Hailey - 4 Weeks

I've decided that being an Aunt is only second best to being Grandma.  Indirect kids are the best.  You can enjoy them, spoil them and then go to bed confident that you are going to get a good night of sleep!!

Check out this beautiful girl.  I went a little crazy with the black and white, but have decided that I love it!

I'm hoping her blue eyes stay.  They're light so I'm hopeful.

Love!

Family Visit

On Memorial Day Weekend, we were visited by Uncle Dave, Aunt Alisa, Owen and Hailey!!  The boys could not wait for their arrival and were obsessed with preparing.  They even fought over whose room Hailey would get to sleep in.  Can you say cousin love?

Finally, that Friday arrived and I had two very happy boys.

We decided to keep the weekend low key with only one outing to the zoo.  I love this picture.

I do believe Owen had a great time despite the blank look on his face.

There is a smile!

Digging for dinosaur bones.

Here is Owen making his first pressed penny!  Hopefully this is the start of many more.

And, watching a penny going around and around.  Fascinating.

Ryan was obsessed with this maze thing, trying it over and over again.  He was pretty good at it.  I have a feeling we'll be visiting this area again.

The merry go round is always a hit.

Cheese!

I was shocked that both boys wanted to pet the sheep with no encouragement from me.

 

Of course they had to ride the train too.  Tyler stayed with Owen while Ryan rose in the engine with kids he doesn't know.  I'm glad I have one thoughtful boy.

This lion was really cool.  There is a large window into the lion viewing area with a ledge on the lion side.  This guy was taking a nap on that ledge.  We were literally as close as this picture looks.  Thank goodness for thick glass!

I'm not sure what Ryan is doing here... I think he was driving.

On Sunday we just hung out at the house.  It was a good day for fun pics.

He wouldn't stay still for me.  

I did manage to get some random pics of my own boys.

Silliness ensued.

Owen gave a two-wheeler a try.

But, was much more comfortable on three wheels.

Ryan was in an odd mood.

See??

Tyler looked huge on this.  Where did my little boy go?  Check out the latest lost tooth.  Sigh.

Flat smile.

Owen's favorite ride was the motorcycle.  Vroom!

Fun!

This picture cracks me up with a blurry Ryan in the background.  Love those boys.

It was a great visit that I didn't want to end. Check out the next post for Hailey pics.  We're looking forward to seeing them and the girls in a few weeks!

Soccer

It is finally Ryan's turn to participate in an activity so he's giving soccer a try.  And, so far he loves it!!

This is one of Ryan's favorite friends from pre-school.  They just happen to be on the same team.  Very exciting.

I think this is funny... not sure why.

This is one of Ryan's favorite friends outside of pre-school.  She's the best kind of friend... a neighbor.

And, she should be scared.  He's looking pretty aggressive.

Now the tables are turned, but somehow she doesn't look as menacing.

Fully participating.  Love it!

Run, run, run.

I find this hilarious.  Water breaks are serious business for the Tim Bits!

All in all, he is doing great.  I love seeing him enjoy himself.  I hope it sticks.

Eternal Flame

I truly believe we live in one of the best places on earth.  Every time I think we've "done it all," I find out about something else really cool.  Not long ago I was told about the eternal flame at a local park.  It went on my must do list and today was the day.

Check this out!!

I had a hard time taking pictures because there were lots and lots of people there so there was no time to play with settings.  Everything in this pic is blurry.

Ryan was in some sort of odd mood.  This face was on purpose.  I later discovered that he got dressed all by himself this morning... and put both his shirt and shorts on backwards!!  I thought the neck of this shirt looked funny.

See, very strange mood.  He didn't blink... this was intentional.  His shorts look funny too.  Must talk to him about tags.

I couldn't get a picture of the waterfall containing the flame because of the masses of people.  This is another one that we passed.

We ate our picnic lunch on this rock.

The tree roots were really cool.

They look a bit like spaghetti.

Tyler was very curious about this sign about boy scout involvement.  Sounds like an eagle project to me.

Overall it is a great little hike that I want to do again soon at the crack of dawn so I can have the place to myself!