Enjoying the fountain outside. Is there anything better than throwing rocks in water? Erin submits that there is not...
And if we can't throw rocks, we can climb on them. Betty was kind enough to let us come up to her place and scramble around. Here's Erin & I "helping" her up.
Pop and Grady...
Sue brought carrots to entice one of her horses, Bailey, to say hello. Erin threw her carrots to Bailey since those big teeth are a bit intimidating. Grady on the other hand wanted to dive out of my arms onto the horses head and kept trying to grab @ Bailey's nostrils. I think Grady likes horses...
Today we went to the wild animal park. The tram ride around the huge preserve they have is incredible!! Here are some giraffes
Here we are enjoying the ride :0)
Lions lounging...
The park also has a little cool off water splash area. Mine were not the only children running around in just their diapers/underwear (I promise!!). They had a ball and then we put back on dry clothes (potty training mommy's always have extra underwear) and then we went on our way. And YES-we applied lots of sunscreen!!
Giving the Lorakeets some nectar is lots of fun (though I'm glad that one landed on my head and not Erin's-pretty sure that would have completely freaked her out!!)
Enjoying the petting zoo with Grandmother...
We've had a fun-filled trip and will be heading home tomorrow!! Well, Grady's crying so I've got to go get him settled back down (rude awakening for him tomorrow back at home where he'll just have to cry it out!). Maybe I'll get more sleep at home since Grady refuses to accept that there's an hour time difference!

A Full Day at Grandmother's and Pop's

After church this morning Grady and I had short naps and then Pop inflated the boat and we headed off to the lake...
Here we are launching on our maiden voyage.
When Erin paddled we got to enjoy going in circles for awhile, and while the trip was short lived we managed to pack lots of fun in. This is what Grady got to do while we boated and Grandmother took lots of pictures-we moved so slowly that they kept up with us most of our journey.

After the boating Erin pushed Grady on the swings. This involves pushing him from the front while laughing hysterically then turning and running quickly out of the way to avoid being hit by the swing...
Next, as we unloaded the raft into the hangar Erin finally got to get into the Tigermoth-she's been wanting to since she laid eyes on it yesterday. It was tough to get her out for dinner time!!
Grady and I got in on the fun too!!
This doesn't even get into our zoo trip or any other of our adventures here-just a day in the life at Grandmother and Pop's house!!

Erin's Birthday

Ignoring how long its been since I've posted I'll just jump right in with Erin's bday photos. A pool party in February is no problem when you have the family fun plex :0)

After all the buildup to the party she takes ages to actually go into the water...
Audrey, Grady & I splash around and manage to entice Erin to join us in the water.
Finally in the water Erin watches Daddy & Grady test the slide first...
She sure warmed up to it, though...
Here's Cecily and Audrey in the life vests (after enjoying a few laps with Natalie in the lazy river), Natalie with Everett and Erin & Blayne.
More splashing friends...Jack (I think--half hidden by the fountain), Hilary, Witt & Will
Needless to say-the pool was lots of fun!! Thanks to my mom for trying to get pics of everyone-its hard to get non-blurry shots of 3 year olds running and splashing all over :0) Then, it was off to pizza hut!! Everett, Jack, Jeb & Will work on their juice boxes while watching Erin open gifts....
Erin managed all 3 candles in one breath (too quickly for my mom to catch it-she was speedy :0)
The party was Tuesday since Blayne had to leave on Wed-her actual bday was Thursday so we made brownies & frosted them for Thursday night. For our parting shot here's Erin enjoying some frosting (she may not look like me-but she gets some things from her Mommy! :0)
Can't believe she's 3. So much fun. Love to you all. Not going to make promises about being better at this blog-its not likely at this point ;0)

Catch Up #1-Vacation & Grady's Baptism

It's been ages, so here's catch up number one. Get together with my family in Alabama. Here's the girls swinging, Anne, Mae & Erin (don't know why she has that pacifier in her mouth-but I couldn't resist this pic.)
Here's Erin in the canoe-she didn't want to face forward-I was just glad she would get in :0) She's gotten less afraid of things lately-hooray!

Here we are passing "the boys" in the other canoe. Wilson, Bennett & Chris.
I know this one is blurry-but I was reading a Dora book to Anne, Erin & Mae then the boys joined in too. It was one of few still moments with the kiddos. We were usually playing the Wiggles DVD and dancing like crazy!!
Here's Erin & Mae throwing rocks in the water. Ah the simple things...Next for catch up is when our folks both came to town for Grady's baptism. Erin has always loved her MaMa's necklaces and even though she doesn't put them in her mouth anymore-she still loves to play with them.

We were able to go to the session at the pub with my folks on Thursday night where Erin and Grady regularly get to hang out with their substitute local grandparents-Chuck & Cheryl!
Here's Erin and her Daddy playing while waiting on our yummy BBQ at Nordy's.
Here's Me, Grady, Momma & Daddy at the top of the trail on Trail Ridge Road-that view never gets old!!

Here we are putting on Grady's baptism gown. It's the same one Bennett, Wilson, Mae, Erin and Anne wore. Here's the family after the baptism.After church we had a cookout at the Parrish's house. Here's Jean & Fran and my Mom.

Here's Shane, my Dad, Libby, Sarah & Justin.
Eric manned the grill-there were even some Yak burgers in the mix and some elk :0) It's always so amazing for me to look around and see all the people that love on us and our kiddos. To know that these people are a part of our lives and theirs makes me realize how blessed we are.Parting shot with the proud grandparents-It was great fun to have everyone in town!
We'll that catches me up to mid-August. Just the CA trip, TN/GA trip, every day life and Halloween to make up now ;0) Check out David & Red's blog (link on the right) for some fun pics of our time at their place.