splashing in the river...

We strolled down to the spot we like on the river behind Grammy's house one day for a little guppy and crayfish catching. Armed with spaghetti strainers and buckets, we were no match for those darn fast guppies. We did catch a crayfish -- neither kid had any interest in holding it -- and Gage just looked at and made pinching motions with his hands. Can't blame them, thinking back to many a crayfish pinch of my younger days! Savannah was nice enough to gather up a bucket full of perfectly good small rocks for Gage to throw into the water, but he was not at all interested in those rocks. Instead, he wanted to wade into the deep water and pick up gigantic rocks he could hardly hold to throw and then make a pumping show of success with his fist. Such a boy....

Happy birthday to Gage...again!

The day after arriving in CT for a summer vacation, we had another party for Gage and cousin Elizabeth, who turned  right after Gage. Not sure how Grammy is going to ship that big digger to us, but where there's a will, there's a way! We got a chance to see some family we don't see very often, and for some quality playtime with some of the kids' cousins. They had a blast punching balloons with cousin Ryan, and of course...no family gathering at Grammy's house is complete without a trip out to visit and feed the cows -- always a favorite of all the kids in the family.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Gage!!

It is hard to believe, but our little guy is two already! We celebrated at home a few days early because we were all heading out of town. Gage had just woken up from a nap, was a total cranky crabapple, and was not interested in cupcakes or opening presents. But, he warmed up once he opened something up. Gage got a stash of Diego books, Handy Manny trucks, the new Cars2 guys. THEN....we opened the GIANT box from Grandma & Grandpa Rapp, Uncle Eric & Aunt Tammy and phew...it was like Christmas around here! 

project expando-deck

On day 29 living here in AL, we finished adding on a big deck (14X20). We love it!

New swingset = happy kids

This was Savannah's first swing on our new swingset.  We put it in the shadiest part of the yard (we get shade until 1:30) but with temps over 100, we only play on it in the morning and evening. Mosquito spray is permanently stationed along side it.Gage is still afraid to slide down the slide without having his hand held, but he is doing the "big kid" swing like a champ. That is progress for the little boy who has always been afraid of the swing for some reason. Then again, this photo was taken moments before he licked a big handful of sand so we clearly still have some issues to work on ;-)

It's "only " going to be 94 today kids, let's go to the zoo!

At nearly 10 degrees below last week's temperatures, this morning I decided that a trip to the Birmingham zoo was in order! We may have had more fun there than any other zoo. First, we rode a camel (which yes, part of me thinks is a little cruel for the camel --being in captivity AND having to schlep people around a little dirt track all day for the economic gain of the zoo can't be a good life --  but I gave in the the pleas of my kids). Then we saw a lion who kept roaring at us -- full blown roar that the kids were LOVING! Gage is still walking around roaring every time we mention the lion at home. Then, we got to feed flamingos, which was super cool. We bought some flamingo "kibble" and they pecked it from Savannah's hand. The first time she ran out, one of the little buggers bit her, but luckily she found it amusing and fed them again. Flamingos always remind me that Savannah used to say "mangos come from flamingos butts"!  We road a train, which Gage loved, and just had a blast. After spending 3 hours there we didn't even get to 2 sections of the zoo, so we have something to look forward to on our next trip!

Lions and tigers and JACKRABBITS...OH MY!

Savannah *finally* has the hang of driving her Barbie Jeep!  We "retired" it for a bit in SC because she didn't do so well steering, but she's got it now!  We went for a drive the other day down to the next cul-de-sac and Adam kept asking her if she wanted to put it in "jackrabbit" gear (that is FAST, for all of you non-Barbie jeep owners). She finally agreed and WHOA...OFF SHE WENT!!  We had to jog to keep up with the jeep, Gage was not buckled in and was hanging on as he nearly fell out of the side a few times, but they were both giggling and smiling like crazy. Adam kept yelling "EYES ON THE ROAD" as she veered crazily toward mailboxes, trees, the curb, etc. I just tried not to pee my pants laughing at the whole scene while I ran to keep up with her.  Then we went to an empty lot to drive up and down the hill (off-roading) and she had a crazy determined look on her face that the pictures does not do justice for.

I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream!

We joined the Children's Museum  when we first moved here and went back again. The kids had a great time playing ice cream shop.  It is a vintage ice cream parlor counter complete with marble, all the scoops, dishes, order tablets, and lots of fake fruit to make pretend milkshakes with.  Gage kept trying to lick the face ice creams until I told him to "pretend to chomp it" and then he got it, and proceeded to make loud exaggerated chomping sounds while he pretended to take big bites. He is an ice cream junky!

Sweet Home Alabama

We are settled in, unpacked, and just tying up loose ends like ordering blinds, curtains, and doing some re-organizing.  The house is just beautiful and we love it!  Smidge ran away for 3 days but came back! Both kids are sleeping well and a 4 year old boy (Jay) next door has been over to play already. Sweet home, indeed :-)

We made it to Alabama!!

After signing the documents for our SC house sale, we made it to AL and spent our first night at a friend's condo.  The next day we spent the morning at the children's museum to have some fun before we signed the documents to buy our house in AL.  I think we'll be there a lot...we bought a family membership! We finished off the morning with a trip to Mellow Mushroom pizza, where the kids were excited to ride their elephant :-)

one last bit of excitement before we move

The night before we moved we were awakened by a crash in our driveway. Our neighbor's son left his truck in neutral, with no emergency break on, and his wheels pointed toward our house. Surprise...it rolled down the road, into our driveway, and smashed into Adam's jeep. Whoops!  It's a good thing the jeep was there or else it would have taken out the corner of our basement and THAT would have messed up our house closings, surely!

One last trip to Happy Berry Farm before we leave..

We were afraid we would miss blueberry season at Happy Berry Farm -- they were predicting their blueberry crop to come in after our moving date. But...as luck would have it, the blueberries were ready for picking before we left!  We will certainly miss the Happy Berry!

one last playdate with best friend Kelsie

The girls squealed like crazy, made bracelets, swam, at ice cream, tuckered out Gage, and definitely did NOT want to say goodbye :-(