Como Zoo Craziness

I decided it would be a great adventure to see some animals at Como Park Zoo on Monday... we are always reading books about animals and identifying them and talking about what sounds they make.. why not see them in person?!

Unfortunately, I didn't look at the forecast when I made this decision, so I was a little shocked when it turned out to be one of the hottest days on record!

We got to the zoo and I was drenched in sweat before it even opened. Maneuvering the double stroller through bus loads of field trippers and hoards of irritated caregivers was not what I had hoped for from our outting..

But the boys did get to get up close and personal with a few animals.

They saw a giraffe right up close. They both just stared in amazement.

 The snow lepoard was also right up against the glass. Poor guy, he was probably thinking, "what in the world is an animal with the word 'snow' doing in this heat?!"

 We also got a pretty close look at the lions. The female was inside and while we were up at the glass, she came and put her paws right next to Kyler and looked at him. It was creepy!

 Of course, they were even more excited about the bike rack as we were leaving. We did manage to have a picnic (if you count eating a peanut butter sandwich and potato chips while walking around a bike rack as a picnic)..

Of course, when we got home, the water table was still the activity of choice. I did get a sprinkler yesterday so hopefully that will become more of a hit with them :-)

Kyler's like, "don't worry dude, I wouldn't do anything to you that I wouldn't do to myself... see watch, I love water!"

da boyz

Bubbs (once again) playing with water.

 Tyson (it doesn't get any cuter than this kid! - he's SO sweet!):

 Ashton ~ our new buddy (that I watch part time). He was playing with the water, too, but after over an hour, he was SOAKED and needed to catch some rays to dry off:

While preparing lunch, I saw Tyson walk by me in my shoes so I grabbed the camera. These boys are too funny!



catchin' up on life's happenings

Yesterday we went to a beautiful park in St Cloud to meet grandpa Tom & grandpa Kt for dinner. It was a beautiful night and we're so glad we got to say goodbye before they left for Cape Breton, NS Canada. Have a safe drive! We'll MISS YOU!! See you in August!

 Whoa - almost a clear shot of the Bubbs smiling! It's sort of rare these days.

The sand table has transformed into a water table after all the sand has been dumped into the grass.

 It's very popular and I'm sure as it gets hotter and hotter, it will be even more fun :-)

Chris and I left Kyler w/ Auntie Em on Sunday night and got away for a little romantic camping excursion. I mean, nothing says romance like hot dogs, beer, more hot dogs, bratwurst & bean soup, right?!

Kyler also has a new friend that comes to play with him & Tyson a couple days a week. They are pretty amusing to watch, that's for sure!!

color love

The Bubbs has a new favorite hobby!

He L-O-V-E-S using his crayons and coloring on the big paper pads that Grahamm gave us.

Of course I can tell that he has started to see the walls as large blank canvases. I'm sure one of these days if my back is turned for too long & a stray crayon finds it's way into his little hands.. well, it's a good thing I have a Mr. Clean magic eraser!

BB

best buds!

These kids have too much fun :-) They are hilarious...

Congrats Wendy & Larry Cannon!

We had a great Mother's Day weekend! Thanks to everyone for their well wishes of motherhood. It really is my favorite holiday!

We headed to Sebeka for Wendy London's nuptiuals to Mr. Larry Cannon. She looked beautiful & seemed elated with happiness! It was a beautiful day and a great time!

Kyler was somewhat overstimulated with all of the action. There were quite a few kids there, lots of food, music & dancing, and so much open space he wasn't sure where to explore first!

 He got real excited about going pant-less.. the afternoon got pretty warm and he wanted to show off his milky white legs :-)

 My boys looked so handsome in their fedoras!! We tried to get a family photo, but my unphotogenic nature reared its ugly head.

Congrats to Wendy & Larry!

And Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mom's in our lives!! We LOVE YOU!

New buddy

Kyler loves havin his new buddy, Tyson!

Tyson is two months older, so he has been teaching Kai a lot of new things. How to climb on top of the toybox to look out the window, Saying "uh-oh," "puppy" & even what a puppy says ("roof, roof"). They're pretty hilarious, really!

I am so lucky that they play so well together. They share with each other and don't get jealous. They have a lot of fun together.

Tyson likes to say "cheese" when you get the camera out! And Kyler has a mysterious fear of this tree?! If a ball gets thrown near it he has a hard time going to retrieve it. Too funny :-)

we're ready for May flowers!!

Kyler is really movin around now! He loves going outside and throwing rocks.. and he is sure to point out any birds or airplanes he hears.

Auntie Allie filled up Kai's easter basket with sports eggs filled with candy and money! He is very into saving for his future.. most likely so he can travel the world.

Baseball, Cookie & Bird

Kyler has been recognizing that every item has a word associated with it.. and he's trying to say those words. Although, the only word anyone - unless you're around him enough - can understand is "ball." But he's been trying to say "baseball" lately.

And I have to admit, I play into it just as much as Chris.. the boy just loves his sports :-)

He's also using sign language on some words. His go-to's are: more, cookie and bird.

I LOVE the signing times dvd's so I try and catch them when they're in stock at the library. You can see his hands itching to get signing! He sometimes makes up his own signs as I just see him moving his hands in weird motions. ;-)

And just a funny story.. I got another dvd at the library called, "babies being babies." It was made in the 90's so it has really cheesy music but it just shows a bunch of babies playing and laughing and doing silly things. Kyler was smiling and dancing the entire time. He kept looking at me as if to say, "are you seeing this?! It's great - quality stuff!!"

Grandmas Galore

Mr. Bubbs sure does love his grandmas!! He got to see Grandma Kt (and Grandpa Tom, too) when they stayed at our house March 12th..

Then he got to see Grandma Shelly when she stayed not even a week later!

What a lucky dude to have so many people who love him :-)

Trying to post a video of him walking, too!! For some reason I don't have my camera around as often (probably because Kai thinks he needs to mess with it if I do)..

The video below was from the beginning of March:

Although these are dark, it shows how obsessed he is with Siddy Kitty lately. Too funny ~ they are best buds :-)

Hopefully this will be changing soon as I am taking on a little guy named Tyson to watch full time in our house. He's 20 months and I'm hoping Kyler will love having a human best bud rather than a feline :-)

One last video.. and a special thanks to Cally for getting this adorable frog that sings!! It has really helped Kyler learn his love for gettin groovy.

Countdown to Twins Opener!

This is a funny pic that Chris took last week..