Making Butter - 226/365

Family Garden Friday again this week!

This week they were making their own herb butter. All they did was put some heavy cream in a little Tupperware and shake it for about 10 minutes. Reagan, Nana and I all took turns. It was tiring, but pretty fun! At the end they had some fresh herbs you could add to the butter and some yummy crackers to try out our butter. It was actually quite good. If I didn't have to shake it constantly, I would make it more often!

After we made our butter, they had a scavenger hunt around the garden. They had a little sheet with a marker, so they could cross off what they found. It was cute! We discovered a monarch cocoon on our adventure. It was so fun to find one in the "wild." I had only seen them in butterfly houses. We had a fun time!

Trying her freshly made butter!

Working on her scavenger hunt!

 Monarch cocoon!

Garden, Golf and a Concert - 212/365

It was going to be a busy day today!

Reagan and I started at Family Garden day. This week we were tasting hummus, harvesting vegetables and investigating insects.

Reagan was so excited when she was able to pull a carrot right out of the ground! She was shocked that's how they come out, all dirty. She wanted to go in the bathroom right away and clean it all off. She was amazed when it was a perfect orange carrot! I love that she's learning all this stuff.

After that, we went to the insect table to investigate some bugs. Her favorite was the monarch butterfly.

To end the morning, we did her butterfly craft. She loved decorating it with the puffy cotton balls.

This afternoon, Jim called from work with some exciting news. He was listening to the radio on the way to lunch when he heard about a contest for free tickets to the Firestone Golf Tournament this weekend. He called in and was the lucky caller! He had to answer three questions and he got all three right! We now have free tickets to the tournament, which include passes to the military tent with free food! Yay! Way to go, Jimmy!

This evening, Nana and I were heading to Blossom to see Rascal Flatts for the umpteenth time! We just love them and they always put on a good show. They opened with an acapella version of "Happy" by Pharell Williams. It was great!

Sheryl Crow opened up and then came out for a couple songs later. She did a pretty good job.

It was a great show overall!

My little harvester

Carrot

Checking out her butterfly

 Butterfly project

 Golf tickets

 Nana and I at Rascal Flatts

The boys!

 

Tales for Tots, Butterflies - 192/365

It was Tales for Tots day!

We just love that little class at the Ford Nature Center.

Today, was all about butterflies. We got there and instead of their normal coloring pages, they were doing sidewalk chalk out back. Someone had already drawn some pretty involved butterflies and the kids were having a ball adding to the artwork.

It was a bittersweet day though, because Miss Julie who had been teaching, has passed the torch onto two other ladies. The two new women did great and were super nice to the kids, but we love Miss Julie. She was there, just kind of supervising from afar.

Anyway, we moved to the side porch where they read their story and sang a little song. The new teachers, had a few stuffed butterflies and caterpillars, so they could learn about the different parts of the body. They even had some Painted Lady Butterflies, that were getting ready to emerge from their cocoon. The kids were fascinated!

After the story, we took a walk where the kids got to pretend to be butterflies. Each child got a party blower, (silent ones, thankfully) which acted as the long tongue of the butterfly. Along the trail, they had hung huge pictures of flowers. As the kids were "fluttering" down the path, they could stop at each flower and "sip" nectar. It was too adorable and they LOVED it! Reagan was like the "hungriest" butterfly! LOL!

After our little hike, we went on the back lawn to try to catch some butterflies in nets. Each kid got a net, but no one was too successful.

Finally, it was craft time. Everyone got a plain white butterfly to color. It actually opened up to give a 3D effect, with some string to hang it. Another great class in the books!

After class, we went to Bob Evans with Nana. We had some lunch, then nana so generously, took Reagan home for a couple hours, so I could get back to some editing! Thanks, Nana!

When Jim got home, we went up to the Shields road trail to get in a walk. It was such a nice night! Not hot at all and NO rain, amazingly enough!  I did see the biggest mushroom I've ever seen in the parking area! YUCK!

The photo of the day is.... Reagan the butterfly, drinking her nectar...

The next is the big mushroom...yuck!

Beautiful Butterflies - 71/365

Nana, Reagan and I hit the Niles area today. 

We headed over to the Eastwood Mall to check out the new Spring line at Gymboree. I love the Eastwood Gymbo much better than Southern Park. They get way more styles and way more sizes. It's always exciting to see the new Spring clothes! 

We had lunch at the new Firebirds in the mall. Delicious food and fabulous decor! We really liked it. One interesting thing from lunch.... our waitress said that she GREW UP in Boardman, and before she got a job at Firebirds she had NEVER been to the Eastwood Mall!!?? How on earth can you be a Youngstown native and never go to the Eastwood Mall!? Granted, it's kind of creepy sometimes, but STILL! Anyway, just a little fun fact that's worth remembering...LOL!

 The mall has a little butterfly exhibit going on until Sunday. They put up a mesh tent in the center of the mall near the aquarium. It's free, but you have to get "tickets" at Captain McFinn's store. They ask that you kindly make a donation for Charge Syndrome research. We were really happy to do that in honor of Bridget! (xoxo) 

 It was a really cute set up. They had live plants, a fountain and some benches to sit down on. When you went in the tent there was a little dish you dip your finger in, then the butterflies would sit on your finger to "lick" it off. It was so fun! Reagan really loved it and by the time we were leaving she was literally kissing the butterflies! 

 Reagan and her butterfly friend is the photo of the day....