Memorial Day 2014

Poor Alan. Every time he gets a day off of work, he never gets to just bum around the house and relax like he would like to because I always have big plans for what we should do. This time it was taking the kids to Little Amerricka and spending all day outside riding rides. It is not a very big park, but it was perfect for our age range.

Since it was a holiday, I was expecting big crowds. I gave the girls a refresher course in safety and we role played what they should do if they got lost. This always backfires on me because then they get so excited to run off and get lost so they can do what they practiced. In the picture they are holding out my business card that they carried around in their pockets.

Lucky for us, it was one of those perfect days. The chatty ride operators commented on how busy they were the last two days, but that things were fairly slow that day. We had free reign of the rides and virtually no waiting in lines. We went on every ride we could multiple times and the kids could roam whenever the fancy hit them.

Clark was content to just hang out in the stroller. He liked to watch everything that was happening and chew on water bottles and toys.

It wasn't all kiddie rides, and Alan and I went on the rides with them. Since there were no lines, the girls could ride them twice in a row, once with Mom and once with Dad while the other sat with Clark.

I think this is my favorite picture of the day.

Clark was allowed to go on one ride with us. They had a little train that went on a two mile loop around the park and the surrounding area. There was some sort of animal sanctuary that had ducks, geese, llamas, a horse, an emu, and even two zebras.

Of course, the one ride he got to go on lulled him to sleep.

He then proceeded to take an hour and a half nap. Such a good baby.

The carousel was a clear favorite.

As was the tilt-a-whirl.

Can you see the clouds in the distance?

We had a brief 20 minute down pour. The girls danced in the rain until it got too heavy. We hid under a cover until it passed. It was a nice break and it cooled us down a little.

The rain passed, and it was like it never happened. We hit up the bumper boats where Elsie loved squirting everyone and Alice hated being squirted.

We spent five hours (from open to close) at the park. It was hot, it was sweaty, and it was a blast.

The MUDstard run

It's Brat Fest time! This was the first year they featured a 1K kids fun run, including obstacles, mud, and "ketchup & mustard". We signed both of the girls up and they were pumped.

This is the only picture we have of Elsie running the course because she cruised through the 5 year old heat so fast! You can see her running with Alan to the finish line.

Alice, on the other hand, marches to her own drum. The 3 year old heat was last, and some of the excitement had worn off with all the waiting. She wandered through the course taking her time. I could only get her to run a few times.

She probably climbed through each tire twice,

Alan and Elsie came back to help Alice finish. Here Alice is getting sprayed with the "mustard".

Our two victors.

It was a lot for Clark to take in. If you noticed, we were all wearing BYU shirts. We didn't have a shirt Clark's size, so he is actually wearing a Penn State shirt. We figured they were all cougars anyway.

We got cleaned up and celebrated with brats, corn on the cob, and ice cream. The girls are eating ketchup and mustard (colored) cookie dough ice cream. It looks pretty gross, but they loved it.

Here comes trouble

Clark has gained full control over his walker, and is absolutely loving it. He knows exactly what will make his sisters (and us) squeal and heads straight for it every time. The girls are slowly learning to put their things up higher or to block his path with other big toys and boxes.

Six Months

This little bugger has been getting into all sorts of mischief. We pulled out the old walker, and he loves to cruise around in it. He is getting really good at getting where he wants to go, and he heads straight for the things that he knows will make his sisters squeal. While in his walker he can now pull all of the library books off of the shelf and pull and drag the drawer set by the play kitchen. He is starting to work out how to open drawers and causing all sorts of messes. He is almost getting onto his knees when on the floor. No forward movement yet, but he can twist and turn and get into things that way. He won't sit still long enough to try to sit on his own, so we're still working on that. Last time we weighed him he was 19.5 lbs, and he is still super tall. We sure love our little man!