A day at the park

There is a new park in Fresno. . . and it is so AWESOME!!! It is right across the street from our nephew, Cooper's school. It is complete with water activities, big kid and little kid play areas, a dog park, skate park, and a really large grassy area. It is so nice! A few weeks after it opened, Ethan and I met Jon's mom, Carolyn, and our nephews, Cooper and Logan, for a morning play date. It was so much fun watching the three boys interact. Ethan absolutely loved going down the tunnel slide with his cousins. Cooper probably got tired of going down with him, but there were lots of smiles. Once Ethan got to the area that was just for him (and about 10 other little kids just his size), I wasn't sure if I would ever get him to leave. He loved the musical bars, driving the pretend steering wheel, and going down the little slide. Ethan also loves to climb onto park benches. I tried to get Cooper and Logan to join him for a group shot, but I Ethan decided he was ready to move on to something new . . . a common occurrence in potential cousin pictures. Ethan has so much fun with his cousins and really tries hard to do everything they are doing. . . even if he's too small. We look forward to more trips to this super fun park in the near future.

Snow Day

Jon celebrated his 3oth birthday this month. As with every year, he gave me his wish list which was filled with a couple of "material" possessions of desire and some items that would bring memories. The one, the thought would be so much fun was a trip to the snow before it melted. The problem was it just kept on raining. . . and raining. Finally, when the rain seemed to subside, it rained again. I was really not getting my hopes up about getting Jon up there, because I am absolutely terrified of driving in the snow! But thankfully our friends Josh and Steph thought it would be fun and wanted to go, too! So, despite it raining the day before, we packed warm clothes, borrowed snow clothes from Jon's brother's family, and packed some lunch for a day in the snow.

We had so much fun! We drove to a snow play area just above Shaver Lake. We were glad we got there early, because by the time we packed up to go, it was crowded! We loved how California spells snow - SNO. Kind of funny. Josh and Steph borrowed a sled and snowball maker from the Hoopers, which made our day so very Awesome!

Ethan was bundled up so nice and warm, wearing socks on his hands to keep toasty (by the end of the day, he was wearing Jon's socks!). He had fun playing in the snow, going on the sled (one time, he even snuck onto Jon's lap so he could go for a ride too!), building a snow man, and eating the snow (wasn't all that into the PBJ, when there was some yummy snow to fill the tummy!). Jon even stuck him into a snow drift to keep him from wandering off. . . it was so funny!

Jon's favorite part was going down the hills over and over again. Between him and Josh, they made some pretty awesome paths. I think a few times, I watched him catch some air and go down head first!

The day ended up being the most perfect day to go. On the drive home, it started snowing really large snow flurries and it felt like we were in a very large snow globe! It was so amazingly beautiful!!!!!!

Happy 1/2 Birthday

Last Saturday, we celebrated Ethan's 1/2 birthday. . . he made it successfully to 18 months. Our active and happy (most of the time) little boy has miraculously survived bumps, bruises, bangs, several colds (most of which happened in the past 4 months!), and road trips. We are very proud of our little boy and look forward to more milestones with him!

Our day was a very quiet day at home, since Jon helped his brother put laminate flooring in their home. So, Ethan and I played outside (until he realized the plant he was carrying around rolled nicely!), played inside, watched a movie, and had some lemon cream cheese cupcakes to celebrate (recipe at outoftherightbrain.blogspot.com. . . my other blog). When Jon got home, he helped give our little guy a bath, some piggy back rides (in return for kisses, of course!). He had a fantastic day!

Double Birthday

Happy Birthday to our Pirate Nephews Cooper (6) and Logan (3)!

The party was a couple of weeks ago, but I still wanted to get this up. The weather was great pre-spring and sunny. . . the perfect day for a party. Ethan and I were so excited to join the celebration and Jon came a little later (he had to save the Valley of bad air first). Cooper and Logan had so much fun eating ice cream and playing with their cousins. I think Cooper's favorite gifts were his Nerf Bow and Arrows (which his dad (Jeff) and Jon enjoying trying out later) and Logan enjoyed the balloons . . . until they flew off into the air (ooops!). Kelley did a great job with the pirate theme. . . someday we will get Ethan to wear his hat (we tried to get him in a picture with C & L, but we had no luck. . . he's fast!). Thanks for inviting us Jeff, Kelley, Cooper, and Logan! We had fun!