Well, my rugrats are back home and back in routine. Aside from being a little tired and very cuddly, they seemed to have fared very well at Gramma and Grandpa’s house!

But on a totally different note: a little insight into what makes Sugar and Spice tick.

If there is one thing my kids are crazy about… it’s animals. The are avid naturalists, and love nothing more than to draw, read, watch or play out animal behaviors. Now, this mostly comes from Jrock and I (the whole nature / nurture thing takes another layer of meaning here.) We both are nature nuts – he is interested in animal behaviors and groups, as well as zoology. I’m more into ecology and interactions, as well as connecting with nature. He really likes mammals – I really like birds and other small beasties. It’s obvious we have passed these passions onto the girls. Jrock’s family were cattle farmers; whereas my family is the outdoorsy side. My dad’s a biologist and we all grew up hunting, fishing and exploring the great outdoors.

The fascinating thing is how the girls’ have got involved in our family interest but made it their own. spice is very creative and dramatic. So she loves playing out big elaborate stories and animal family scenes with her stuffies or small animal figurines. Spice is quite the little artist, and loves drawing pictures of animals and nature. She’s also very happy going for walks to watch ducks, or putter about in nature and the garden. Currently, she is growing some of her own pea plants in my kitchen.

Spice likes to examine bugs and other twigs and things in her microscope, always careful not to harm them. She also likes to call Grandpa on the phone and ask a specific question about something she’s been pondering… like why bighorn sheep’s horns keep growing.

Sugar, our ball of energy, is quite different. She acts out scenes directed by her sister, but her real passion is reading and learning about animals. She memorizes infinite details about different species, their interactions and habitats. Definitely, she’s the academic amateur zoologist, along with the same kind of detachment of many researchers. It doesn’t trouble her much to swish a bug to look at it.

But forget bugs – Sugar is interested mainly in cute animals (puppies) and large flashy species like zebras. Just like her sister, she loves it when Daddy finds her a video online that shows an animal doing something (hunting, reproducing, whatever,) and enjoys not only understanding but being able to explain her findings to other people. If you want to know how climate change works, just ask Sugar. She’ll ‘splain it!

Anyway, here are some of our girl’s favorite animal / nature toys and resources:

Schleich figurines.. boy they LOVE these, especially when they have a family or group of them.  Favorites are horses, tigers/lions and the new zebra and giraffes they got for Christmas.

The girls are absolutely gaga for Calico critters – all those infinitely tiny parts and the super cute animals! It’s just so right for their age!

Their matching Falkmanis otter puppets (they also have a skunk and an owl)

Some of their favorite reading books:

And their favorite books overall:

 And their favorite tools:

Favorite Netflix movie:

Favorite Netflix TV show (Tales of the Riverbank):

Once Upon a Hamster!

In case you were wondering what the girls want to be when they grow up…

Spice wants to be an entomologist. Sometimes she wavers and wants to "work with frogs and lizards too", but most of the time she's into bugs.

Up close:

And Sugar?

Well, she wants to be a chef. These are some of her first creations – corn tortillas that she made from Gramma this summer. She always talks about owning her own restaurant, and what she's going to make us when we visit!

Children are pretty amazing, aren’t they? Some people think twins are alike, but even if our girls are identical, they are such their own souls. It’s amazing seeing them flourish and grow… and I wonder what they will be one day.

We gave Spice a bug house for her birthday, to go with her net and magnifying glass. Spice got her first cookbook. Their teacher came over for tea this past week, and they both got to show her their treasures. I think their teacher was pretty amazed how long Sugar could talk about food!!!

The girls had two ballet shows on Saturday (and what seemed like endless dress rehearsals on Friday.) The evening show, only about 2/3 of the kids were able to stay up that late, but it still was a super cute performance. You can see Sugar with the long ponytail prompting the kids to their next move. The teacher designated her the leader of a few moves, and she took it seriously!

After their performance, they were met by daddy with two long-steemed roses, and we stayed for the rest of the show. The girls were fascinated by the other dance styles; I wish they had more options at this age. Sugar really liked the flamenco, and Spice was gaga over jazz. Maybe Sugar will stay with dance, after all… we’ll see. Spice is determined to go back to dance and wants to take pian too. Sugar, at this point, is planning to do gymnastics and learn to play the guitar. Yikes! I’m going to have to get those music lessons scheduled at the same time…..

The girls’ dancing lessons are almost over for the year… we just have their show still left this upcoming weekend.

Sugar and Spice are thrilled to be dancing in Mouse Costumes… the picture from the costumer fitting above says it all! lol

But I don’t think Sugar will go back into dance next year. They had this very nice but really traditional Eastern-European teacher for the majority of the year, and her traditional style really bored Sugar. Spice was still interested… but Sugar got totally turned off and wanted to quit.

After they got a new teacher two months ago, Spice was right back in there and having the time of her life. Sugar stopped dragging her heals and is now the defacto leader of the dance number, thank goodness – after all, dance is not cheap and we were prepaid for the year. But we had a good discussion the other day and I think she’ll try gymnastics or something else in the fall. Ballet is too pokey for her.

So I signed the girls up each for some summer classes. Sugar is taking Introductory Piano Camp for two weeks, for a couple of hours every day. She’s really intrigued by the instrument, but I don’t think she really knows enough about it for us to invest in lessons. After this camp, I think she’ll be able to make an educated decision.

For my more active Sugar, she’s off to Circus/Yoga/Gymnastics Camp this summer, 9-1 each day for a week. I think it will be just her active pace, and maybe whet her whistle for gymnastics in the fall.

I remember going to Summer Bible Camp at my Gramma’s church and making popsicle stick crosses in the basement. Kinda fun, lol. But topping that <big-time> was the week of horse-riding in the bush with Girl Guides. Now THAT was a summer camp! Activities like that were always so impactful and enjoyable. I hope my girls will have just as much fun. Not the popsicle sticks kind, but the horsey kind.

Do you remember going to summer camp? What kinds of camps did you go to?