Sunday morning Laedyn saw a squirrel in the backyard. She got SO excited that we decided we just had to take the kids to the zoo. Check out this giant turtle! I think she liked the petting zoo area best even though the petting part is temporarily shut down. This goose was just randomly hanging out in a pen alone, I don't think he really belonged there. Laedyn seemed to resent me trying to get her to look at the camera...she was much more interested in the goose.
She deperately wanted to pet this billy goat. He wasn't so sure about her though.
I like the ponys and donkeys. They weren't as fascinating to Laedyn as the goats, goose and sheep. I wonder why?
Brandon got all excited about the photo op cut outs & wanted his picture taken with all of them.

Laedyn wanted to participate in the cut-out photo op too, I'm not so sure about Nick...
A far as Laedyn was concerned ALL animal, real or not, were amazing. She was so excited to see this lion and kept turning around to make sure I was following.
Sitting on a bench to have her picture taken was not Laedyn's idea of fun. I had hoped for a good shot for the holiday cards, but it wasn't meant to be that day!
Little Rock Zoo upgraded the bear exhibit so you really get up close & personal with the bears. I'm always amazed at how long their claws are. Someone needs to trim those suckers! Sometimes they rear up and put their feet on the wall - it's rather intimidating, but they didn't even seem to notice we were there that day.
The zoo is ramping up for Boo at the Zoo. Brandon loves the pumpkins ... they're just about the only Halloween decoration they had pulled out so far.This lizard was at Laedyn's level - she thought that was pretty cool.
When we went to the Rainbow Lorikeet exhibit, she didn't quite know what to think of a bird on Daddy's shoulder. I really think the birds freaked her out.
We happened to be there during feeding time and you can buy little cups of necter to feed the birds yourself. Of course we got one for Brandon, but the birds made him nervous flying around is head. I wound up feeding most of it to the birds myself.
By the time we had spent 5 minutes in the Lorikeet Exhibit, Laedyn was done in. Brandon took my camera while I was feeding the birds, and he captured this shot. Nick took Laedyn out of the building and let her roam free until Brandon & I were ready to leave. Then we went home and BOTH kids crashed for 3 hours ... it was beautiful!

It's Arkansas State Fair time... We took Brandon & Tyrus on Saturday. Nick & Tyrus took off to the big rides, while Brandon and I stayed in "Family Land." Brandon & Tyrus both got unlimited ride bands. Nick and I were passive observes holding onto everyone's drinks...
While Brandon was riding things, we ran into the Dennis Family. Brandon was thrilled to have his friend Jackson to ride with! The boys were a bit too big for this ride really. The minimum height on it was 24 inches...later Brandon told me it was really HOT in the helicopter and his legs didn't fit.
This race car ride just goes in a loop, but it really whips around the corners. The boys loved that! They liked it last year too. Brandon loved the roller coasters. He was barely tall enought to ride alone, but was very pleased he didn't need Mommy or Daddy to ride with him. Enlarge this picture if you can and check out the tiny baby in the car behind Brandon...YIKES!!!
Brandon told me his favorite thing at the fair was "everything." I finally got him to specify that he liked the rides best, and we narrowd it down further by asking, "if you could have only one of the rides in the back yard, which one would it be?" He chose this roller coaster. It reminded me of the Mousetrap ride at Cedar Point, and it reminded Mark of the Mine Ride. (Mark & I took Brandon back to the Fair on Monday - kids rode free from 10-12, admission was free, and parking was only $1 - what a deal!)There was a Demolition Derby scheduled at the Fair later in the evening of the night we were there. We saw several Monster Trucks. This was the only one you could really get a close look at - it was HUGE, or as Brandon would say - GINORMOUS!
It was pretty amazing that Brandon fit inside the tire! He thought it was pretty cool - of course!In the Hall of Industry, they had all kinds of exhibits. The Farm Bureau (I think) had this cow set up for milking. Brandon gave it a try and told us it was pretty hard to do. We found a mural kids could color and spent a few minutes there while Brandon contributed.The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission has this huge tank full of local water dwelling creatures. I think it's interesting. Brandon wasn't so fascintated and had no interest in having his picture taken with the alligator snapping turtle (aka loggerhead turtle) swimming around in the background. I don't think he even looked at it!

