Yee-haw!!

 
 
 

Claire & Maddie brought the boys cowboy hats from the great state of Oklahoma when they came to visit. They now have to wear them when they ride Chocolate, the bouncing horse. Daniel scrambles up there & shouts "Yee-haw", while William calmly says, "I'm Cowboy William" as he mounts up.

Claire & Maddie!!!

Claire & Maddie

Claire & Maddie came to visit!! Phil & Katie's parents live in Chicago, which is on the other side of us, so they made a pit-stop to see us on their way to visit their families. I'd been tellng William that Claire was coming, but he hadn't really understood what I was telling him. If only I'd captured his little face when he saw her in our driveway!! It was like Christmas morning as he said with wonder, "CLAIRE's here!" The four kiddos had a blast playing in the basement & on our new backyard swingset. Of course, I didn't manage to get one single picture of all four of them. It was so nice to see all of them. Everyone stayed up WAY too late catching up & we were so sad to see them go.

Daniel's birthday present

Park in our backyard

Here is a pic of the boys catching their first glimpse of their new backyard swingset. You can tell from William's face in some of the other pics exactly how excited they were. We had the hardest time getting him to stay in his bed at night when it was being assembled on our driveway! He wanted to watch the daddies put it up. Scott & Paul, our neighbor, took 2 evenings to get it assembled, even with help from Brian, another neighbor. Paul's wife, Mikki, and I spent 2 hours one morning labeling all the parts to make it easier for the guys & it STILL took 8 assembly hours. Our boys & the neighborhood kids have been having a blast playing on it. Lots more pics to come! **click the pic for more**

Backyard fun

 
 
 
We had our friends, Calvin & Alayna, over today for some backyard fun in the fishie sprinkler. Here are the kiddos sitting on the steps having pretzel sticks for a snack. Obviously, getting four wild little monkies to sit still & all look in one place for a picture is a major feat!

St. Louis Zoo

July zoo trip

We decided to pack everyone up & visit the zoo in St. Louis. The boys & Mommy had been there in the spring for a school field trip, but this was Daddy's first trip. We got there in the early morning (okay, it was 9 AM, but it seemed really early to get 4 people out of the house & drive 30 min!), so the animals were out in full force. Later in the day, it's a crap-shoot because if it gets too hot, they all hide in their caves & houses. St. Louis is a zoo where the animals get to run in areas resembling their natural habitats instead of in cages, like the older-style zoos. It's a BEAUTIFUL zoo with lots to see. There is a train that takes you from one area to the next & a carousel. We had to ride both, of course. William even got to meet one of the zoo caretakers when he scrambled over the fence at the giraffe enclosure. I was giving him a dressing-down & putting him in timeout when the caretaker overheard me & asked, "Who climbed over the gate?" William looked scared to death as the man told him that climbing over the gates was not allowed & if he did it again, they would make him leave. When his lip started to tremble, the gruff-looking bearded man said, "And, we don't allow crying in the zoo, either!" and walked away. William was getting no sympathy there!! Needless to say, we had no more problems with fence-scaling! **Click the picture to see more**

H2O, anyone?

 
 
So, with all the hooplah about plastics right now, we invested in aluminum water bottles for the boys. They are from a Swiss company & there are several options for designs. The boys each picked theirs off the website & then waited anxiously each day for them to arrive. William is already a pro at opening his & heaven help you if you try to assist!!! Daniel thinks he's a pro & then gets angry when no water comes out. Either way, they're drinking more water than we ever thought possible!

The Fish Sprinkler

fish sprinkler

This is a pic of the boys having lunch after a long morning playing in their "fish sprinkler", as they call it. It hooks up to the hose & shoots water into the air. It has a little pool at the bottom that collects about an inch of water, so they can also splash & slide into it. We've been using this a whole lot this week since we're stuck in the house while our basement is being worked on. Here is a quick video of them going down the slide into it: