Summer Fun

I'm a bit behind here, but I'll do my best to do some catching up...

Matt turned 30 at the end of May. Doesn't he look thrilled? I was pretty excited since now he can't tease me about being in a different decade than him. Happy Birthday! Hope it was a good one! We love you!
Cole really got into the celebration.
A week or so later Matt's parents came for a visit. Jack warmed right up even though it had been a whole year since we'd seen them. We weren't very exciting, but it was sure fun to have them here!A few days after they left, we headed to Utah for my family's trip up to the Reid Ranch. It was fun to see all my cousins and their families...we sure are getting big! Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture! I guess we were just having too much fun.
We went to my parents house for a few days and got to play with Lindsey and Tom and Liam.
Matt went back to work while I stayed for a few more days with the boys. We had a great time! One of the highlights was the dinosaur museum.Even Cole had a good time there!
On the Fourth of July we had our own little fireworks show complete with poppers and sparklers. (Jack did four whole boxes of poppers almost all by himself!)
We went to the church later for a local fireworks display. You can see really well from the lawn, but don't have to fight crowds or traffic and you know almost everyone there. It's a pretty perfect way to see fireworks, especially with little kids!

Florida....Again!

Matt went to a conference in Sarasota, so we headed back to Florida (we were home a whole 3 weeks :-) ) Jack had a great time at the beach playing in the water and sand and looking for shells...he also did a little "flying".
Cole got to go in the ocean for the first time...he didn't love it, but did fine.
He mostly liked laying in his little tent by grandma...something kept cracking him up...he kept bursting into giggles.
At dinner at the Olive Garden one night we randomly started talking to some guys at a table next to us. (they stopped us on our way out to say our kids were the best behaved they'd ever seen...they probably aren't around kids much?) But...they told us they raised mini horses and invited us to come out and see them. When we heard they had two baby mini horses, we decided we had to go. They were adorable!! They weren't quite as small as that 7 pounder that was all over the news a while back, but every bit as cute.
The baby horse is the same size as Jack!! I love this picture even if it is a little blurry.
Cole wasn't so sure about the whole thing. (the lighter one is the baby and the dark one in the mama)It was a pretty low-key trip, we swam, we hung out at the condo and we ate. We're so glad my mom could come play nanny, Matt and I actually got to go out a couple times!

Cole is loving water lately and can entertain himself with a bottle or sippy for a pretty good stretch...he gets so excited!
We've been hanging out at the park quite a bit. I like it when both boys are happy to swing...unfortunately that lasts about 30 seconds. We're going to keep working on it.
Cole is Mr. Mellow...just happy to hang out and observe...perfectly content the majority of the time. I thought Jack was a pretty laid back baby, he's got nothing on Cole!

So, I did have a plan for this post, but the computer, or blogger, or my ineptitude on the computer had other ideas. My pictures came out in completely random order and I can't get the cut and paste to work....so rather than starting over, which would likely result in no post at all, I am electing to go with the order in which my pictures have arranged themselves.

This is Jack and Chris waiting in line to meet Mickey. (more on this to follow)

This is Cole yesterday after his first taste of rice cereal. He was quite delighted with it.

Orlando!:

Jack feeding dolphins at Sea World: He was slightly more interested in the fish than the dolphins, but I think he liked it pretty well.

Cole even got to go on some rides. This is the Dr. Suess merry-go-round at universal.

Back at Sea World....the walrus was huge!

And back to Universal...Jack was thrilled to meet the Grinch; Cole didn't much care.

Cole got to meet Things One and Two...again, I don't think he much cared.

Jack loved meeting the Cat in the Hat. The Cat's ride was probably his favorite. He went on it at least 5 times and kept asking to go see "the fish in the toilet". Oh my, the potty humor is starting already!

He also loved One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

At Disney's animal kingdom we wasted most of the morning at Rafiki's Planet Watch (if you go, don't bother). But the afternoon redeemed the park... the Everest roller coaster was awesome. Jack loved the drums in "Africa", the Nemo show (not what I expected...an actual Nemo broadway style musical), and joining the conga line at the park exit.

Back at Universal (we really were only there one day), waiting in the baby swap room with PoPo.

Cole was easily the coolest baby in Orlando. I can't believe how well he kept these glasses on!

At the end of the day at Magic Kingdom...both kids asleep in the stroller at the same time?!? It really is a magical place!

Waiting in line to see Mickey...this is the most ridiculous change to Disney I've noticed since I was a kid. We stood in line for about an hour...for 30 seconds to take a picture with Mickey and Minnie. None of ours turned out (I hope my mom or Chris has a good one). It would have been just as long or longer to meet any of the other characters. What happened to the days when they just wandered around and interacted with the kids? If your kid insisted on getting one of those little autograph books filled, this is all you would have time to do!

And now we're to Easter. The day before, the weather was beautiful and a family in our ward hosted an Easter egg hunt. It was a great time, I'm glad they make it a yearly tradition!

And now we're back to Sea World to look at the sharks!

And back to the Easter Egg hunt, where the best eggs were apparently in the window wells.

The crazy Easter bunny hung a basket on the curtain rod!

Cole is now rolling over...this was the first time (just funny that this was the picture...love the little #1 finger, I couldn't have posed it better)

Coloring eggs...Jack asked me for a week before this (and just about everyday since) when we were going to "paint the eggs".

And just cause he's so cute!!

We've had a fantastic last couple of weeks. Orlando was so much fun! Thanks so much to my parents for coming along! I don't think we could have done half of what we did without their help. Let's do it again in a few years when we can ditch the stroller and take the kids on the roller coasters!

ABCs

Jack is my little singer lately. I love his little cracking voice. He has quite the repertoire, but "ABCD", as he calls it, is his go to song.

Jack has been wanting to say the prayer for the last few weeks. Jack's dinner prayer tonight (with NO prompting):
"Heavenly Father, thank you for the day. Thank you for the food. Thank you for the family. Thank you for the kitchen. (singing enthusiastically) I looked out the window and what did I see! Name Jesus Christ, Amen."

2 Years Old!

Jack's 2nd birthday was yesterday. We had a little party for him when he woke up from his nap. It was just us, but still pretty fun. Matt did the decorating. Jack picked a monkey theme...he kept telling me it was the monkey's birthday.
His big present from us was a tricycle. He isn't quite big enough to pedal it well yet, but I think he liked it. The big hit was the "batcave" from Grandma and Grandpa Mac. He will sit and play with it all by himself for pretty long stretches. Cole liked watching all the festivities...especially the balloons.I won't ever be asked to work for the Ace of Cakes, but you can tell it's a monkey!
It sure tasted good!Dinosaur hunt.

Chris sent a box of instruments that was quite a big hit. He's been marching with them today.

Sorry this is so dark. He loved having Happy Birthday sung to him.