North Carolina Zoo

Tim surprised us last week by taking Friday off, leaving him with a 4 day weekend! To start off our 4 day holiday, we took a field trip to the NC Zoo in Asheboro. We’d heard that the enclosures are beautiful and very large … and to be ready for a lot of walking. So, we were prepared with both our strollers (1 folded up under the other until it was needed), snacks, and tennis shoes. It was amazing! The animal enclosures were HUGE! It took us 6 hours to get through the zoo, and that was moving very quickly the last hour because they were closing! Next time we’ll have to arrive a little earlier and to start on the opposite side to spend quality time with all the animals.

Getting ready!

Tim and Alex looking at the alligators.

Spencer loved watching the seals swim around their tank.

Alex thought it was too funny to see this seal swimming upside-down.

Silly Alex!

Spencer was such a good little boy! He really enjoyed the exhibits and stayed very patient with us.

This baboon and Alex studied each other for quite a while (after Alex determined there was glass in the window and the monkey couldn’t get him).

See what I mean – the enclosures were beautiful! This was only one edge of the giraffe/zebra part. You could walk around to other vantage points, too. So cool!

Spencer’s First Hair Cut

We took both boys to get their hair cut last week. Alex was looking pretty shaggy, and Spencer’s hair was almost in his eyes. They were both great! Alex is a pro by now, and Spencer actually held pretty still. We were all impressed!

You’re going to do what?!
I guess he was really concentrating on holding still.
Ta-Da!
Alex is ready for his turn.
I bet he feels so much cooler now!

Tim took great before and after pictures of Spencer:

Alex’s first professional hair cut was after he turned two! These babies are turning out to have very different heads of hair!

Good Dog

Kovu has been so good with Alex and Spencer lately. Well, he’s only good to Spencer because he has a new found love of feeding all his food to Kovu and letting him lick his fingers. Alex loves for Kovu to lay on him and I think Kovu has decided to accept all the love he can get.

Tim got out of the shower one morning and found these two cuties. (I was in the nursery with Spencer).

A few weeks later, they spent the morning like this. (How weird is it that Alex is wearing the same pjs?)

Discovery Place & Midwood Smokehouse

Alex, Spencer, and I took Daddy to Discovery Place last weekend. He’s been wanting to go since I took the boys last month. Alex mostly wanted to see the fish, and if Spencer could talk, I’m sure he’d say he wanted to play in the water. The upstairs engineering rooms are so much fun, but I think the boys will really have a blast there in another couple of years. After playing, we ate at Midwood Smokehouse. Alex and Spencer both went crazy for their brisket and smoked chicken. It was amazing how much they ate!

Alex and Tim racing sail boats and learning about wind.

Spencer splashing in the water table.

Turning the gears.

Spencer playing the drums.

Alex actually passed up fries for the brisket!

Spencer couldn’t get enough of the meats!

Great Wolf Lodge

Alex and I enjoyed a date at the Great Wolf Lodge a few weeks ago. Apparently the Great Wolf Lodge partners up with the charity organization Big Brother Big Sister for a fund raiser. They offer water park only tickets for a really reduced price, and all the money goes to Big Brother – pretty cool and a good deal. We’ve been one other time to their water park and Alex was pretty timid, but this time he was much braver! He really enjoyed the kid’s pool and played on the slide a bunch (he wouldn’t go down the slide last time). My parents came up to watch Spencer for the day, so it was just Alex and Mommy and his friends. We had a blast!

Braving the slide

He had just gotten splashed by a big burst of water!

He loved spraying other people with water (but wasn’t the biggest fan of it getting in his eyes).

Swimming around in the big pool.

Blowing bubbles.

Sitting with the big bear.

Finishing off a great day with some ice cream.

Spencer is 10 Months!

Baby Spencer is growing up too fast! In the past 2 weeks, he has finally decided that he LOVES table food. He cracks me up when he crawls up to the couch, pulls himself up, puts his hand on my leg, and smacks his lips. He is telling me he’s ready to eat! He must be getting ready for a growth spurt, too, because he is eating non-stop and waking 2-3 times at night for bottles. Spencer said his 2nd word over the weekend (I’m saying “hi” is his first). While rolling a ball on the floor with Tim, he started saying, “ba ba ball”. He is also starting to make the “ma” sound every now and then. Of course, he’s been saying “da da” forever! We still think he’ll be walking before his birthday – he can stand for several seconds without holding on to anything and gets really excited when we try to help him walk. This boy is ridiculously independent. He wants to feed himself, so we had to abandon spoons quite a while ago. He will just laugh and laugh when you put table food on his tray for him to eat himself. When we pull his shirts off, he helps by trying to pull the shirt off his head! Oh, and speaking of his head, it looks like we’ll be getting his hair cut in the next week or so – it’s getting soo long!

Crazy boy wouldn’t smile for his 10 months pictures.

I think he just didn’t want to be by himself on the couch. He needed big brother!

Or maybe he was just biding his time for the big tackle!

There’s my smile!

Alex, 10 months

Spencer, 10 months, 1 week

Beth is 30 & Mother’s Day 2014

My sister joined the 30 club last week! We celebrated all weekend in Spartanburg, spending Saturday at Artisphere, a street festival in downtown Greenville. We had some yummy food, then grilled more yummy food at our parents’ house, then had more yummy food on Sunday. I’ll tell you one thing, my family likes to eat!

Alex decorating a concrete block that will be part of a Clemson art exhibit.

I hope we’ll be able to find his piece in the finished exhibit!

My new favorite family photo!

The birthday girl jumps in the photo.

Sunday evening, Tim and Alex did the grocery shopping. Alex picked out gorgeous flowers and Tim planned and cooked a delicious meal after the kiddos were in bed. Filet Mignon with mushroom gravy and blue cheese smashed potatoes. Yum!

Water Fun II

On one of last week’s 90 degree days, Alex and I decided it was time to use the sprinkler. Can you believe this will be the 3rd summer we’ve used this cheapo sprinkler ring? What an awesome buy! Spencer was a little unsure of it at first, but I think that was because the water was so cold. He ended up crawling all over, splashing like crazy, and playing in the sandbox.

***I just went back and read my blog post from July, 2012 when I bought this sprinkler ring. I even mentioned buying it for Alex’s future siblings! Here is the post: Our Newest Toy

***And here is a post from last summer: Water Fun

Cool Dude

Check out this super cool 3 year old!

Tree Park

Alex, Spencer, and I have joined another play group in hopes of meeting more people. Our first meeting was at a neighborhood park called Tree Park. The playground was nestled in a grove of trees, which was great for shade, and was made to look like it was built in an old oak. Alex and Spencer both had a blast and I was happy to enjoy some adult conversation after almost 2 weeks of being stuck in the house with sick people.

The ground was made of very springy rubber mulch.

I looked over and found Alex already at the top of the climbing wall. I was so impressed!

Spencer had so much fun trying out all the slides (from the bottom, of course).

So cute! Spencer found Alex.

If only I had taken this picture a second later – it would have been perfect! Such a happy baby!

Alex sliding down to find Spencer.

My baby is getting too big!

They were both too busy to look at the camera.