It is feeling like a zoo in here

If you had told me last year at this time that we would now have
3 birds
1 fish
and a dog
I would have said, YEAH RIGHT.
I did not have any pets growing up. But my DH always had tons of pets. I know he misses his dogs, turkeys and birds.
It all started about a year ago when Diane turned 5 and she was given a betta fish as a pet.  This fish is still alive and really has a great personality.  Lucy just upgraded her tank to an awesome fish tank on the bottom and grow some herbs for your recipes on top.

You can see all about it at this link:
http://www.abesmarket.com/aquafarm-at-home-aquaponics-kit.html?utm_source=WeeklyEmails&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2013_07_10_theflash
I am not joking that in 24 hours we had sprouts on top.  Now 4 days later we have 6" of wheatgrass and big sprouts of lettuce and basil too.  This is the easiest way to take care of a Betta and a super easy way to grow fresh herbs in the kitchen.  Many thumbs up from our house!
So then a friend said their children were afraid of their new parakeet.  So Daisy joined us soon after Lucy.  Daisy is hilarious and super low maintenance.  Diane's Junior Kindergarten class has 2 birds who needed a home for the summer so they are here temporarily.  They are so cute and sit in their house on their 7 eggs.
And three days ago our big time waster joined us.  Molly Shadow.  She is a border collie/terrier mix  from a NC kill shelter.  She is super sweet and wonderful for keeping us active.  She wants to pee every 30 minutes, so about 12 walks a day it is.  Jake was often getting 5000 steps a day on his fitbit.  In the past 4 days he is getting 18,000 steps and he lost 2 pounds!!
You can follow Molly's escapades here:
Molly Shadow's Facebook Page
So if you come visit us, be prepared to meet our zoo and take a few walks with us.

Real Parents Review: Pacific Rim and a note on Grownups 2

Pacific Rim:  This is what summer action blockbusters should all aspire to be.  This movie was fun, fast, action packed and BIG. It has been described by many as a cross between Transformers, Power Rangers and Godzilla.  What you haven't heard though, is that this movie tops each of those in almost every area.  We were able to catch two screenings of this movie last week, one in  IMAX 3D and one on a regular screen and wow, the difference was stunning.  For most movies I would normally tell you that the extra money for IMAX/3D is probably not well spent, but that is not the case here. Spend the few extra bucks to see this on the true IMAX screen and be amazed at the visuals throughout.  But, beware of the very real and lifelike big screen movements, because children have been known to get nauseous at an IMAX/3D movie. (Don't ask me how I know this.)

The first 10 minutes of the movie gives you the entire backstory of how the kaiju (giant monsters) arrived on Earth through a portal at the bottom of the Pacific.  To defend against them, the rest of the world bands together to build giant robots called Jaegers, which are controlled by pairs of pilots.  The Jaegers are successful, but the kaiju keep coming and coming and they must find a way to close the portal for good.

There are no A-list stars in this movie, but there are plenty of faces you will recognize who put in good performances.  There is tons of action and robot-on-kaiju violence, but its mostly cartoony in nature and not something I would think would be objectionable.  The monsters themselves are very scary and I think children under 10 could easily be scared by them.  There is no nudity and very little profanity (I can't really remember any at all), but the fight scenes are really intense.  I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a fun action movie that incorporates sci-fi and great visuals.  Dad gives this movie 4.5 stars and 9 year old son gives it 5 stars.

Grown Ups 2:  My 17 year old son asked me to take him to this preview screening.  I did not see Grownups 1.  And I don't have much to say about this movie.  I had a few chuckles and
maybe a few laughs and that was about it.  The movie starts out with a deer urinating all over Adam Sandler, his wife and other family members.  I have to believe this is actually a metaphor for how the
cast feels about its audience.  The movie is filled with these types of inane moments without any real purpose.  I have to believe that the target audience for this movie is 14-17 year old boys (based on the
amount of cleavage shown throughout the movie).  Needless to say, this is NOT a movie for young children (or even adults with functioning brains) despite the fact that there is no actual nudity (aside from very brief shots of the 4 stars jumping in the water naked - I tried really hard to forget that scene too) and not that much in the way of profanity.  There are a few fight scenes with some minimal violence, but mostly it is just really juvenile humor that's really not very funny.  My 17 year old son laughed throughout the whole movie. But he even said, this movie was really lame.  0 STARS

Camp Mommy is in session

School has ended, YAY!
But that only means that Camp Mommy has started. BOO say the older kids.
I refuse to allow the kids to sit in front of screens 24/7 for 3 months. Nope, not happening while Camp Mommy is in session.
Here was the first day activity list:

The first day was OK. Older boys begrudgingly did what I asked them to. But Diane loved it.  At the end of the day she told me it was so much fun. WHY? Because she got to spend the whole day with me.  I love this girl.  Girls are so different than boys.

I have some awesome recipes to post for you this summer. I got an amazing box from Bob's Red Mill, filled with bags of grains. I can't wait to share these new recipes with you.

We visited Disney's Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Lodge last week and we had an amazing time. I have some more Disney tips to share with you as well.  Here is a video of the animals we could see on our balcony.

It was so much fun seeing the animals right outside our window each day.  If you plan to visit Disney, you really should stay here.