New Playground

Jackson LOVES his new playground and slide that David has been working hard building this week. Jackson is so proud and has been saying over and over, "Daddy builds it for me!" And lately he hates getting his picture taken and he actually said to me after lunch, "Mommy, take my picture!" After a moment of shock, I quickly grabbed my camera and wasted no time taking several pictures of him. David still has to finish a few details on the fort and add the swings, but he has done an awesome job assembling and modifying the swingset. He added the secondary deck, because the original swingset went straight up to a 7 ft. deck. Thankfully David loves figuring things out, so he made some modifications and now it is better than ever.

Vacation-Day 5

On the last day of vacation, we went to Grant's Farm. We fed the goats, llamas and camels. Claire got selected to be in the elephant show. And we saw the Clydesdales. It was fun, but HOT! Thankfully, the weather wasn't that way all week. The kids slept all the way home and then for another 2 1/2 hour nap. And then Jackson asked to go to bed at 7:30 : ) So needless to say, we wore them out!

Vacation-Day 4

On Friday, we went to the St. Louis Mills mall. Jackson loves playing in the PBS area. We ran into his best friend Nathan and they rode the train and carousel together and then we had lunch.

That evening, we got to see the Cardinals game with the Warner's in the Red Bird Club. It was a GREAT game with the Cardinals scoring 18 runs! Jackson & Kinsey were both exhausted by the end of the night and both wanted to climb on my lap at the same time.

Vacation-Day 3

On Day #3, we checked out the Transportation Museum. Jackson was pretty worn out by today, so he was a little grumpy. It took us a while to find an engine that he could actually climb in and "drive". Unfortunately, it was a little rainy so the miniature train rides were not running. For lunch, we went to the Incredible Pizza Company. It was a lot of fun!

Vacation-Day 2

Day #2 started with Jackson jumping up on his bed and signing all of the animals that he wanted to see at the Zoo. He has a "Signing Time" DVD (Zoo Train) that teaches you all the signs for zoo animals and he LOVES it! (Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Jarrett). I think that has made him all the more excited about going to visit the animals at the zoo.

The weather was perfect on Wednesday and all the animals were out. A few of our favorite animal encounters . . . . the chimps sitting right next to the glass (I think Kinsey thought she could actually touch him), the giraffe licking the sign, the penguin splashing us, the hippos swimming right up next to the glass, the baby tigers (adorable), the baby elephant and the sea lion show.

We also visited the Magic House (Children's Museum) on Wednesday. Everything is so interactive and kid friendly, it was great! Both Jackson and Kinsey got to play in the water table. And he could have played for hours ringing people up in the grocery store and serving pizza at the restaurant.

Vacation-Day 1

We had a great time in St. Louis. This is our first day . . . supper at the Old Spaghetti Factory and a walk along the riverfront to the Arch. As you can see, Kinsey had a great time at supper and Jackson not so much! We had to wake him up from his nap and that never goes well.

Last Pool Day

Our pool days are over for this summer. Unfortunately, our pool closed on Sunday. So we had to squeeze in one more morning at the pool on Saturday. We will certainly miss it!!!

We are heading to St. Louis for a few days for a little family vacation. Jackson has been ready to go back to the "BIG" zoo for weeks. Every time we leave to go somewhere, he thinks that is where we are going. We are going to go to the Magic House, Transportation Museum, Zoo & Grant's Farm. Check back this weekend for pictures of our adventures : )

BalloonFest

We went to Centralia for their annual BalloonFest tonight. It was a lot of fun and they had some very unique balloons (Noah's Ark, Pepsi Can, Humpty Dumpty, Dragon). Jackson was really interested in watching all of it. We got there in time to see them setting up the balloons and taking off for the "Balloon Race" and then stayed for the "Glow" and Fireworks.

Silly Boy

Jackson has been SO excited for David to put together our swingset. A family from our church gave us a wooden swingset, but it all needs to be put together. The big tunnel slide is laying in our backyard and it has taken everything within him, not to go ahead and climb through it. He can't wait!! Here are some fun pictures from last night . . . he is quite the ham!

Spaghetti Face

Kinsey has been feeding herself all kinds of new foods. To my surprise, she has eaten everything I have given her. Maybe feeding herself is what she has been wanting all along! Here she is enjoying some spaghetti : ) As my niece Claire would say, "Do you like it? You got it all over your face!"

Enjoying the Weather

The weather this week has been fantastic (upper 70's, low 80's) and we have been taking advantage of it! Turning off the AC, opening the windows, playing in the backyard, going on walks, enjoying the park . . . .

More Wedding Pics

Caleb & Christina's Wedding

David's cousin, Caleb, was married on Saturday (August 9th) in Athens. Just wanted to share a few pictures from our day.