Fourth of July

Here we are last 4th of July with our cousin Calvin in Arkansas; Do you know which one is Luke and which one is Liam?
Mom and Dad got us some Crocs to play outside and we love them!

Liam petting the horse

Luke and the goat

Checking out the goat

Breakfast with Daddy

We had a nice 4th of July weekend and enjoyed some extra time to do fun things with John being off work for a longer weekend. We too the boys to the Minnesota Zoo on one day and they enjoyed it for the most part. They are still a little too young to know what is going on and they had a hard time seeing most of the animals, but they did enjoy the "Farm" area where you could actually pet the animals. Liam, especially, loved petting the goats, horses, and bunnies. They are both very interested in animals, particularly dogs, and they point to them everytime we see a dog. We also went to a local park with a swimming lake and sandy beach area. The boys love to play in the sand.

We will be 18 months old on the 11th which is hard to believe. John and I continue to be amazed at how quickly the boys change. We looked at a few pictures from last year around the 4th of July and we were not even sitting up on our own! Now, we can climb furniture, go down the slide at the park, and run in opposite directions.

Enjoy!

John and Me PLUS THREE

Sitting in a big boy chair
Playing by the pool on a hot day

For those who have not already heard our news, John and I are pregnant with baby #3. The next question that people always ask is, do we know for sure that we are "only" having one baby? As far as I know, we are only having one baby. Ironically, the baby is due on January 9th, 2010 and the boys turn two years old on January 11th, 2010 so this will be a busy month for us. I am nearly 13 weeks and have been feeling fairly good, although a lot more tired and queasy about foods than I was with the boys. I am sure the tired part has to do a lot with chasing the boys around all day considering I was also tired at the end of the day before pregnancy! We are very excited, surprised, and thankful to have the opportunity to be parents to a third child.

The boys have had a fun week and we are looking forward to having John home on Friday for the 4th of July holiday. We did some swimming outside last week when it was unusually hot in Minnesota and this week we had a few play dates and other activities to keep us busy. I am posting a few pictures from our fun.

Happy 4th of July!

North Shore of Lake Superior

Happy Father's Day John!!! John and Luke standing on the rocks near Lake Superior
Mommy and Liam on the rocks

Luke IN the water at the aquarium (with his only pair of tennis shoes on)!!!

Split Rock Lighthouse

Picnic Lunch

Smores with Daddy and Luke, not sure who liked them more

The four of us

Checking out the waterfall

Playing with bouncy balls on the tile floor...entertainment for nearly an hour!

What a great trip!

We had a wonderful time on vacation and we are trying to get back into our weekly routine. We managed to produce around seven loads or so of laundry so John and I spent quite a long time folding and putting away clothes yesterday. The boys did wonderfully during the trip and napped, slept, played, and ate very well. They had great time. The area was gorgeous along the North Shore of Lake Superior with rocky shore line and lots of beautiful rocky cliffs. We visited a waterfall and a light house at two state parks. On one cloudy and cool day, we took the boys into Duluth to visit an aquarium and they seemed to enjoy that, particularly the "hands on" water display with little boats. The weather was cool and nice the entire week and rarely made it out of the 70's. We roasted smores several nights at the campfire where we stayed and I even got a latte or two on several mornings from the local restaurant and coffee shop. We spent many days biking and running on the beautiful trails. The primary trail is called the Gitchi Gammi and it runs several miles along Lake Superior. It was a wonderful trip and one that we will remember for many years to come! I am posting several pictures from the trip.

Vacation Here we Come!!!

Too cool for a pacifier (or maybe not)

Simply too cool

Liam loving on Mommy

We are very excited about our upcoming vacation to the Two Harbors area of Minnesota just north of the Twin Cities. It is supposed to be a beautiful area along Lake Superior with lots of hiking, biking, and outdoor things to do. This will be our first vacation with the boys (outside of those trips to visit family or vacations with extended family). We have rented a cottage on the lake with plenty of room for the boys to run around.

We had a busy week with play dates, trips to the fitness center, runs in the jogging stroller, and a trip to the zoo. The weather is getting warmer and it is feeling more like summer outside. Summer days are very long in Minnesota with daylight from around 5 am until 9 pm. I am posting a couple of pictures from the week. Enjoy!

Practice Makes Perfect

Luke learning to use a spoon and eat his yogurt
Liam practicing

Breakfast with the boys

We are starting to practice feeding ourselves a little bit more and we are trying to learn how to use a spoon. This can be a little on the messy side, needless to say, and we often end up with applesause in the hair, sweet potatoes in the nose, and yogurt everywhere. We only miss our mouths once or twice or maybe a little more than that. We do get very excited, however, about using a spoon and it also helps with our interest level in eating.

Although I keep forgetting to mention this, Liam is a full-time walker now. He is definitely walking more than crawling. It took him awhile and he still loves the push toys, but he is getting around and moves at a little faster pace than Luke. I really am chasing them as they walk in opposite directions now. It is often a matter of prioritizing which one looks like he may get into trouble faster than the other one and then going for that one!

Both of the boys learned how to say "uh-oh" this week and are using it frequently when they drop things on the floor. It is pretty funny to hear and they always laugh at themselves.

Our Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers

Oh Mom, check out the animals.....

We really liked the flamingos and ducks

At the Twins Game on Memorial Day

Liam pushing the stroller

At the sculpture garden

We had a great Memorial Day holiday with Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers. Daddy was also off for a few days so we enjoyed some extra time to play. We spent lots of time outside as the weather was beautiful and warm. We also went to the Como Zoo to see the animals and ride the carousel. We also went to a sculpture garden downtown for Grandma. We got to see the infamous cherry and spoon exhibit. Although I had to look this up after we visited (since we were busy chasing the boys while we were there), the spoon weighs 5,800 lbs and the cherry weighs 1,200 lbs. The exhibit is actually called the Spoonbridge and cherry. We also went to our second Twins game on Monday. We saw the Twins play the Boston Red Sox. We actually did very well and made it to the 7th inning with a few trips out into the hallways to walk around. We also had some treats that helped pass the time. Grandpa also got several great pictures of our weekend so we will post more later. Enjoy!

Have a nice weekend!

Fun in the Sun

Luke in the water table
Liam walking with Mom

Liam (he actually kind of liked the hat)

Water, Water everywhere....

After some cool days and nights, we had a blast of really warm air this week. I am not sure the boys have ever been so hot! We spent several afternoons outside playing in the water table (a mother's day gift from the boys), blowing bubbles, and digging in the dirt and sand. We even managed to get at least one of the boys to wear a hat to protect from the sun for more than a minute or two. Liam is making more of an effort to walk now, although he still loves his push toys. He is starting to really take several consecutive steps and is very proud of himself.

Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers are coming to visit us for the Memorial Day weekend and we are looking forward to their visit.

Have a safe and happy weekend!