dairy