Toads

There were 7 little toads caught in the egress window. It's about 4 deep, so they must have fallen in. Paul pulled them out and put them in a jar to show David. He was very interested. He released them and then ran around the yard trying to catch them in his jar again.

Tongue Tied Concentration

David painted the patio this afternoon. He was really concentrating on his work. He sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating. He painted the patio, his shoes, hands, feet and then finished off the afternoon by fingerpainting my shirt!

Cousins

Kelsey and Kaitlyn came over to play tonight. David was so excited. They jumped from one activity to another. Here they are playing with the trains. Ryan wanted to get in on the action too. He's able to pull himself up now.
After Ryan went to bed we got out the blanket for movie time. We watched Nemo and Mary Poppins. They all danced to chimney sweeps singing Step in Time - it will be running through my head all night!

Splash Day at the Ballpark

We went to Splash Day at the Spikes Ballpark this afternoon. It was 90 degrees and the water felt great. They had kiddie pools all over the place and the fire hose running as a sprinkler. We pulled our strollers up to the kiddie pools and David jumped out, took off his shoes and demanded that I help him get his shirt off. Then he took off for the water. Here he is with his friend Lauren. Ryan and Tara sat in the strollers and watched the action. They shared some blueberries.
We never made it to our seats. We stayed here at the picnic tables and ate lunch and enjoyed the shade.
David was so excited to see Curious George. He ran up to him and gave him a hug. Tonight he told me that Curious Geoge can't talk. :-)

Day at Delgrosso's

We spent a hot summer day at Delgrosso's Amusement Park. We met cousins Kelsey & Kaitlyn and friends Cody and Sarah at the park. Here we are having a snack in between trips to the waterpark. Ryan has just started to eat Goldfish. David loves Goldfish and usually doesn't share them with anyone. After some coaxing he agreed to share with Ryan.
Ryan is such a big boy! He was able to climb up the stairs in the water. He was so pleased with himself.
David rode all of the kiddie rides and then he pointed out this ride to go on. We checked it out and he was allowed to go on if I went with him. He had fun and said "up up up" as it went up and "down down down" each time we came down.
After the water and rides we stopped at the ice cream shop. Here is Kelsey explaining to David that the Black Raspberry is purple.

Slip n Slide

Our neighbors put out their slip n slide this morning. We ended up with chairs, tables, umbrellas, and lots of toys all over their yard by the afternoon. David and Riley ran through the water while we relaxed on the chairs. After they were done they sold us lemonade from the stand. They were both tired by 1:30 and ready to go in for naps.

Rewards

David loves riding these toys at the mall. This morning I needed to run some errands and had both boys with me. We were able to make three stops and they both stayed in good moods at each one. The reward for being so good was two rides at the mall (our final stop). The Arthur bus sings the theme song to the show. David knows all the words and will sing along if I'm not watching him. I walked away after I took these pictures and then I could hear him sings "Hey, What a wonderful kind of day!"

Seven Springs

We went to Seven Springs this past weekend to celebrate my parent's retirement. It was a nonstop activity filled weekend. Ryan and David were excellent. They both had fun. This is a picture of Ryan doing his favorite thing - eating! He loves to eat. David was so tired by Saturday night that he fell asleep at the dinner table. Poor little guy! He was sound asleep!

We had a fun time in the arcade. I found this highchair in the eating area right outside the arcade and brought it in for Ryan. He was much happier sitting and watching all the action from his own chair. I thought he looked pretty funny sitting in it.
David went horseback riding on Saturday afternoon instead of napping. He refused to nap. I think he was tired though because he kept telling me that he was riding a cow and that he went "moo".

David woke up before everyone at the condo, and then Kelsey would come down to see what was going on. They started their day with Krimpets.
David and Kelsey (and me and Shelby) all jumped on the EuroBungee jumper! It was so much fun. I was so surprised that David wanted to do it. He LOVED it! He did it 4 times during the weekend. In this picture you can see David and Kelsey.
Here's David jumping!

We took turns taking David down the Alpine Slide. He loved riding the chairlift to the top of the mountain and then zooming down the slide. He said Daddy was the fastest! This was David's first try at bowling. He had a great time. We weren't surprised. Anything that involves throwing a ball is fun for him. He wanted to lift the ball himself - it weighed 6 lbs.
Kelsey, David and Kaitlyn kept score.
Saturday night the kids went to a campfire and roasted marshmallows.
David and Kelsey took turns "performing" songs and dances for us on the fireplace mantle. They would stand and watch each other from the floor. Kelsey played the harmonica and David sang his ABCs.

Seven Springs

David and Kelsey ran around the arcade and looked for games with guns or steering wheels. We didn't put any money in the games, they just liked watching the screen and pretending. David was not too happy to get into the pool, but he loved running through these fountains beside the pool.
The picture tells you everything you need to know about how David felt about getting in the pool this weekend. He wanted nothing to do with it!
Ryan on the other hand was a water baby. He loved splashing himself and giggled the whole time. He didn't mind getting wet at all.
We relaxed at the condo after our long adventurous days. David and Kelsey had a blast together.

What Hole? Where?

We met with the pediatric cardiologist this morning to have the VSD (ventricular septal defect - small hole in David's heart) checked out. His last visit was one year ago and they could barely hear the murmur from it, so they felt that it was closing. This year the doctor could not hear anything during the exam, so we headed off for an echo. David was so good for the echo. He was initially afraid of the table, but the technician was very calming and the promise of pancakes after the exam got him to lay down on the table. The technician was very thorough and spent about 40 minutes performing the echo. David was very still - singing his ABC's and 123's. The technician could not find the hole during the echo.
The doctor came in and checked it out and felt that the hole has closed up on its own! Yay! We will need to take David back for a follow up exam in 3 years to make sure everything is okay. The doctor said David has a strong healthy heart! (On a side note, we laughed that David weighed 27 pounds and was 39 1/2 inches tall according to the nurse - This kid is a string bean! Look at those skinny legs!)

Park Pals

We've been meeting up with other Happy Valley Moms at different parks every Wednesday mornings this summer. This week we met at a park by our house. There were 12 moms at the park this morning and too many kids to count. Ryan sat on the grass with his friends Galen and Reece. David and the "older" kids had fun hiding out in the wooded area of the park. They all go in together and talk in whispers to each other. This morning they were trying to decide what kind of animals lived in the holes in the ground. In this picture they're standing around a big hole. We told them to listen and then we made elephant noises - they all screamed and giggled. It was cute.