Introducing Ghoti

Yesterday evening, Noah received the most amazingly, wonderful gift...some very close friends surprised Bubs with his very own fish!

 

Oh. my. goodness.

Bubs was in hog heaven!  Or should that be fishy heaven?!? 

Because of my crazy teacher obsession with the English language, we have decided to name the fish Ghoti.  If you know anything about the dingy English language, then when you read Ghoti you pronounced it /fish/.  Of course...because...

• gh, pronounced /f/ as in tough /tʌf/
• o, pronounced /ɪ/ as in women /ˈwɪmɪn/
• ti, pronounced /ʃ/ as in nation /ˈne͡ɪʃən/

The name works quite well in our house because our cat is named Kitty {short for Catherine}.

Mr. Man just loves to watch Ghoti swim all around his tank.

Thank you so much for bringing such joy to my Little Man!

High-Hand

Last weekend we headed up to Rocklin to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Jackson as well as Uncle Scott.  We had a lovely time catching up, admiring their vegetable garden, and eating yummy food.  The highlight of the trip was Saturday morning brunch at High-Hand Conservatory.  It is a lovely restaurant on the grounds of an old fruit packing shed.  Surrounding the restaurant is a gorgeous nursery and art gallery.  The food was superb and the ambiance was sublime.  

After brunch, we walked over to the nursery and found a koi pond.  Noah got to feed his fish fascination. 

He could have stared at the fish all day if we had let him.

After peeling Bubs away from his precious fish, we continued to walk through the nursery.   He found a fun fountain that just demanded that you stick your hand in it.

There was also a fun, old tractor that Noah enjoyed...until Kc noticed the wasps that were coming out of it.

 

The nursery had a HUGE area of pots, statues, fountains, and anything else you could possible want/or need in your garden. 

Anyone in need of a large ladybug?

Who is that crazy boy?

Bubs did find some huge, bronze statues that he fell in love with.  The elephant was a particular favorite...couldn't you just see that in our backyard???     

The turtle, however, stole the show. 

It was love at first sight!

Even More Fishy Fun

Noah and I headed out to yet another pet store this morning.  This one was the farthest away from our house but by far the best.  Once we walked inside, Bubs headed straight for the fish.

There were SO many fish to look at.

Mr. Man got more and more excited as he walked up and down looking in every tank.

 

Very close to the fish tanks was a large cage with kittens.  Bubs enjoyed them for a brief moment but then wanted to move on.

The birds were adorable and LOUD.  There were several cages filled with colorful, flying, squawking birds and Mr. Man was enthralled! 

Here he is signing "bird".

The next stop was to see the mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, and rabbits.  Bubs LOVED the rabbits!

One adorable brown bunny seemed to love Noah as well. 

They spent a lot of time staring at each other and giggling {well at least Noah was giggling...not sure what a bunny sounds like when it giggles}.

Noah's FAVORITE animal at the pet store, hands down, was the turtle.  Three turtles to be exact.

 

Bubs would go back to the turtle tank after visiting the other animals.

Here he is signing "turtle". 

It was feeding time for the turtles so several goldfish were dropped into the tank.  Mr. Man got a kick out of watching the turtles chase the fish down.  We had the distinct pleasure of watching one turtle capture his "lunch" and then another turtle fight the first one for the "lunch".  Eww!

Fishy Fun

Today was all about fishes!  First, we made a trip to another pet store to watch the fish swimming around. 

Bubs loved to tap {ever so gently} on the glass and look at all the bright colors.

Next, we came home and did a bit of painting.  Noah created an octopus and a fish with his hand prints.

He was particularly enthralled with this fish...isn't it just too cute?!?

He was more than happy to show off his latest artwork.

Notice that he is holding a seal in one hand and an octopus in the other.  My Little Man loves his ocean animals.

Fishes

Knowing how much Bubs loves to watch fish swimming at the zoo, I decided that we would head over to our local PetSmart and check out their fish.  

Oh boy, did Noah love those fishes!

He spent quite a bit of time at each. and. every. single. fish tank. 

He would look at the fish swimming around, look at me to tell me that they were fish, giggle quite a bit, and then move on to the next tank.

He did find this large tank that he thought would fit perfectly in our living room.

What do you think???

Zoo Love

Noah continues to LOVE animals and thus LOVE the zoo.  The weather has been quite lovely in Fresno this week {89 degrees instead of the typical 105 degrees} so we took advantage and headed to the zoo...twice.  The first time we went with friends, but the next day Bubs and I headed our on our own so we/he could take his own sweet time.

Mr. Man loved the tiger sign quite a bit more than the actual tiger...although to his credit, the tiger was sleeping way in the back of his cage.  Bubs is telling me that this is a "tiger".

The pink flamingos are always fun to watch.  Bubs just loves to sign "flamingo".

The most favorite place in the zoo has become the reptile house.  Bubs loves to watch the lizards, iguanas, and snakes.  Here he is telling me that there is a "snake" in the window and that I should come closer for a better look.  Um...no...right back here is just fine, thank you.

The brightly colored tree frogs are quite cute, however.  Noah is pointing out the two small, yellow frogs behind the glass.

This is the window where we spent thirty-five minutes watching the fish and turtles.  That's right...over half an hour.  Loads and loads of other visitors took a quick peek and walked past while Noah was glued to the window.  Oh man, Bubs just LOVES those fish.

He is telling me that the "turtle" is swimming by.

Can you see the turtle?

I love that Fresno has a zoo and that we have a season pass!  FUN!

Huntington Lake...again

We were blessed to return to Huntington Lake for the second weekend in a row.  Kc continued to play with the borrowed {really cool} lens and took quite a few pictures.   

The lake was full of sailboats for the High Sierra Regatta.  It was so fun to sit back and watch the boats sail by.

Of course, Sierra spent plenty of time swimming in the lake.

She was one tired little pup after all that exercise.

There were plenty of toys for Bubs to play with

and even more rocks to enjoy.

Mr. Man just loved playing on the deck.  He has been working on jumping with this physical therapist and took every opportunity to hop all over.

We also took advantage of the beautiful surroundings to take a family photo.  

{Notice the rock in Bubs' hand}

I just love this one of our feet.

 

As we were packing up the car to leave on Sunday afternoon {sniff, sniff} Noah took his feeding pump stand and rolled it all around the deck.  Who knew it was such a fun toy.