Alex's First Baseball Game

The Saturday before school started, Alex and Nick went to Alex's first professional baseball game! (Unfortunately, Indianapolis doesn't have a big league team, only our little Indianapolis Indians. We have a great little ballpark, though, which allows you to get close up, which was perfect for Alex's first game.)

Here are MY boys of summer!













Apparently Alex was really excited when he first saw the field and posed for this picture!













It happened to be a really hot day and the seats were right down close to the field so there was no shade. They moved up to a shadier spot early in the game and enjoyed it much more. Nick made sure they had the whole experience: hats, hot dogs, pretzels, and all sorts of junk food. Yay baseball!

Alex's First Day of Kindergarten!!!

So it's finally here. My baby, my first born, is off to kindergarten. I never thought I would be the mom crying when her kid stepped onto the school bus for his first day of school, but there I was, crying to see my sweetie go! We had some concerns about his willingness to get on the bus but those turned out to be unfounded and aside from a bit of a meltdown when he discovered he was the only one without a lunch box (they only offer half-day kindergarten so they don't eat lunch there) he was a trooper.

Here he is all jazzed up for his first day with his new backpack!


















Lydia, Alex, Jackson and Josie all waiting for the bus...














Here it comes! I swear that they lined up in height order on their own...we didn't do that! :)














And there he goes...he got on that bus like he'd been doing it for years!

















After we got him on the bus, the parents are invited to the school to see them getting off the bus and see the classroom. Here is our brave bus-rider with all the other kindergarteners. Don't they all look so small?!

















Here is Alex at the table that had his name on it. And yes, that is a little boy with a mohawk haircut sitting next to him. Check out the look Alex is giving him...I had the same look on my face! :)















Mrs. Ferry (his teacher) read them the book "The Kissing Hand" about a racoon that is sad to leave his mom to go to school but she puts a kiss in his hand to remind him of her. I started to lose it around the middle of the book when the little boy raccoon gives his mom a kiss to remind her of him. Seriously, why did she have to read that book???! I was holding it together fine until that part!




























Here she is giving Alex his kissing hand stamp to remind him of how much we love and miss him. Then he gave us a kiss and we were on our way. I was able to hold it together pretty much until we got outside the classroom and then the dam burst. What a baby I am!






























At 11:15 I picked him up and he said he had a great day but couldn't really remember much that he did, except play outside at recess, which he said was his favorite part. When we got home he crawled up in my lap and said very slowly, "Mom...kindergarten...rocks!"

Spring Mill State Park

This past Sunday we decided to stop at Spring Mill State Park on our way home from a visit to Granny and Gramp's house. Granny and Gramps came too and we enjoyed a fun day at this great park.

Here is the whole crew...
















They have this really cute little Pioneer Village there that has all these restored log cabins from the early 1800's along with some costumed interpreters. This lady was in the formal garden outside one of the cabins and she was attempting to teach Andrew how to use a little gourd as a spinning top. As it turns out, pioneer toys are a bit on the dull side for 2 year olds! But she was nice to try!
















Spring Mill is also known for it's caves and we went on the Twin Caves boat tour. They have these boats that are specially made for the narrow caves and a guide sort of pushes you about 500 yards into the cave system and then back out again. It was a really cool tour and we all enjoyed it--here we all are in our boat with our fashionable floatation devices...















Here is our intrepid guide Jill pointing out some of the cool cave features from the stern of the boat. The cave was completely dark, by the way, and I found out that my camera rocks at taking pictures in the dark!
















Here is Granny and Andrew enjoying the really charming river that flows through the park...















Alex and daddy taking a rest from running around...

Happy Fifth of July?

We had our neighbors over for what was supposed to be a Fourth of July Party, however we got rained out on the fourth and had to have it on the fifth.

Here are our little boys all dressed up for the occasion (as you may have noticed in previous pictures getting both of them to look at me AND smile is an insurmountable feat!)

We had to bust our our embarasingly large inflatable waterslide for the event. Nothing says freedom like being wet on a slide?! How hilarious is Alex in this picture!

Here are all the kiddos eating some hotdogs and goodies. I know for a fact that Andrew ate almost a pound of M&Ms and brownies all on his own. He was a mess, physically and behaviorally!























After dinner it was onto Pop Its and temporary tatoos. The kids were covered with patriotic tatoos and looked like bikers!
















Here are all the kiddos playing an egg and spoon race...can you say all-American fun?! Pretty cute!

















As the sun was setting we started a fire in our new fire pit. It sort of looked like tribal council from Survivor with all the tiki torches but it was pretty fun, too.

It was very nearly a full moon that night and the kids thought it was pretty cool. You can't really see it in this picture but thats what they are all looking at...

And of course no Fourth of July celebration is complete without blowing some stuff up! All agreed that we need to invest in some better fireworks next year but for now, these were pretty fun and the kids enjoyed the show.

Holiday World Family Vacation

Last Wednesday we packed up the family truckster and headed to Santa Claus, IN (Yes, that's a real place for those who don't live in Indiana!). We stayed at Lake Rudolph campground in a rented RV and went to Holiday World for two days.

The first thing you need to know about this trip was that it was HOT. I don't mean, "Oh my, it is a bit warm today," I mean "Seriously, did we make a wrong turn and end up in Hell World instead of Holiday World???" The heat index was 105 both days we were there. So if we look like we're melting in these pictures, I assure you we were only moments away from heat stroke at any given moment!

Here is Andrew trying to stay cool with Mommy's sunglasses.

Andrew on the space rockets

We went on this vacation with our good friends Karen and Dwayne and their daughter Sophie. Here is Karen on one of the carousels with Soph and Andrew.

Daddy and Andrew on the safari ride. P.S. Andrew is a really bad driver!

This is a new ride they have there called "Reindeer Games" that is a mini version of those rides that take you up and drop you repeatedly from various heights. My first time riding this I screamed like a little girl and everyone waiting in lines for rides around us looked at me like I was crazy! What can I say, I don't like the feeling of being dropped! Here is Alex and Nick having a good time on our new favorite ride.

Here are all three of the kiddos on the Salmon Run ride, Alex in the closest fish, Andrew behind him and Sophie behind him. They inexplicably LOVED this ride and went on it more times than I can count. All it does is go round and round and up and down. Go figure!

Here are all three kids on the canoe ride. Alex and Sophie in one canoe and the lone pioneer Andrew in his own canoe.

Here is Alex playing on the enormous playground they have at the back of the park.

Me and Alex on the Holidog Roller coaster. We have both loved this ride since he was 2 and we rode it plenty of times this trip, too. Andrew was able to take his first roller coaster ride this time, too and LOVED it. He kept saying "Lets go FASTER!" after each ride.

Our stay at the campgrounds attached to Holiday World was very nice, and THANK GOODNESS they had air conditioning! Here are the boys enjoying some watermelon with our RV in the back ground.

Our last night there we had a campfire despite the 90 degree heat still in effect at 8:00 at night. I mean, you have to have smores when you're camping, right?! Here are our three campers in their little camp chairs waiting for their treats.

Alex enjoying his smore!