Fun Friday

We met my friend Mary and her two little boys, Patrick and Luca, at a great park today. It is a completely handicapped accessible park with great play elements. My favorite was the seat that you sit on and it automatically spins, and it just keeps going and going. It really was so fun (I had to try it out after Mary encouraged me to take a spin). Why didn't they have great stuff like that when we were growing up? Playgrounds really are amazing resources for families to play, laugh, and enjoy the outdoors together, and I appreciate that the communities in St. Louis recognize their value.

My girl. Love, love, love this picture.

My sweet boy

Another cool element in the park

Lily and Patrick performing for us - some truly amazing talent there :)


At night, we had a good old fashioned family dance party.

The one, the only, Lily

School Halloween Party

Lily had her school Halloween party on Thursday. It was a nice event with 100% parent participation. We have been very happy with Lily's school, and it is nice to see parents so involved with the school. Half of the parents have older children in the school, and they just can't say enough about their positive experiences there. We feel very lucky to be a part of such a great educational institution.

Our little Hansel on the way to the party

Hansel and Gretel together at last!

The hat usually stays on for about 2.2 seconds before it is eagerly removed by little Hansel

Snack time - let's get this sugar rush started!

William kept himself busy during snack time getting into everything

Who me? I'm not doing anything.

Party time starts with some snazzy pumpkin decorating

Lily shows William the contents of the sensory table (mommy's contribution to the Halloween party)

Gretel, what big teeth you have!

Lily making her spooky picture frame while William cleans up in the game area

Circle time

Lily's teacher reads the children's Halloween story which the kids wrote and illustrated

Birthday train ride

As an extension of William's birthday celebration, we went on a miniature steam engine train ride last weekend. The train operates every Sunday from spring until fall, and this was our first time venturing out to see it. We all enjoyed the day together outdoors and will probably make this an annual outing in the future.

Daddy was kind enough to wait in line for the train for us while Lily and I checked out a working lego train display.

Lily managed to derail one of the trains before we left.

How great is this steam engine? We even got to watch the engineer put in the coal!

The rest of the train

All aboard!

The woods we rode through had a river on one side...

...and bluffs on the other. Very pretty.

William and mama

Me & my girl

William and daddy

Tickles on the train!

The first (play)date

Lily had a boy over to our house for the first time last week. (We have had other boys over before, of course, but not alone, without a parent. This was, in fact, our first real playdate without parents, a whole new world for us!) This is the same boy that she decided (on the third day of school) she was going to marry. I took a few pictures so they could show their future grandchildren their first date. :)

The very special outfit picked out by Lily for this very special occasion

They played instruments first but then switched to computer games, probably a wise choice since her friend's parents are musically inclined (her father plays in the symphony) while Lily's parents....well, not so much.

Both enjoyed playing house and cooking up a feast. And how nice to have a friend who actually wants to play "the dad"!

More fun with Tori and family

Saturday morning walk with friends...wish we could do this every weekend!

William was ready for the rugby game. Unfortunately, he has a mommy who is directionally challenged so we showed up to the game as it was ending.

Lily immediately got into the swing of things at the Pumpkin Patch (that was too cheesy even for me).

Whee!!

The view at the top is great!

Sweet, sweet boy

Leo with his daddy, Charlie

The slide was very popular with our crew

William even went down the slide with Tori!

The girls walk the plank on the pirate ship

More sliding fun

Lily loves all horses...even one made out of pumpkins.

We're going to the zoo...again...and again

Tori visited us (two weeks ago now??) with her two little ones, Sophia and Leo. We celebrated our boys first birthdays, hit the zoo, enjoyed the goodness that is Ted Drewes, went to a Pumpkin Patch and (tried but failed) to see her husband play his rugby game. The pictures below are from our zoo trip.

William on safari

A very funny Kodak moment - I honestly did not notice the menacing creature facing William when I took this photo. This is also right before he attempted (and succeeded) eating the sand.

Sophia and Lily

Check out Lily's expression!

Nice snake

Hangin with the boys

Web-tastic

Hungry, hungry hippo

Our growing girls

Lily steals a snuggle with Leo

We wore out the little pumpkins so we were forced to eat our Ted Drewes frozen custard sans kids.

More sleepiness