Picnic

A few days after Ella's birthday, we took the kids on an impromptu picnic at Brady's Run park (impromptu = pick up KFC and find a picnic table). It was a few days after Mister's first hair cut, I can't believe how big he looks in these pictures.

Craig and I have adopted, or shall I say, shifted, our thinking since he received his severance package.


We realize that nothing is more important than praising God and spending time nurturing your family.


So we have become more relaxed and flexible when it comes to our schedule (something that is difficult for two rigid, engineering types).

It's a beautiful evening? Let's take the kids to the playground!

We all know these kiddos grow up way too fast, so we are trying to worry less about all of the work that needs to be done, and have fun playing.

The kids have responded well.

Amen.

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Playground

Mister loves climbing in/around/through anything. He climbed through this tunnel, stuck out his little face and said, "peek-a-boo!"

It was the cutest thing EVER. I could have died. Melted right on the spot.

But you have to hear him say it... he uses a very deep voice and says it really fast and it sounds like pick-a-boo. I'm hoping is father will capture it on video one of these days.


I love, LOVE this shot of him and the sun, it was a beautiful evening. I will post more from this adventure as soon as possible.

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Living Treasures Animal Park

We finally had a chance to take the kids (and the grandparents) to Living Treasures a few weeks ago. We really enjoy it there and try to make it a few times in the summer. New this year is a horse and wagon ride, which is how we happened upon this fella. Mister was pointing and laughing until he decided to charge the wagon. Then he started screaming, "UH NO UH NO UH NO!!"

He took some food from grandma....

then ran over to the ducks...


and tossed some food over the fence. It was so cute.


I love the way he stands on his tippy toes.


Ella loves feeding the animals as well.







"Wait, come back! I have more food for you!"

Doesn't Ma look pretty?

I think he was signing all done to the goat. Something made me think that this particular goat doesn't know sign language.



Notice the chubby baby arm in the lower right of the frame. He was asking daddy, "wuts dat?"

It took some convincing, but Ella finally decided that she could feed the llama with her bare hands.



Mister says, "ohhhhh, rrrrwwwrrrr."

For some reason the prairie dogs really made him chuckle.



Has to be just like his big sissy.




Living Treasures also added a small aviary this year, it was nice.


An albino kangaroo. I made the mistake of telling mister that a kangaroo goes hop hop. Because what he heard was, "pop pop," which is what he calls lollipops. So the rest of the afternoon he kept saying, "pop, pop."




It was a really nice day and it was fun watching him interact with all of the animals for the first time. We really need to go back again soon.

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Ten years!!

Craig and I are celebrating ten years of marriage today!! Can you believe it?!?


Our wedding was an absolute dream, with a fairy tale honeymoon that followed. We have been blessed beyond measure, and by the grace of God have tremendously enjoyed growing together over the last decade.

I'll try to keep this brief, but let me explain how I knew that we were meant to be.

Craig and I met, and worked together, beginning in the summer of 1993. Upon Donnie's passing in 1994, I took a semester off from PSU and worked at Arco. We had our first date on September 30, 1994, a short 25 days after Donnie died. (BTW, he came to Donnie's viewing prior to our first date, a gesture I will never forget).

I was a MESS. Nineteen years old and trying to make sense of the tragic events we were facing. I explained to Craig that it would be fun to hang out, but I didn't really have the mentally capacity to even think about a relationship. He was cool with that.

A few weeks later, we were going out on another date (maybe our 3rd or 4th) when I pulled up to the ATM machine to get some money. He handed me his card and told me his pin number.

I dropped the card.

I said, "excuse me?" He repeated.

I couldn't believe it, but we had the same pin number. He said that he always used that number, as did I.

That pin number was Donnie's birthday.

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FUN!!!

We had the most amazing weather on Friday and Saturday, so of course we took the kids to the playground!

Mr. boy boy licious had never been to the playground before and he LOVED it. Couldn't stop talking about it.






He is much more aggressive than Ella was at this age, he wanted to climb on everything.

He walked by Craig and I at one point and waved and said, "hi," as he continued on to something else.



Ella and her BFF Rachel.



I love the static in his hair!



He knew that he wouldn't be able to tackle this obstacle on his own.



He made a new friend while he was there, and even explained to him the virtues of mulch.

Then he proceeded to show him how to throw it. Very nice capture by daddy!


ps. Rachel is Ella's BFF, but I am her BFFL, please don't confuse the two.

pps. BFF = best friends forever. BFFL = best friends for life. Clearly, being her BFFL is more meaningful, it does have an additional letter, after all.

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