A trip to ZooAtlanta

Yesterday morning we packed a picnic, loaded up, and made our way downtown to the zoo. Our neighborhood friend, Lauren, went with us and was such a great help. She adores Ethan and Caden and they adore her! It was hot, but we had a blast and even made it home in time for much needed naps!

Ethan loved the elephants

Lauren was Caden's right hand all day :-)

The highlight of Ethan's day was seeing the giraffes and zebras!

Caden was such a trooper in the stroller and of course Ethan wanted to walk the whole day but the jogger definitely came in handy getting to and from the car.

Mommy's favorite part of the day!

 The pandas were so sweet and love to climb, roll around, and play.

We had to take a ride on the carousel on our way to the train.

Our final event of the day. What would a trip to the zoo be without a train ride! There's Ethan's cheese face and poor Caden with his thumb in his mouth and a black eye from taking out the corner of our bed while he and Ethan were playing the day before. 

Thanks Mimi for the birthday present! 

We love our Zoo passes!

Mid-Week Review

At the end of the week, we had playdate with cousin Samuel who was visiting from Tennessee. We were supposed to have had a picnic and go to the spray park and swimming, but it was a little cool so we had a blast on the playground and then ventured over to the tennis court and sand volleyball court to throw the ball and play in the sand. Caden loved crawling across the tennis court.

 

 A couple of days later, we ventured back to Lake Lanier Islands and played at the beach. Not too sure why this was the only picture that I took :-(

And after church on Father's Day, Ben took Ethan to see the Gwinnett Braves play. They had a blast and Ben said that he believes that was the perfect way to spend his Father's Day. Hopefully next year Caden will be able to join them!

Look at little man with his sunglasses looking like such a big boy!

Then this morning we took some friends to the airport for a picnic, to play, and watch the planes take off. We are getting very excited because Ethan will have his 3rd birthday party here in just 3 short weeks!

Caden's One Year Photo Shoot

I can't believe that I haven't posted these yet, but last month we had a family photo shoot to celebrate Caden's first birthday and these were a few of our favorites!

 He was not digging the hat!

Then Ethan had his pictures taken...

And I had to include a few of the outtakes :-) Ethan was being such a ham!

And then a couple of family pictures...

This Week's Happenings

I love this little guy to pieces! Daddy keeps saying that it is time for his first haircut, but Mommy is having a hard time agreeing to it. I think his bedhead is adorable!

 This one reminds me of Doc in Back to the Future. Crazy hair!

We are in the full throes of potty-training again...Take #3. This time is going MUCH better than previously and Ethan spent the majority of his week in a t-shirt and underwear. We have exhausted every play area in the house, including creating a baseball field in the basement. (If someone can tell me how to make him tell me when he has to go instead of having to put him on the potty every 30 minutes or so, I would greatly appreciate it.) This weekend, we ventured out several times and were accident free!!

A visit to Lake Lanier Islands was in order to celebrate our potty-training success and after a few minutes, Ethan warmed up and was splashing all over the place. Daddy and our little friend, Lauren, were his fan club while Mommy and Caden splashed near the edge.

Daddy enjoyed reliving his childhood memories. Growing up, Ben spent every summer here and we look forward to many more fun visits with family and friends!

We were also very excited to get to play with Samuel this weekend! Ben's niece, Jenny, and her family are down right now so we were able to spend some time with them on Saturday. We are looking forward to another playdate this week before they return to Tennessee. Caden just turned one, Sam is almost two, and Ethan is almost three. They are a trip to keep up with!

A Weekend with our Birth Buddies

 We were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited that Texas came a calling last weekend! As Jason and Lindy began their support raising tour through the South, their first stop was with us and we were jumping for joy to be able to spend a weekend with them! With so much car time for Keller and Cannon, we wanted a very low key weekend so we loaded up the stroller and had a picnic at the park (Chick-Fil-A, of course...just like old times).

After eating lunch, Caden and Cannon took a ride around the park.

Keller and Ethan had a difficult time focusing on eating because they were too busy playing, but it was so worth it!

A little bit of digging in the dirt was in the plan, too.

My favorite pic of the day! Ethan and Keller are running ahead having a blast while the babies stroll happily and the adults get to catch up. A perfect moment!

Ethan and Keller were very interested in the pool on the other side of the fence.

And what's a trip to the park without some bubbles!

Another favorite! Lindy is showing Ethan and Keller the turtles swimming in the pond.

What a wonderful time we had with our birth buddies and we CANNOT wait until August when we get to see them again! We love you JLKC!

Planes!

Ethan's favorite thing to do is go to the airport to watch the planes and we are blessed to have 2 small airports that we visit quite frequently. A couple of weeks ago, in the midst of double ear infections for both boys, Mommy loaded up the car and we had a picnic lunch while we hung out in the back and watched the planes take off.

 

 It was hard to get a good picture, but they were giving rides in a WWII mail plane and the boys were fascinated watching it take off and land.

After antibiotics kicked in, a couple of days later we headed to our other airport to play on the playground and watch the planes take off before going to our Memorial Day cookout with friends.

Daddy and Caden swinging

What a fabulous idea to have a playground at the airport for kids! We absolutely LOVE coming here. Not only do they have a playground, but you can hear the controllers directing the planes through speakers, you can sit in the stadium seating set up at the corner of the runway, hang out at the picnic tables or even under the covered pavilion! Can you say...birthday party :-)

AND there is a restaurant at the end of the runway that has a biplane that will take off and land right next to the outdoor seating area and give rides to tourists. This is Ethan's Heaven on Earth.