5.18.2011 Picnic at the Park

There is a park near our house that I love to go to. We have been many times before, and you have seen pictures of this park several times, but every time I go I take a million pictures, and I am just CERTAIN you want to see them. This particular evening we packed a lunch and had a picnic at the park. This was the second PB&J of the day for Eli, so he was THRILLED to be eating 'out'.
I asked Eli to smile, and he gave me this silly little pose. Cutie :)

It is so beautiful here!

A bit of the wild life. I swear this bird was posing for us.

So sad this picture is out of focus :( Leah also enjoyed our park adventure.

Eli suddenly became enthralled with the wheels on the stroller...which makes actually rolling the stroller a little challenging...

Some more animal life.

Eli chasing a squirrel...

'Where did he go?' Eli always calls the squirrels he sees 'Jumpy squirrel' which is what they call the squirrel on Curious George. It's funny to hear him squeal 'Jumpy Squirrel!!'

Playing at the playground after our walk.

A few pictures of Leah :)

'What is this green stuff?'

Heading back to the car.

I really wish we had had more picnics at the park earlier in the year when it wasn't so hot. Now it seems way too hot to try it....plus the bugs at dinner time by the river are terrible. Oh well...

...we have a little wildlife in our own front yard ;)

My kids are hooked...

My children love videos. Especially when they involve animated letters climbing a coconut tree. Here's a short video (I think it'll work anyway...) of them watching. Eli gets so excited when all of the letters are about to fall out of the tree. It makes me laugh :)

5.15.2011 Playing with Cousin

Uncle Eric's work schedule changed a bit, so for the next couple of weeks Isaac is coming over to visit once a week :) Eli is thrilled to have someone to play with...and make messes with :)
These two play together so well. They are very cute to watch...and quite easy to take care of-they entertain each other!

Playing with cars...

Somehow I have a feeling these to are going to have a lot of fun in future years :)

5.14.2011 Ben & Carly's Swim Meet

After a fun day at Bush Gardens, we got up (not nearly as early as we thought we were going to have to) and went to Ben & Carly's swim meet...after a restful morning. We left a little later than we probably should have, and I was so worried we were going to get mom and dad there too late to see Ben swim-he was in the first race, first heat. WHY do you hit every red light when you're running late?! Since this was the main reason they came to visit, I would have felt pretty rotten if they had missed that race...BUT they got there just in the nick of time :) Edgar and I dropped them off then we went and parked the car...so WE missed the first race, but Grandma & Grandpa didn't. It's been a while since I've been able to go to one of their swim meets-it's pretty hard taking the kids to the meets-so it was very fun to see how much they have improved.
They are both great swimmers.

Cute kids :)

Someday I'll probably be standing next to MY daughter at a swim meet...

...but that won't be for a while :)

Eli & Leah did great at the meet. It was pretty hot (no...he had not gotten into the pool. My boy can SWEAT!) but they had fun watching their cousins swim. Leah didn't love the cheering (cried every time we got loud...) but she's just going to have to get used to that :)

I kept thinking how much fun Randee & Johnny would have at a meet capturing pictures with their camera :)

Checking the heat sheet to see when the next race will be.

Hanging out with daddy.

Ready to go!

After the race the girls got some coffee and went to Michael's. Can't have a visit from mom without going there! I can't seem to get out of that store without buying SOMETHING. We also went to a kitchen store where I had to keep myself from drooling all over the baking stuff. SO MUCH FUN STUFF! I will definately be visiting there again!

We headed for home and then went to Olive Garden for dinner.

Leah was entertaining, and the food was great.

Sunday was church, lunch, then a trip to Cold Stone (another place that MUST be visited when Grandpa & Grandma are in town!) then Edgar took them back to the airport :( It is always sad to see them go.

We had such a wonderful, packed weekend. Can't wait for our next visit!!

5.13.2011 Bush Gardens

When talking with mom and dad about what they wanted to do when they came for a visit, they said they wanted to go to Bush Gardens, so on Friday we packed up our stuff (everything but the kitchen sink...) and went! Eli & Leah were ready for a day of fun!
Edgar was able to take the day off of work-he was the one taking the picture :) Ryan also joined us a little later.

Eli giving the gorilla a kiss.

Happy to be at an amusement park :)

Eli riding a hippo...

Ben getting eaten by a hippo...

Grandma & Aunt Jenny taking a little break.

Carly was so nice to ride a bunch of rides with Eli. She was the only one short enough to ride with him. She's the perfect height for Bush Gardens-short enough to ride the kid rides, tall enough to ride the big rides.

Riding the carousel with Eli

Leah LOVED playing in the water. She stayed in the water for a very long time just laughing and playing.

Happy girl!

After lunch we stayed in the Sesame Street area while everyone else went to ride the big rides. Some day we'll be riding the 'big rides' with our kids, I'm sure :) But for now we're happy to chill out on the kiddie rides. At least they don't make me black out like the big ones do...(though I DID get completely dizzy on the carousel)

Eli riding some rides with Edgar. It was so fun watching him ride rides this time. Last time we went he seemed to be afraid of most of the rides. Not this time! He had a blast.

We also caught the Sesame Street show. He was amazed! He LOVED seeing his 'pals' (He doesn't really watch Sesame Street very often, but has several books with those characters.)

He got to meet Elmo, but Elmo was in a room where they take your picture and you have to buy it-you can't just shoot a picture of your kid with Elmo with your own camera. It was very fun to watch him meet Elmo though even if I don't have a picture to show. He gave him a big hug and a kiss.

He also met Big Bird,

Abby, and Cookie Monster. I think he was pretty excited to meet Cookie Monster :)

Giving Abby a kiss

and Cookie Monster a hug.

We also went to a 4-D show which was pretty neat...until water sprayed out and sprayed Leah straight in the face. She SCREAMED and wouldn't calm down...so I left with her. I think everyone else enjoyed it though (especially Ben and Carly who were SO excited that it was a pirate movie and not a Sesame Street show...which is what we thought it was going to be.) We also hung out in the Jungala area and ate ice cream while Ben & Carly ran around playing.

After walking around and enjoying the day, we ended the day by watching a show in the AIR CONDITIONED auditorium (it got VERY hot). The show was amazing. The things these acrobats could do was unbelievable (and at points, a little freaky quite frankly...).

We headed for Ryan & Jennifer's house for dinner and hung out for a while. I think we were all pretty tired, though, so we didn't stay very late. We had a big day planned the next day!