To the Zoo... again!

Ah, yes, the ZOO. A favorite pasttime of moms and kids everywhere. the best time to go is during the week. when most everyone is not able to be there, but if you are lucky, you can catch the animals at their finest.

cal, don't press that button!

And, since we have a membership and many days mommy is home all day with cal by herself, we took another brief excursion to the zoo... cal absolutely adores checking out the zoo and the bronze statues scattered throughout.

Cal and mommy went with daddy's cousin, alicia and her son Linkin...

The kids were wore down by the time we walked outta there.

Family Beach time

We decided to take advantage of the long summer evenings while they are still bright and we took a little family trip to the beach. Here are some pictures from our evening adventure...

A good time was had by all, and the car was very quiet on the way home!

homemade popsicles

Okay, so remember being a kid, and making your own popsicles in the freezer out of kool-aid or juice, or whatever you could get your hands on... Here is the new millenium version!

the neighbors brought us down some excellent homemade popsicles the other day... and BOY were they RED!!! but they were tasty too.

Then we rinsed off in our white trash backyard pool... I know I know, you are all SO jealous!

Soccer...

Calvin seems to be taking a liking to playing games and sports, which is good, since I am already looking forward to being a soccer mom... or football mom, or whatever becomes of it (hell, even a marching band mom!) So here he is taking care of business on the soccer field (aka our backyard!)

Oh, did I forget to mention that he was using a beach ball instead of a soccer ball, minor issue that we are working on! ha

Eating at the big boy table...

No, this post is not about Adam... as many of you know, he has been sitting at the big boy table for well over a couple months now... This time we are proud to announce that Cal has moved out of his high chair and is sitting at a booster seat at the big boy table!

Cal had not been eating real well in the high chair and fighting being put in it as well, so we decided to explore this option, and what do you know, it actually worked! YAY. So here he is, He loves sitting so close to mom and dad while he eats now.

Weddings

Another wedding was celebrated this weekend with my cousin Brett finally marrying his girlfriend Kendra. Here are some pics from the night.
Heather and Zac


Grandma and Grandpa Smith



The Smith clan, yes, my mom can never keep her eyes open


Cal wanted to snap some shots with the table camera




Brett and Kendra

Weddings

Another wedding was celebrated this weekend with my cousin Brett finally marrying his girlfriend Kendra. Here are some pics from the day.

Zac turns 2

It really seems like only yesterday when our little nephews were born. But I guess it has been 2 years... Recently we got to celebrate one of their birthdays with a party. Quentin turned 2 on August 4 and Zac turned 2 on August 12. We were not invited to Quentin's party but we celebrated with Zac on Aug 11.

First of all, I have to say, What a party!! It was so great, my sister got the fire truck to actually come out to the house (and no, she did not start a fire) and there were treat bags for all the kids (there were a ton of kids) and lots of good food AND Heather actually made the cakes! WOW

Cal had a good time catching up with everyone

Cal was dwarfed by the giant engine

Papa showed cal the fire truck

zac got to "drive"

All in all, it was a good time and I am glad that we were able to celebrate with our family...

POWDER!!!

Adam came up the stairs the other night to find this nice little surprise waiting for him...

half a bottle of baby powder scattered at the landing at the top of the stairs... Thanks Cal! Now our vacuum smells baby fresh, as well as most of the house!

Thank heavens for little boys... Where else would we get such excitement, suspense, mystery, comedy... etc.

...writing on the wall

cal has discovered a new pasttime

the other day I was so very proud of myself. I was able to accurately measure, drill the holes and hang new decorative rods and drapery in his room. so of course I wanted to document the moment and I ran downstairs to grab the camera...

However, by the time I came back upstairs to snap a shot of my own job well done, cal had done his own number on the same wall.

He used the pencil that I had been using to mark where the rods should hang to draw a beautiful portrait on the wall.

does anyone know how to get pencil off a semi-newly painted wall?!?! :)

To the Beach!

We had the opportunity to travel to East Harbor beach with friends on Wednesday and we had a total blast! Andrea and her son Grayson, went with us to the beach. They are very close neighbors to us now, and we feel blessed to have found such great friends so quickly after our move. Aaron (Andrea's husband, Grayson's daddy) and Adam stayed home and had a "fried food fest" as it will forever be referred to. We decided to first eat dinner at Arby's.

Calvin went with the chicken nugget option... again.

Then, when we first got to the beach, Cal, of course, played shy and didn't want to walk in the wet sand, nor did he want to walk in the water... and he most CERTAINLY did NOT want to play in the sand... but before we knew it, everybody was kicking up sand and having a grand old time.

We stayed for quite a while at the beach, but then before we went home, we decided to stop for some ice cream. good idea

Cal made a royal mess and kept us all laughing with his cone (which WAS a kiddy size, even though it looks absolutely huge!)

Cal also felt that he should eat the cone before the ice cream was gone... in case some of you don't know, this is not a very good idea! not to mention the fact that it was still wrapped in paper...

The whole way home, while Andrea and I chatted and laughed in the front seat, Cal and Gray chatted and laughed in the back seat... they really are two little conversationalists!

The Mayle Cottage

Adam finally took a day off of work this summer and we had the opportunity to visit the Mayle's at their cottage in Port Clinton, right on the lake.

This cute little cottage has such a great history and I just don't feel I can do it justice, but briefly I will try to fill you in. The land was bought during the depression by Kirt's grandpa and he built one cottage on it, with the help of some non-carpenters that worked with him. Over the years, as his children grew up, they alternated who got to stay there during different weeks in the summer and eventually decided to build more cottages on that plot of land... one for each of the kids. Now the grandkids all have a certain cottage that they are entitled to for so many weeks each summer! Such a cute plan, and what a great way to keep the family together!

So we spent the day up there.

Cal did not like walking on the shelly beach, but he didn't like it when the sand would get stuck in his shoes either, so he just had to learn how to deal with it!

Nate and Nicholas spent some of the day in the water, and the rest of the day fishing.

Kaden is their newest addition and he is such a cutey little smiler!

Cal thought the fish were pretty funny.

All too soon, it was getting late and time to go home to ralphie... the other big baby in the family! But we had an awesome day.