Water Play

We have been very busy trying to play outside as much as possible. At times, the heat and humidity is too much for us, but for the most part the weather has been rather pleasant. We've explored some new parks in the area, but more than anything the boys love to play in the water. I love it because I can water the front lawn, read a magazine and the boys are entertained at the same time!


Nathan clearly enjoys this funky little sprinkler that I picked up at Target.


As usual, here the boys are trying to torture each other. No one was yelling at this point.


Nathan was too chicken to ever attempt the water slide. He had fun playing in the built-in sprinkler, but absolutely would not slide down the thing.


Ian tried to slide down a few times, but he preferred just hanging out in the water that pooled at the end of the slide. They can be such strange kids.


All done!

More Sesame Place Fun

We had a wonderful time at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. The fact that our entrance to the park was FREE made the whole experience less stressful. (Thank you Busch for supporting the troops!) Not spending over $200 to get into the park took off all the pressure to "do everything" that we likely would have felt otherwise. We can't wait to go back again next year before Ryan deploys.


Ryan and I did not wear swimsuits so we were not able to take the boys on some of the water slides, etc. The boys, however, did get to experience Ernie's Waterworks and they LOVED it!


The boys were so delighted to see Ernie and have the chance to give him a hug.


Ian absolutely loved the HUGE net climbing structure. Poor Ryan had to follow Ian through the whole thing doing his best to keep Ian safe...Ian only came out with a large rope burn on one side of his face. Not bad! Ryan had rope burns on his knees.


Nathan hung back with me while the bigger boys climbed the ropes. I don't blame him.


Look, I slipped into another photo! Such a rare thing to see proof of my presence at all these fun events.


We had to stop for a quick photo on our way out of the park. I loved these topiaries trimmed to the shapes of some famous Sesame Street characters.


Typical Ian, making silly faces instead of posing nicely for the camera person.


Who is this kid? I don't think he's related to us...we certainly don't look this good in photos!

For the Love of Elmo

Prior to leaving on our mini vacation, I made sure to show Nathan pictures of the rides and characters that he would see at Sesame Place. Sometimes Nathan is incredibly shy and unwilling to try new things so I wanted him to understand what was coming. While sitting on my lap looking through the Sesame Place website, Nathan said over and over again that he was going to give Elmo and Grover hugs. To my surprise, the second he saw Elmo he attempted to run to him to give him that hug. Of course, I explained that we had to wait for Ian and then wait in a short line. Nathan could barely contain himself. He took off running, right pass Abby Cadaby who was the first character that we were supposed to stop at for a picture, and headed directly for Elmo. Nathan never stopped hugging him. So cute.