Indy Zoo

Last weekend we drove down with Todd and Cathy to meet Nate in Indy.  We had a great time (even though it was super hot).  We went to the zoo, went swimming, ate out at some yummy restaurants, and enjoyed each other's company.  Below are some pics from the zoo.  I elected not to take my camera because I didn't want to lug it all around the zoo, so they're just phone pictures.  The kids did AWESOME!!  This was our first experience without a stroller and they were great.  Wanted carried just a little, but walked most of the day.

Riding on the carousel.  Landon's first ride on an "up and down" animal.  It was a dolphin with 2 seats!

 

How cute is she??

 Our favorite animal exhibit at the zoo was the budgies (parakeets to normal folk :)).  There were hundreds of birds and we could feed them.  Several of them landed on our arms.  Even Landon, who normally doesn't care about animals much, LOVED feeding the birds.

This zoo also had a roller coaster which our kids LOVED.  They said it was their favorite part of the zoo.  We also saw a dolphin show (not great in my opinion) and watched Ice Age Dawn of the Dinos in 4D.  The kids love the "interaction" of a 4D movie, but Landon wasn't so excited about the dinosaurs.  He is really sensitive about things he sees on tv.
I realized after our trip was over that I actually didn't get any pictures of the grandparents or Uncle Nate, but they really were there! :)

Big Kids = Big Beds

We've known for quite awhile that Emerson (at 4 years old) was too big for her toddler bed.  But her room is sooo small, we delayed putting a bigger bed in because we knew her room would seem even smaller.  But the time had come to upgrade.  So we cleared out both kids' rooms, shampooed their carpets, and went shopping for new bed sheets.  Emerson chose Rapunzel sheets (it was between that and Barbie and I pushed her a little towards Rapunzel ;)) and Landon chose sports sheets.  We then moved Landon's twin size bed in Emerson's room and moved the spare full size bed into Landon's room.  His room is actually the one that looks a lot smaller, but he can still play cars on his bed.  Below are the before and after results.  Both kids are prettty happy with their new rooms!

Emerson loved her "princess canopy" but it really made her room look even smaller, so I convinced her to take it down to make room for her big girl bed!



Dog painting on Landon's wall which matched his baby crib sheets



New sports theme
We painted over the dog, paw prints, and fire hydrant to put up sports wall decals. 
Much more grown up!



Catch Up Post

Well, I am a bit behind! :)  So here's a catch up of what we've been up to the last month!  I'm sure this isn't everything (I know I still have a post about new beds and the zoo), but it's a start!

We found out right before Father's Day that my parents were in a car accident and mom cracked a vertebra in her back.  So she had surgery in Kentucky and is in a back brace.  She's such a strong woman and I know she's itching to get some work done around her house, but this must be God's way of saying, "Take it easy!"  Hopefully she only has to wear the brace a few more months.

The rest I hope I can say mostly with pictures:

The kids LOVED Bible School!  It was a western theme.  Yee haw!



We went to Friend Fest at Amish Acres and watched some great Christian music!



It was SUPER hot early afternoon.  But by the time we got in line for the swan, it started to cool down and Emmy still wanted to get wet!  So Daddy didn't disappoint.





This family of ducks was NOT afraid of anyone

 Then the next weekend, we had a girls/boys weekend.  The boys went camping at Chain O' Lakes in the canoe camp (the one we went to last year without running water!) and the girls had a sleepover at our house and went to Deep River Waterpark.  We had a great time with the moms and daughters and everyone did great.  It will be even more fun when the little ones get a bit bigger and sleep better! :)

Matt wanted to get a pergola for our back deck.  We don't use the deck near as much as we should because our tiny umbrella just doesn't give us enough shade, so he found this one and spent an afternoon putting it together.  It looks great and I hope we'll be able to enjoy it for years to come!



Swimming with the kids at Uncle Dave/Aunt Bets' pond



Saying Goodbye to Great Papa Stan

Christmas 2010 (Landon wasn't too happy to have his  picture taken!)

Same night a few minutes later (still one of my favorite pictures of the 2)

We have many wonderful memories of this great man.  Too many to capture them all here.  He will be sorely missed, but I'm sure he's having a high old time catching up with Great Grandma Betty!  He was the man who taught Matt to fish, who always asked and wanted to know what was going on in our lives, who ALWAYS had time for the great grandkids, who was a master gardener, and had plenty of smiles and laughs to share.  I am blessed to have known such a man as this.