Happy 4th Birthday, Caleb!

Our little redhead is 4 years old! He is our social butterfly who loves Spiderman, zombies, Frozen, Miranda Lambert, and playing "egg and bad guy" with me.  He makes friends wherever he goes, and he is tons of fun.

We had a party for him at Grant's Farm.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a cold, drizzly day.  But the rain stopped long enough for us to have plenty of fun.  We first took the tram ride through the grounds and saw some animals.  Then we headed to our gazebo where we got tickets for the carousel and goat feeding and food to feed the camels:

Feeding the very hungry goats! They drink milk from bottles:

 We also got to hold and feed parakeets!

 Cousin fun!

 The cake was beautiful!

Carolyn and I went to Caleb's preschool and brought a snack (Pirate's Booty!) to share with the class. I read the book "10 Apples Up on Top," because they had just done a unit on apples.

More cupcakes at home! This time they were decorated with zombies coming out of them!

Cool playground!

We stumbled upon this cool playground near Gogo's house.  It is a playground designed for kids with different abilities "where limitations are forgotten and differences are celebrated" (according to the sign).  Plus, it is close to a cool duck pond and bridge.  Caleb went right up to a man who was feeding the ducks bread with his daughter and scored some bread to tear up and toss to the ducks.  Both boys loved the "relaxing swings"

Sunny Sunday at Turtle Park

"Meanwhile, Back at Mama's" part two

More photos as I try to play catch up! We went to the hot air balloon festival last weekend for both the Friday night balloon glow and the Saturday afternoon balloon launch.

St. Louis is known for barbecue, and the food here has inspired me to start a new blog (we'll see if I keep up with it or not).  Carolyn and I enjoyed barbecue at Smoking Barrels BBQ - I also had some tasty ribs and pulled pork at last weekend's Taste of St. Louis festival, although I don't recall what restaurant it was from.  Soon, I am determined to make a trip to Pappy's, which is supposed to have the best BBQ in St. Louis.


Here are some photos from a recent trip to the Magic House.  They had a special exhibit on theater, and Caleb put on his "Elsa cape" to belt out "Let it Go" on stage.

Finally, Avery got to visit me at work one day.  He said I work in a castle! The university is certainly impressive.

"Meanwhile, Back at Mama's" -- big changes for this clan!

Long time, no post.  That is because our family has gone through a big change: after 12 years of big city living, we decided to pack our bags (well, our U Haul) and leave the East Coast for some midwestern living.  We decided to move because we wanted to live closer to family, and also the expense of living in New York finally got to us.  After a couple of months of hard core job-searching, Carolyn and I both landed new positions, and we moved in with my in-laws. Yes, at the age of 35, we moved back home!  But it's only temporary -- we're saving to buy our own house soon.

We have had a lot of fun so far in STL.   Here are a few photos of some fun memories.

First day of 2nd grade for our Avery and first day of Pre-K for our Caleb:




As soon as we moved in, we joined the local swim club -- less than 5 minutes from my in-laws' house, it is a lovely spot with several outdoor pools, a water slide, a kiddie area, a hot tub and lots of fun.  You can even drink beer there!  We'll definitely join next summer too.  We went every day until it closed for the season! The boys LOVED it!

Avery turns 7!

 

Happy Birthday to Avery! To celebrate, Carolyn and I took the day off from work, and Caleb took the day off from preschool/daycare.  Avery had a 1/2 day of school, and we brought blueberry/vanilla cupcakes to his class.  I read Avery's favorite book to the students: Harold and the Purple Crayon.  Then we played on the playground, had lunch at TGIF, and went back home to give Avery his present: Mario Kart for the Wii.  Later on, Avery got a new big boy bike -- no more training wheels!  And Caleb can use Avery's old bike.  He is already riding it like a pro. All in all, a good birthday.

Avery turns 7! mini golf party

It is so hard to believe that our itty bitty baby boy is now a very tall (4'7"!) 7-year old.  We had a fun birthday party at Saxon Woods mini golf.  Several students in his class came and the kids played golf, had snacks (including delicious watermelon punch from Stew Leonard's that tasted like a Jolly Rancher! Also cupcakes with Minecraft decorations) and then played on the playground until it was time to leav.  Also, BFF Aaron came, and both Avery and Caleb were thrilled because Aaron makes them laugh. He is so funny! The weather was beautiful, and it was a successful party.

Lake Michigan vacay! (June 2014)