Claws N Paws

On the way home from visiting our friends, we stopped at Claws N Paws a wild animal park in the Poconos.  They definately had a huge variety of animals there, I was impressed!  It is located out in the woods and there are various trails to follow and lots of animals to see, a petting zoo, a "turtle town" that kids can go in, a place where they have dinosaur statues and "bones" that kids can play on, a reptile house and an area where they do shows with some of the animals.  We basically did the trails and the reptile house because the show that they were doing involved birds flying around (oh horror of all horrors for me) and I have found that Anna is not a fan of petting zoos where the animals can come up to her.  She is fine if she walks up to an animal but she definately doesn't like it if animals come running up to her (even Riley sometimes if she is too wound up).   Here are few of the pictures we took.

Looks a little confused....she actually just woke up from a sound sleep.

Just what are we looking at?

This cute little guy!

The river otters -- one of my favs

The giraffe - Stan's favorite animal.  We were really surprised that they had one because it really isn't that big of a place!

Peeking at us

He was sooo cool!

He felt really neat too! 

On a side note I have no idea why I have my teeth sticking out like that!  I really hope it isn't something I do often because I had no idea I was doing it then =)!

Stan and Anna checking out some animals.

Anna really like these little deer (I forget what kind they are). 

This deer was actually a full grown adult!

And of course this turned out to be Anna's favorite part because of her new liking of alligators that started this summer.

Mr. Alligator

All smiles for the alligators

And this is what Anna picked from the gift shop.  We gave her a choice of a few things and this is what she chose.  No surprise there.

Ready for the ride home -- a snack trap with Chillos (her version of the word Cheerio), a cup of milk, and an alligator.  What more can a girl ask for?

Meeting Baby James

On Wednesdasy and Thursday of this week we visited our friends Rammer and Shira and got to meet their adorable baby boy, James, who was born the beginning of June.  It was a nice visit and Annalise was really good with the baby!  She just kept saying "Hi-ya baby James" over and over again while helping to gently rock him in his swing.  She really didn't show any signs of jealousy when I was holding him although when I was feeding him a bottle she did ask me for a bottle for herself.  I reminded her that bottles were for babies and that she is a big girl.  That seemed to be enough for her because she didn't mention it again.  Anna even carefully laid her beloved doll baby on James while he was in his swing.   I do have to say though that the visit showed me that I am not ready for a second baby until Anna is at least 3 years old!  I just can't imagine having a newborn with a 20 month old!  Annalise occupies soooo much of my time and attention at this age that I have to give major credit and applause to those of you who are obviously so much braver than I!  At one point I was giving James a bottle (which I loved doing and I completely fell in love with all his newborn cuteness) and trying to read Annalise a book and keep her occupied.  Whew, it was tricky!  Anyway, enough of my rambling (which I know I do so well) here are some pictures:

Adorable little James

I just love how much hair he has!

James' brother, Cisco (don't know if I spelled that right)

Honestly one of the best dogs I know!

Anna decided she wanted to put her feet in the pool.

She went on a step that was too low though and got her shorts soaked!

After her shorts were soaked she said she wanted to get in the pool.

I put her suit on her but I questioned how long she would last because she is not really a fan of our pool unless it is at least 88 degrees (which fortunately has been most of the summer)!

I was right, she got out.

She did end up getting back in though for a little while.

The berry lover was in all her glory because they have blueberry and huckleberry bushes at there house!  She ate soooooooooo many berries while we were there!  Amazingly she didn't even get a belly ache!  Here is is eyeing up the blueberry bushes.

Eating some blueberries

Havin' fun

Helping to rock James

Here she was sharing her most favorite doll ever (I am pretty sure she has had it since she was born or shortly there after).  Anna walked up to James and said "Here James" and put it on him.  Notice though she is keeping an eye on it =)

Stitting with "Uncle Hammer" -- as she started calling him

These Boots Are Made for Walkin'....

The other night we were reading a book about a bear and the four seasons.  When Annalise saw the little bear with his boots on in the snow, she asked to wear her snow boots.  So I put them on her and she proudly walked around the house.  She also swiped a headband and decided to put that on to complete her ensemble!

Children's Museum

This morning, since it was raining, I took Annalise to the Children's Museum in Bloomsburg.  I was very impressed with all there was to do for only 5 dollars!  Anna had a good time and was all over the place! I tried to snap as many pictures as I could but like I said, she was all over the place and it was pretty crowded because there was some kind of summer camp visiting there today.  Also, because there was so much to see and do I only seemed to be able to get profile shots of her.  Anyway, I think her favorie parts were the giant bird nest, the turtles, frogs and fish, the kitchen area and the tooth brushing area.  She even got a special treat while she was there -- she got to pet rabbits and look at ducks up close!  We were actually just getting ready to leave because it was getting close to 1:00 (her nap time) when one of the women that worked there asked me how much longer we would be staying.  The woman had complemented me earlier on how cute Anna was and how well behaved (some of the summer camp kids were a little wild to say the least).  I told her that actually we would be leaving because it was getting close to naptime (also we had already been there like 2 and 1/2 hours!)  She said that if we wanted to wait about 15 minutes that after the summer camp kids left that she would get out some rabbits and ducks.  I agreed to stay and wait because I knew Anna would like them but then the woman said that she would take Anna back to the office to look at them right then, so we did.  She loved the rabbits and just kept petting them and saying "Hiya, Buddy!" "Awww, Buddy".  The ducks she was not sure of.  She would walk right up to them and talk to them but whenever I asked her if she wanted to touch them she would say, "Oh, noooooooooo" and then would run over to the rabbits.  In all, it was a good way to spend a rainy morning and again let a very active toddler use up some energy.

Brushing up on her knowledge of PA fish =)

In the huge Bird's Nest

Next time I will make sure she has socks on.  I didn't know that there were sections were she would have to take off her shoes.  Since she had sandals on, she was then in her bare feet.  Needless to say when we got home there was some serious feet washing going on.

Checking out the tree in the nest

Relaxing with the birds

Still in the nest

She was there for a loooooong time.  I eventually had to coax her out of it because it was in the very beginning and she never would have gotten to see anything else.

Checking out one of the turtles

Mr. Turtle, a Red Eared Slider

Checking out the other turtle

Coloring a turtle picture

Brushing the teeth on the stuffed animal.

This was another area that I had to coax her away from eventually.

Even after we left it though she kept saying "Anna go brush da teef", over and over again.

Very serious about the brushing.

A little block building

Cooking up dinner, at least that what she said she was making.

Actually she had a piece of cheese in the frying pan and had dumped pretend tomato sauce in the tea kettle.  Is that a good meal or what?

Splash! Splash!

I cannot even tell you how much time we have been spending in our pool this summer.  Annalise loves being in it which is good because I love being in it too!  Stan and I were just saying tonight that we think it was the best money we ever spent!

Having fun on a hot day

Wild child!

Hmmmm, she looks a little unsure here???   Not quite sure why, maybe I was pulling her raft backwards??? Guess I shouldn't have done that.

Trying to get a shot together.  Stan didn't tell me I had a strand of hair hanging directly in the center of my head.  Anna is not paying attention at all. Nice.

Now, not only do I have a hair hanging in the middle of my head, but he snaps the picture in the middle of me saying cheese.  Anna is still not paying attention.  Really nice.

Oh well, this is as good as it gets I guess!  At least Annalise is finally looking!