Exploring Indy: Coxhall Gardens (again)

Sunday morning, we visited a friend up in the Village of West Clay, and since we drove "all the way" to Carmel (haha), we decided to make a stop at Coxhall Gardens.  The boys and I have been there before (remember last summer?) but it was Scott's first time.  His parents used to live in the Village of West Clay, but the park had not yet been developed.  It was a beautiful day for pictures (a little too sunny actually!)

 

  

 Sam's the subject of most of the pictures...Charlie did not want to pose!

 

 My handsome boys (I'm a lucky girl!)

 Check the mud on Sam's pants...his shoes got stuck in the mud and he lost balance, SPLAT.

 

  I even made it into a few pictures!

 Charlie's doing his excavator dump...

 (Sam now curves his hand too, and says "skooo...duh" which I can only assume is "scoop, dump")

 Sam imitating big brother, again...

  We managed to snap pictures of some of the cute "storefronts"--this one is obviously the jail.

  Sam waving from the candy shop

 

 

  Did you know they grow babies in their flower beds? (Sam, it's not real candy...don't eat the rocks)

 Checking out the pond (Charlie's looking for sea turtles...)

What a fun morning!

Visiting the Simpsons

This past weekend, we packed up the boys and headed down to Nashville to visit our friends, the Simpsons.  I met Brian 6 years ago while working at ProLiance Energy.  Since then, they moved to Houston, and moved again to Nashville last year.  We left earlier than planned on Friday morning and just missed all the crazy tornados that swept through the Midwest (although; the suburb of Brentwood hardly got rain!)

Sophie and Blake are very close in age to Charlie and Sam.  However, their children are good nappers (while mine decided that they didn't want to sleep well for the weekend, ha).  Charlie and Sam were thrilled to drive Sophie's jeep (while Sophie and Blake were sleeping). Charlie has never tried anything like this; he was afraid at first but sort of got the hang of it after trying for awhile. 

 Classic whip-lash picture...C had a hard time keeping his foot pressed on the pedal. 

What is he doing??

 

Sam really liked the animal print bean bag chairs in the playroom...

 

Sophie really liked Sam, and followed him around most of the weekend (sometimes even imitating his every move!)  Sam was fine with it (and even laughing) so long as no one got in the way :)

The four kiddies!

 

Happy Birthday, Miles!

Another birthday!  The Millers live just a few blocks away and Miles is a few weeks younger than Sam.  The birthday party was "fish" themed to the max.

Erin, Johnny, Miles and Ian

 

You want me to do what??!

 

 

 

The boys loved playing with all their friends (of course I didn't get a group shot...actually didn't get pictures of most of the people there!) and with all of the toys, especially Miles' new birthday presents, LOL.  Sam showed off his walking skills, as best as could be expected with toys scattered everywhere.  Charlie had a cupcake AND a cake pop, AND white chocolate covered goldfish...dad spoiled him for sure.  Charlie's favorite part came afterwards--as a party favor, Erin made fishing poles with magnetic hooks, and cloth (stuffed) fish that you can "catch" with the hook.  Charlie has been playing with it all week...I even caught him talking to the fish.  Happy First Birthday, Miles!

Just a typical Indiana winter...

Our winter has been extremely mild (as most of you know), to the point that it feels as though we never had a winter.  The few times it has snowed, the snow melted within a few days. I'm sure glad we made it to Colorado for Christmas so the boys got to see real snow! (although...they're lacking snow this year too!)

These pictures were actually taken before Sam's birthday; however, I skipped them somehow along the way.  They could have been taken any number of days this winter, as we have played often out in the backyard.  I'm so thankful that Sam now prefers to walk, it makes it a bit easier than crawling (and ruining all his pants!)  Not quite so thankful, on the other hand, that he has mastered not only climbing UP the stair ladder to the "tree house", but going DOWN the slide by himself (on his belly, feet first).  I took a video last week but it's on my phone and I can't figure out how to get it on here...rather funny but a little nerve-wracking as now I can't leave them alone outside!

 

 Charlie's pretty into sports these days...playing basketball and baseball.  He makes it in the hoop every once-in-awhile (and gets mad when I put the hoop taller than him, ha)

Exploring Indy: Connor Prairie

When my friend, Erin, suggested we head to Connor Prairie on President's Day for free day, I thought she was crazy.  I typically avoid free days like the plague.  (yes, coming from cheap me, I also don't like crowds...)  Then I thought, why not go for a bit and check it out so I know if it's worth it to pay.  Ironically, Erin ended up under the weather and wasn't able to go, so it was just me and the boys.

I didn't bring a camera, so I had to resort to my phone...and also didn't have a stroller, so Sam is not in any pictures as he was in my arms when we were outside :)

Checking out the hot air balloon...it was huge!

 Charlie riding in the pretend balloon

 Checking out the goats...quite a hit with Charlie.

 The best part?  Free hot chocolate in the barn.  Even Sam had a taste!

We stuck around for a little over an hour before the crowds were too much to handle...and headed to Maggie's to say hello since we were already so far up north!  All in all, a fun morning and we'll surely go back once the weather is nice enough to enjoy the grounds.

Sam's 12 month stats

A little late...last week we went in for Sam's 12 month checkup.  Here are the official stats:

Weight: 21 lbs 4oz (25th percentile)
Length: 31 inches (80th percentile)
Head size: 48 cm (like 95th or something crazy, .5 cm bigger than Charlie's was!)

Pretty close to Charlie's stats at one year...

As of a week ago, he has chosen to walk rather than crawl...and on his actual birthday, we noticed that his two top teeth are poking through, with another two about to come out!