What an expression -- He told us we were BORING!!!! Hmmm - when did we become the grown ups who want to look at stuff instead of ride rides??? Laedyn stayed home with Uncle Mark while we were at the fair. She was in our thoughts though. I bought her this cute little Kimono dress ... what an odd thing to find at the fair!

Jennifer's birthday celebration was 2 weeks ago Friday and I'm finally getting around to posting pictures. Amazingly enough I'm IN some of them. We started out at Bonefish Grill for dinner. Nick & I shared bacon wrapped scallops; then I had Coho Salmon Rockefeller and Nick had Shrimp Diablo.Jennifer loves frogs. I found this set of kissing frog salt & pepper shakers. A little magnet locks their lips - how cute...After dinner we went to the bar under Willie D's - it's called Deep. The drinks were disappointingly weak. I enjoyed the people watching. We saw 3 girls come in and each was dressed in a different era - 70's, 80's and 90's - I don't think it was intentional either!

We recently took the kids to Two Rivers park for a bit of exercise. Brandon rode his bike and I walked with him. He kept me at a brisk pace for the most part! Nick ran with Laedyn in the jogging stroller.
The Pebbles hairstyle didn't last through the outing. It never does. I'm lucky if she leaves it in for 5 minutes!Brandon showing of his big boy bike.
Brandon & I stopped to take a quick break at the turn around point - there's a really nice view of the river and I-430 bridge. Brandon sat for about 2 seconds (long enought for me to take the previous shot) and then ran back and forth on the grass.

Eventually we met back up with Nick & Laedyn. Laedyn had no interest in a family picture - she wanted to get down and walk after her long ride in the stroller..
Unfortunately she refused to walk in the correct direction regardless of how much Nick tried to get her to turn around. Finally he had to pick her up and carry her back our way - much fuss (interpret as sreaming) ensued...
There was a tree down across the path, but we managed just fine - even with the stroller.

Our little lady ... with her foot on the highchair tray! She never just lets her legs dangle down, they're always up on the seat with her - occassionally she puts them up on the tray for some reason. She was really hamming it up for me this afternoon!

I'm officially a "Soccer Mom" now. Brandon has team practice every Tuesday, skills training every Wednesday and a game every Saturday! He's been enjoying it. I like the small team format for practices - it's a better opportunity for us to get to know the other parents since there are only 6 kids per team. On Saturday the kids play actual games, unlike the group we had him in last year. It's fun to cheer the kids on and they have fun competing. This is Brandon's team with Coach Dave. Brandon loves coach Dave.
During the games, each team only plays 3 kids at a time. There are no goalies as the kids seem to have enough trouble getting the ball into the goal as it is! Most of the time they miss the mark and chase the ball AROUND the goal!Brandon cheers on his teammates from the sidelines...and has a snack.
Laedyn took over Nick's chair and insisted on holding Brandon's ball. I guess we need to get her a chair of her own now!

RAZORBACK TAILGATING

at War Memorial Golf Course in Little RockAs usual, I'm a bit behind...but we went tailgating on the 6th with Nick's friend, Rich. Brandon gamely tried on a snout, but didn't like it. I was lucky to get evidence.
Mark came along too.
Rich entertained Brandon by playing catch with him for awhile. Steelers football??? BOOOO! (Sorry Rich, beings Cleveland area natives requires some animosity to the Steelers - we have to cheer the Browns!)
I think someone needs a little guidance on football throwing technique...
We brought along some toys for Laedyn. Looks like she was fully engaged doesn't it? Well that lasted about 5 minutes - then she was off and about and into everything! As usual...
Eventually Rich's son, Jackson, arrived. The boys had fun playing together the rest of the time we were there. The boys thought it was great fun to be way up on top of the truck & Laedyn was happy under the pickup cover for awhile. What an adventure!
Rich's truck didn't have a cover & he moved all the kids into the truckbed. Great containment option for kids & no danger of falling from up high.
There were cupcakes to eat, so the boys had to do some begging for everyone's amusement!
As people started filtering away to go watch the game, there was a little more open space for the boys to play. A valient effort by both boys.
Laedyn wanted to play too.
We all had alot of fun. Thanks for the invite Rich - we're looking forward to the next game in Little Rock! All that running (not to mention the walk to the party) tired everyone out.