Park

We have a fabulous park out where we live. Great equipment, a rock climbing wall, a sand pit and even a water fountain. Today, Tyler spent the entire 2 hours in the water fountain playing! What a fun way to spend the morning! I'm going to go way out on a limb and say I actually wore him out. Or should I say, he wore himself out playing...a parents dream :)

He was just thrilled to be there!
Running around and around until he could no longer run anymore...

Then he stopped for a posed picture...he looks like he's ready to enter a body building contest with that stance!

Then he told me he was figuring out the pattern of the fountain...because it rotates around which ones come on and how long it takes. ONLY my 4 year old would be so interested in the mechanics of how it all works...and yes, he figured it out. It was fun to see the little wheels in his head working as he was calculating it all out....

And towards the end when he was getting a little tired, he decided to just sit down and rest...who could blame him?

The whipped cream on top

One night, not so long ago, we had strawberry shortcake for dessert. We don't have whipped cream from the can very often, but decided it would be a nice touch. Why not? Sometimes in life, you've just gotta splurge!

After we finished dessert, Eric asked Chloe if she'd ever had whipped cream squirted from the bottle into her mouth. Her reply was of course, no, but that she'd like to try it. Well, you can imagine where things went from there...needles to say the kids loved having in their mouth, and it turned into one very sticky, fun evening.

These are the kinds of nights that I hope the kids remember when they grow up. The nights where our house was filled with smiles and laughter...

Zoo

Over Memorial Day weekend, Eric was out of town for work. Tyler and I were sad he was gone 6 days, but kept busy and had fun. One day we went to the zoo, which was really fun! We hadn't been to the zoo since Tyler was 2 years old, so we were long over due. It was a long day, but we packed in the entire zoo and Tyler was a total trooper.

We started out by riding on the bus to the zoo. Even though we arrived at 9:30 in the morning, the parking lot was full, so we had to take the shuttle. After waiting in line for almost an hour just to get on the bus, we finally were able to hop on. Tyler loved every second of riding the bus!



One of the first things we saw were the Turtles. Tyler has been totally in love with sea Turtles ever since we went to Hawaii. They are one of his fav's!

Of course, no trip to the zoo would be complete w/out visiting the petting zoo. Tyler really wasn't interested in the petting zoo at all...nor did he want to feed any of the animals. He just wanted to ride this wooden horse over and over and over...he was on it for good half hour, and I literally had to pull him off it, so other kids could have a turn. He has told me multiple times since then that he's asking Santa for one for Christmas...

We were quite lucky to see the elephants...and the new little baby is so cute!

We packed a picnic lunch and ate on the grass. Not a big surprise, but Tyler was more interested in running on the big open grass than eating his lunch. I seriously have no clue where all of his energy comes from!

Full steam ahead!

There was a bird of prey exhibit going on during our lunch. We were able to get very close to this Eagle, which was SUPER cool!

Tyler was excited to see Motto-Motto from Madagascar!

The most awesome thing we saw at the zoo were the giraffes. One of the giraffes put on quite a show for us. He was using his tongue (I had no idea it was so long) to pull a branch from a tree down, and then eat the leaves. I was so into watching the show that I forgot to snap a picture of it...only after the giraffe walked away did I realize I should have taken a picture sooner...darn it!

Towards the end of the day, Tyler started to get a bit tired. He stopped to take a little rest on this rock. I thought the expression on his face was priceless...just watching all that was going on around him.

Outside the gift shop, hanging w/a couple of dudes...

Meet Flex. The newest member of Tyler's stuffed animal family. Tyler decided to name his giraffe flex, because they have flexible necks.

We had such a fun time at the zoo and it was really great for Tyler to be able to see so many fun animals. The Portland zoo is awesome and everytime I go there I'm always reminded that it's a great place to go and spend the day.

And now...back to our regularly scheduled program

It has been a while since I've posted. I've been slacking a bit...but isn't that what summer vacation is all about? :)

We have been busy...summer is always our busy time of the year, like so many other people. I'm working on getting some pictures together so I can get them posted.

We seem to be doing really well. The kids are growing like crazy and are both happy to be done with school. They savor summer vacation :) Chloe is doing an orchestra camp and Tyler is doing swimming lessons. We are spending fun days at the park, riding bikes, visiting/playing with friends, playing games (the kids are REALLY into Domino's and Trouble right now), and loads of other activities. Eric and I are just trying to keep up with their energy!

We are getting ready to head to the beach this week, to do our July beach trip. This year we will be going with my brothers and their families. I've basically decided it's going to be called "Cousin Fest 2009." All of our kids will be there. Ages..9,6,4,3,1,and just under a year. I for see a lot of of beach time!

Stay tuned for some fun posts (I promise)!

254 weeks

Just playing around...

253 weeks

A big upside down grin...

252 weeks

Out like a light...

251 weeks

Testing out his new apron...it survived banana bread!

250 weeks

Relaxing on a sick day...