A day at the zoo with family

My brother and his family came down to a nearby city to do some sightseeing this week. Yesterday the kids and I drove out to the city and met them at the zoo. The kids were excited to go to the big zoo, and ecstatic to see their cousins and aunt and uncle.

As we walked through the zoo to meet my brother, some orangutans were going along the same route as us, but up above on cables:

Miles and Maddie barely ate lunch they were so happy to see each other:

The three older cousins, Tyler, Miles and Maddie:

Meanwhile Quincy was getting lots of cuddle time with his aunt:

Miles and Maddie held hands almost the whole time at the zoo:

Maddie was always looking out for Quincy, and helping him to do things:

The end of the day, the kids were tired, but the teenager had enough energy to push a stroller full of little ones:

Festival time

This weekend is our town's festival. Miles has been asking to go to a carnival or festival since the first warm day. Last night after dinner we went to the town festival, and he was beside himself with excitement. He wanted to check out all the rides, and got more and more excited with each ride he saw.

He went on this motorcycle ride first, and you can see just how much fun he is having:
Then Quincy got to go on his first carnival ride, they both went on this train ride. Miles really wanted to sit in the front and drive the train, so he got in line quickly to make sure he was first in line, and waited very anxiously to get the driver's seat, nearly knocking over the kids coming off the ride.
Bonus! The driver gets to ring the bell:
Quincy was very serious about his driving:

They both loved it!

Last soccer game

This morning was the last soccer game. We started out well with Miles very excited to go and actually play soccer this time. And then we goofed, didn't re-check the schedule and got there an hour early. So we had an hour to occupy then back for soccer. Not that there has been an excuse any other time, today was soccer as usual for him. He played fine one on one with Mike and I, then was done when it was time to practice with the team or play the game.

Quincy had fun playing with the soccer balls:

But this was the last game, so they got snacks and trophies. He perked right up when he heard snacks. And was so very proud of getting his first trophy.

He studied his trophy all the way home and now has it proudly displayed on his dresser.

On the way to soccer this morning, he saw some guys playing golf and asked us if he could play golf as his next sport, then asked if he could play more than one sport. Uh, lets try playing first. Although a sport that has him standing around a lot might be a good choice for him at this point.

Random pictures

Here are a few random pictures of the boys just playing around the house in the last couple of weeks.

For some reason the laundry basket is an unending source of entertainment. I really should bring it out more often than just laundry day:

Quincy started playing in the basket by himself, at first was okay with Miles joining him, and very quickly was done with being squeezed in there with Miles and all the extra toys Miles piled in:

And Quincy, just being silly with half of a tiger shaped easter egg:

Family visit

My uncle, aunt and younger cousin from Maine stopped in for a visit this weekend. It was wonderful to have them here. We spent time visiting and playing in the backyard.

Miles and Jordan playing around:

Uncle Richard joined Miles up by the slide:

Hmm, seems to be something interesting in there:
Now Uncle Richard is a climbing toy:

They live a 5 minute walk from the ocean in Maine, but their beach is rocky, so they were very excited to get out to one of our beaches with sand. We went to one of our more quiet beaches for an evening picnic. Miles got very brave and got his feet wet in the waves - quite a bit, some waves even splashed up onto his shorts and he just laughed it off. I have a feeling he is going to be spending much more time in the water this summer. Unfortunately my camera stopped working while we were at the beach, so I didn't get too many pictures.

On Saturday they went to see Miles pout, um, I mean play soccer. Then we visited the zoo and a park. We were sad to see them leave, but are so very glad that they stopped to see us.

Field Day

It was field day today at Miles's preschool. Quincy and I stayed for the fun and games.

First they took a class photo, sorry about the glare, I didn't have the best angle. At first Miles and his friend didn't want to join the class picture.
So a teacher "helped" Miles join in:
Some of the fun - an obstacle course that included crawling through a tunnel and balancing an egg on a spoon:
They got binoculars for a scavenger hunt, which was Miles favorite part:
And magnifying glasses were part of a craft table. Miles skipped the craft, got the magnifying glass and ran around looking at everyone and everything through it:

A little hill provided much fun as kids ran down it:

Random silliness

Here are some random pictures from the last couple of weeks, just of the kids being silly.

Mike wrapped Miles up like a mummy, and Miles liked it, and actually stayed wrapped up for a good 5-10 minutes:

The boys got these swim goggles from their Grandma, and had loads of fun wearing them around the house:

Miles has been playing this guitar a lot lately, and yesterday just started rocking out with it. He is facing the china cabinet because there is a mirror in the back that he is trying to watch himself in. Once he realized I had the camera he stopped, (Quincy tried to get some camera time) but here are a couple very short clips.

Playing in the rain

After a week of beautiful warm sunny weather, today we got more seasonal appropriate rain. And the boys were just as excited to go out and play in the rain today as they have been to go out and play in the sun all week.

Miles wanted to wear shorts, I believe because he doesn't like getting his pants wet and he probably thought by wearing shorts they wouldn't get wet. They did, splashing in puddles will do that. Although he really does seem to have a tough time deciding whether or not to splash in the puddles, since he loves doing it, but hates getting his clothes wet.

Quincy on the other hand couldn't care less about getting wet. He normally comes in from puddle splashing with his pants dripping wet. And he loves every minute of it.

Entering the puddle very carefully, shorts held up as high as he can get them:

Miles still being careful not to get wet, Quincy tromping on by: