Trip to the farm...wait, no - a park

Today we were supposed to enjoy this outstanding weather with a trip to Grants Farm with cousins Haedyn and Autumn. Instead, all of the kiddos sat patiently in the car for more than an hour while we waited in line to turn onto the park property. Once we got in, we saw that the parking lot was full and there was a huge line of people waiting to even walk onto the property, much less board a tram to the farm. It was craaaazzzzy, so we left, and instead went to Laumeier Sculpture Park.

It was a gorgeous day, and Haedyn enjoyed running freely around the park grounds and making friends with other kids -- it was a window into the future for both Ryan and Autumn, who watched Haedyn intently from their strollers or the grass. Here's a few shots to recap the afternoon:

Haedyn, striking a pose by a sculpture:

Ryan enjoyed playing with a stick at the base of a sculpture:
Autumn and Ryan played in the grass:
That pink spot is Haedyn doing her free-form running. Arms flailing, head bopping...the whole nine yards - pure, unadulterated fun:

Here's the group making their way across the park:

Autumn, showing off some grass she'd just picked:

All in all, it turned out to be a great afternoon!

A Playdate

Today Ryan had his girlfriend, Sienna, over for a lunch playdate. While Ryan has plenty of girl friends, (Ella, Clara and cousins Autumn and Haedyn to name a few), he has only one, true "girlfriend," and that's Sienna. My good friend Chrissy and I declared them betrothed from the womb...so we'll see how things pan out for them in the long haul. :)

Sienna is about 6 weeks older than Ryan, and is one of the most laid back, sweetest, funniest babies I've met in a long time. It's always fun to see her, and Ryan just smiles and smiles at her...oh, and grabs her face...and steals her toys. Meanwhile, she's just trying to touch his hair, smile at him and share toys with him. What a sweetheart. At this age, it's nearly impossible to get a cute shot of the two of them next to each other and both facing the camera, so here's a few action shots of Ryan giving Sienna the tour of the kitchen.

Ryan: "So, Sienna...here's where my mom puts a chair so I don't unplug the laptop over and over. It's ok, I guess - I just wish I was strong enough to pull it out myself."

Sienna: "Rockin' chair, dude. Someday soon we'll be strong enough to tackle this challenge together."

Ryan: "Awesome...I knew you'd be on board. Now, while I have you distracted, I'm going to poke you in the eye. I do it to my mom all the time, and she doesn't seem to mind too much."

Sienna: "Whoa, what? Hey!"

Ryan: "Sorry about that - I just can't contain myself when I see a pretty face! Now, here's the oven door where I often check out my handsome reflection. Look at you! You're gorgeous. Now, let me check out your teeth..."

Sienna: "Um, dude - why do you have to be man handling my face all the time? I'm older than you, you know - just wait...I'll get you back."

Ryan: "And over here, we have the....wait, ow..."

Sienna: "Ha! Two can play at this game, my petite pal!"

You get the idea...they had fun exploring together today -- and I can't wait until they're old enough to talk to each other and run around together. So many fun times are in store for us!

A visit with Da-Da!

So, it's been a few weeks since we've updated the blog...we've been busy, but not with anything exciting enough to share, I guess. Today, Ryan and I took a field trip to Purina to take daddy to lunch and to check out his handsome mug hanging in the lobby. Yep, a gigantic banner of Stephen is hanging in Purina's lobby right now. Pretty sweet. Here's hoping he gets to keep it afterwards -- just think of the possibilities!

I finally learned how to transfer the photos from my BlackBerry to our PC, so you can see our visit a bit -- pardon the poor quality! And yes, that means I was the obnoxious wife taking a photo of her husband's banner in the lobby. I think it's pretty cool, mostly because it's not me. Ha. Anyway, the photo-taking was awesome for me, embarrassing for Stephen. I did it as quickly and discretely as possible. Here's daddy's banner:

Yeah, I know - that was a crummy shot -- here's the mock up...you get the idea:

And, here's Ryan having fun with us at Blues City Deli for lunch. He loves straws:

Cozy Coupe

A quick bonus post for the day...we found Ryan at the back door today, banging on the glass and gazing longingly at the Cozy Coupe parked on our back patio. He's seen cousin Haedyn ride around in it, but we'd not yet put him in it for fear of him a) slipping off the seat, b) dragging his precious little toes on the concrete or c) screaming like a banshee.

Tonight, we tried giving him a ride...and he loved it! We've officially found a new past time for our backyard. :) Special thanks to cousins Tyler and Conner for handing down their sweet ride!

Look out, yard - here I come!

Wanna race?

Lake Vacation

We just returned from our second road trip with Ryan -- this time, to the Lake of the Ozarks with my family for 4 days. Thankfully, the ride is short, so Ryan napped most of the way. We rented a really nice house on the 2.5 mile marker on the main channel -- it was such a great spot!

Ryan had a blast being around his grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousin and the family doggies so much. He also took his job as the family alarm clock very seriously, waking the entire house up each day by about 5:30 a.m. :) Ryan also experienced his first boat ride on the trip. He loved going fast and feeling the wind in his face. He didn't, however, love the life jacket. It looked very constricting and quite warm, so we kept the ride short for his sake.

Good food...good drinks...good weather...and great company -- overall, a great little getaway! Enjoy a few pics below!

The entire crew, doggies and all (from left to right: top-Uncle Tom, Uncle Josh, Grandpa, Uncle Tommy, daddy; bottom-Aunt Lauren & Frasier, Aunt Kelly & Madison, Grandma and Haedyn, Brianna and Mommy and Ryan):

Ryan and Haedyn took a dip in the baby pool on the deck a few days, and boy was Ryan hamming it up:
Haedyn was sweet and shared her breakfast -- Cheerios!

Ryan took his first "cousin bath" - isn't that a rite of passage of some sort? We all have these photos growing up, so I especially love them: (this one is one of the more "modest" ones) :)

Grandma and Grandpa bought Ryan and Haedyn toy fishing rods...Ryan liked "catching" himself:

Ryan in his straight jacket, er...I mean, life jacket:

The fam on a boat ride: