Princess Party!

Last week, Michaleigh, or should I say Cinderella, went to her first princess ball at the library. She gathered with lots of other little princes and princesses to make crafts like a sparkly wand, a ring and a princess tiara. They listened to a couple of stories about princes and princesses.

Here is "Cinderella" and Snow White doing a princess dance with scarves. It was cute to see all these little girls in their pretty dresses and their fancy shoes.

The librarians (a.k.a. Cinderella and Belle) taught the little girls to wave and curtsy like princesses. This day was actually Andy's birthday so after our trip to the ball, we went and visited Andy at work. Daddy was able to show off his little princess dressed like a princess and we kept trying to get her to show his co-workers her princess wave but of course, no luck.

Cinderella helping Cinderella put the lips on the frog...I know, you're thinking, what? Imagine Pin the Tail on the Donkey only with red lips and a frog. Get it?

At the end of the ball, all the little princes and princesses went on a parade through the library. Here is a picture of Michaleigh showing her princess wave.

The Seneca Park Zoo

Another one of our favorite places to go is the Seneca Park Zoo. It's a nice little zoo with a variety of animals. Here are a few photos from one of our trips.


Here is one of our favorite characters at the zoo...the river otter. He always looks like he is having so much fun and he seems to like to showoff for an audience.

Here are the white rhinos taking a sunbath. It is cool to see some of the animals that I used to teach about at the Oakes Museum...only these animals breathe and move!

Kristin and Michaleigh watching the orangutans.

This is another one of Michaleigh's favorite spots. They have an area set up for kids to pretend they are vets. They can select different stuffed animals to take care of. Michaleigh is weighing the penguin and later gave him a bath and looked at his x-rays. She could spend hours here!

I know, it's a nice view of the elephants. They were doing an educational program with these two African elephants.

More Play Museum photos

Here are a few more photos from our first trip to the Play Museum. There is one area of the museum called "Reading Adventureland". This is a photo of Michaleigh playing dress up and pretending to be Cinderella in her pumpkin coach. We have returned to this area many times since.


They have the coolest train table I've ever seen. There is also a train for the kids to ride on in this area.

There seem to be carousels everywhere up here! Here is a photo of the one at the museum. This is always a fun way to end any day!

This was a very memorable moment that Michaleigh still talks about. We went to the butterfly garden while we were at the museum and Michaleigh was a little disappointed that the butterflies weren't landing on her so one of the workers placed a newly emerged butterfly (just out of its chrysalis) on her hand. While the butterfly sat there, he "quirted" Michaleigh leaving a little wet spot on her hand. She still likes the butterflies but I'm not sure she wants one to land on her for a while.

The Strong Museum of Play

Here are a few photos from our first of many trips to the Play Museum in Rochester. It is a great place for kids (and grown-ups) to play and use their imaginations. We love it there! If you want to see more about it, go to www.museumofplay.org . (Sorry the pictures are backwards in order...we are still learning!)

Here is Michaleigh with her groceries and her reciept showing what she purchased at the kids Wegmans.

Watching Michaleigh scan the groceries proved how much shopper training she has had! She was a pro at scanning the bar codes. It made her mother proud! :)

Here is the produce department at the kids Wegmans. This is Kristin's favorite part of the Play Museum, of course.

There is a whole area of the museum devoted to the Berenstain Bear family. We all love reading the Berenstain Bear books so we were very excited to get our photo with the whole Berenstain Bear clan!

Does this scene look familiar? If so, you've been watching Sesame Street! Andy and Michaleigh are sitting outside

Our first attempt at blogging

Okay, so this is our first attempt at blogging. We are learning as we go so please bear with us. Here is a photo from the beach here at Rochester. We hope to keep learning and keep posting the Shughart family adventures.