Sunday, July 1, 2012

A trip to St. Louis...

Planning the trip with a little help from Kieran... Our Chicago transplant friends in St. Louis invited us to a reunion dinner party with some other Chicago friends who were in town visiting for the weekend. We decided to make a day of it and visit the Museum of Transportation and Magic House too.

The Transportation Museum was a bit of a bust yet again this trip as we still couldn't get into the children's Imagination Station exhibit- turns out it is only opened to the public weekday mornings, which isn't entirely clear on their web site. In any case, we decided to stay long enough to ride the little train around the grounds a couple times and then left for an early lunch.

He was pretty excited about riding the train. He told me he was going to tell his papa all about it when he got home ;)

The Magic House was a big hit- despite the crowds.

Unfortunately, Kieran's favorite exhibit from last year was temporarily out of order so we didn't stay in this nook too long.

Playing with the pneumatic tubes... love this expression.

Doing a little construction work... Safety first little guy!

Dad lends a hand :)

Our little workin' man!

The water area was a huge hit this year- we spent nearly an hour in this section as Kieran poured, floated and splashed around in the giant water table.



Love this expression- he had so much fun "squirting" his dad!

"Gottcha!"

"Fishing" in the little pool.

Kieran tried his hand at being a mechanic...

The work order,  "This part's gonna' take at least two weeks to get in lady..."

Working under the car...


Love this pose :)

Talking to Camden on the phone in the tree-house.

Tumbling down the three story slide...

"Blast off!"

Magic Kieran floating a ball on a stream of air!

The quintessential Magic House experience... Kieran wasn't so sure about this exhibit.

Kieran washing onto the shores of Plymouth Rock...

Feeding daddy some corn on the boat.

Playing dress up for the "first Thanksgiving"

More corn for daddy...

This kid loves corn.

Good-bye magic house- see you next year!

After the Magic House we drove to Irene and Greg's house for dinner. Here, Kieran shows off his musical talent on their Rock Band game... I think he was singing "Little Bunny Foo-Foo" ;)

Mom backs Kieran on the base- while drinking a delicious and freshly made watermelon and mint mojito ;)

Kieran tries his hand at drumming...

Rick actually really got into Rock Band. He drummed, played the guitar and sang- a lot! I love that he still surprises me after all these years ;)

Kieran gives Jeff some musical advice while Greg rocks out and Irene supervises.

Kieran was pretty impressed with Irene's Yoda collection :)

Kieran with an official Harry Potter wand.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Fun with Presley...

A wagon ride with Papa and Presley...

Soooo big!

Playing in the dirt box... only this Papa would make a giant dirt box for his grand-kids... what's wrong with good ol' sand?!

Oh, I know... sand will never get you this dirty...

Or this dirty ;)


These kids love their dirt!


The kids had a great time riding together on this slightly under-sized (at least for two;) 4-wheeler... at least we fit in with our neighbors now ;)


Clean up time... the tub was filthy and needed its own bath after this one :)

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Pool time with Presley

An evening at Little Mates Cove with cousin Presley!

The kids had a great time splashing around in the shallow waters of Pirates Landing at the Twin Lakes' Park during Little Swimmers' hour tonight!

Daddy got in on the action quite a bit too ;)


Kieran loves all the pouring waterfalls and splashing fountains!

Presley even braved a few slides!

Soooo cute in her new suit and pink sun glasses!

It was hard to get decent shots of the two of them together as they were always on the move!


I love when she walks with her hand on her hip ;)

Sliding together.

Splashing with daddy in the "water jail"!

Sitting still for a brief moment...

Kieran strikes a M.J. pose ;)

Driving Presley and Auntie Shannon to their car on the other side of the lot... love the expressions in this one!

The kids were famished and thirsty by the time we got to Fazolie's for "sgetti-o's"

Balancing the table numbers... funny kids ;)

"Mmmm! Breadsticks!"

Kieran loves his "sgetti'-o's"!

A prompted, messy kiss...

Love the post-kiss expressions ;)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A big-boy nap...

Knock on wood... Kieran put himself down for a nap today. I read with him and then told him he had to rest in his room, by himself, for an hour. I gave him two choices, read books quietly on his bed or lay down and close his eyes and sleep. After a bit of knocking at the door and playing games, he must have settled into the idea of resting or was just plain tired... in any case, this is how I found him after an hour had passed... so sweet! No if only we can get a repeat performance for bedtime tonight ;)

Happy belated Father's Day!

Father's day card made at KIM school... came complete with a gift card for a free ice cream from Central Dairy... mmmm!




The gift Kieran and I made Rick for father's day made from pages of the first comic Rick and Kieran ever shared... that's some super kid and Rick is our hero :)

Playtime!

We had Camden and Edith over a few days ago while their parents were at doctor appointments. The boys had a great time in the pool and sandbox...

Pouring, dumping and basically making a huge mess!

Soooo strong!

Team work :)

After an early dinner, Edith got in on the action...


I think this might be how she ended up completely soaking wet ;)


After the kids dried off and put on clean clothes, they all watched a little t.v. and zoned out for a bit before mom and dad came by to pick them up :)

Our sweetie at soccer practice this morning :)

After soccer today, Kieran hosted a play date with Reece, Livy, Aidan, Nate and Jack... lots of kids and lots of fun! (Especially after Kieran had some time to adjust to sharing his toys and space with so many children!)

Kieran gives Reece a "lesson" on a bat-rocket ;)