Indy Vacay

This past weekend we went to Indianapolis for a mini family vacation.  We had a great time swimming, going to parks, going to the zoo and just being goofy in our hotel room.  Things started to turn south on Saturday night, when Ethan decided to get sick.  But it could have been much worse, and we are thankful that he woke up Sunday morning like nothing ever happened.  I have a ton of pictures to share...so enjoy!

PJ and iPad fun!

First up, Friday evening, we headed to a nearby park.  Such a fun time!

 

Families who rock on the springy horse things together, stay together :)

The park also had this random hill, so we climbed it :).

So sweet!

King of the hill

Family Photo Op

This is one of my favorite pictures of these two!

Our sweet, almost 2 year old, girl

Saturday, we headed to the zoo.  Indy has a very nice zoo and we had a great time!

Nora wanted down...

Elephants were Ethan's favorite (see the baby?!)

All better, now that she's not in a stroller or arms.

Water is so fun

Such a good looking kid

Ethan and the sharks (he wouldn't touch them)

Giraffes are cool

Ethan is a big bat... 

Nora, not as big :)

They are growing up so fast!

Ethan's first roller coaster!  He loved it! (except he was starting to get sick by this point...)

Riding the choo choo

Finishing the day with some ice cream

Due to the events of Saturday night (aka: puke), we decided to keep it low key and head home early on Sunday.  We found another park and spent some time there before heading home.

Swinging with my boy

Running on the jiggly bridge

Jared and Nora sliding

My favorite picture from the weekend, of my favorite people!

Photo Friday...Week 41

Now that Ethan is quite proficient in riding his bike without training wheels, we have been going on bike rides all the time. Nora rides in the baby seat on the back of my bike and we take off. We are blessed with lots of sidewalks and bike trails around. Today we went on our longest ride yet. We had to stop to check out the soybeans and the corn {daddy will be proud}.

Riding bikes together. {I need a longer arm ☺}


Ethan and the beans.


Every time we stopped for more than a second, Nora wanted out. Which is why her face looks so pained in all these pictures. She really does enjoy riding along!





Look at him go!! He has started standing up to peddle now...to go faster!


We need to get Jared a bike so we can all go! It has become one of my favorite things to do with the kids in the mornings.

Water Day 2013!

The annual water day at our church was yesterday.  This is an event specifically for the pre-school aged kids {and siblings} in our church.  This is a day Ethan looks forward to all year long!  It was supposed to be in July, but got rained out and rescheduled for yesterday.  We have gone the last couple years {check out 2012 and 2011}.  Both kids had a blast!  Ethan is old enough, that I didn't have to follow him everywhere he went, but Nora sure kept me on my toes... but that's nothing new :).

This is an instagram collage from my phone.  I thought the corn dog picture was priceless :)!

Ethan had such a great time!!  And now, he's almost one of the 'big kids' {*tear*}

He was so proud of this upside down, head first slide.

Nora was everywhere!  She so badly wanted to go down the big slides all by herself, maybe next year.

There she goes...

Ethan is such a helpful big brother

Loving the big slide

The tongue out is cracking me up.  She was spinning circles in the pool.

Here are some of my sweet kids together on the slide.  Ethan really was such a good helper with Nora.  I'm a lucky mama!

Randomness

So, I looked on my camera's memory card, and I have a lot I haven't shared.  Here is the catch-up post!

First up...bounce house birthday!  We went to our friends, Soren {4} and Kelton's {2} super hero, bounce house birthday party.

   The kids had a blast!  Nora was a little apprehensive about the bounce house at first.  I got in with her and held her while I jumped and after that, she was jumping with the big kids! Ethan is in orange in the top, left picture with an Iron Man mask on.
They also have some pretty cool hammocks in the back yard.  The kids thought they were swings...

Up next...bubble baths!
It's always a treat for the kids to take a bath in our big bathtub.  {It's takes too much water to fill up, to do it often!}

I know...we have cute kids :)!

Last up, playing outside.  We've been doing a lot of this lately.  A couple days ago, Ethan asked me if we could "open up a small circle in the rocks to see rollie pollies and bugs".  {How do I say no to such a cute request from a cute boy?!?}

See his tiny circle of dirt! How cute?!?

Oh, how I love this boy!

And this girl!!

Sweet, genuine smile :)

And, a real smile from Ethan too!

Nora at No. 9

My favorite kids...EVER!  {Just picture Ethan with the 'real' smile from above}

There you have it...now we are caught up!

Zoo Fun

We love to visit the zoo.  A couple weeks ago, we met some friends there.  I only took pictures in the petting zoo, but we saw the whole place.  Penguins are coming soon to our zoo, so I'll be sure to take some pictures of that!

Brennan and Ethan petting the goats

Excited about seeing some bunnies!

Nora loves the petting zoo!