Jackie-Jack's Birthday

Jack's birthday was a couple weeks ago. I was pretty sad that the pictures of the day didn't really turn out that great. It looks like I had my camera on the "blurry" setting, um, or something like that. Regardless, it was a wonderful, fun-filled day spent celebrating the two precious years we've had with this amazing little life.

The day began with the traditional "fairy present" hunt...

and continued after breakfast with more presents, from Grandma Lyon and Great-Grandma Frickel...

then after a trip to the neighbor's house to borrow a pump, we spent the rest of the morning at the pool...

with a snack break, of course.

Then, inside for naps. Waking up to a celebratory dinner, with Daddy home, then more presents and cake. (sorry, no pictures unfortunately)

And, possibly the highlight of the day, watching Jack and Ethan try out Jack's present from us and Grandma and Grandpa.

Happy Birthday, sweet Jack!

The Zoo

Today we took advantage of this refreshingly cool July day with a trip to the zoo. Usually, July and zoo don't really go together in my opinion. There is just something about 90 degree heat, smelly animals, and hot, cranky kids that don't sound appealing to me. So when I heard that this would be a cool, overcast week, I knew a trip to the zoo was in order.

Don't worry, though. We didn't let the chilly day keep us away from the ice cream stand.

In the Water

The summer heat has finally hit. We knew the daily afternoon thunderstorms, which would sweep in and cool everything off, were too good to last. Yes, while most people look forward to seeing the sun, Todd and I love the brief spurts of rainy weather, and soak them up while we can. But with the heat comes an excuse to get out of our warm, exceedingly sticky (swamp cooler cooled) house, and venture out to see what we can find to do around town. The name of the game? Fun and Free!

Here is one example: a great waterfall/wading pool to cool kids off.