A visit from Grammy K

So my mom and my brother drove out here.  Andrew had a busy week searching for a new car, an apartment, and starting his summer research.  Grandma K hung out with us.  We played outside, rode bikes, celebrated Isaac's birthday, went to the Magic House, went swimming, went to the Science Center, and played lots of legos.  It was a very fun visit, as always.  Thank you Grandma for making the effort.

 James loves to play in the car and did not want me to remove him.  

 On Sunday, we took one of my favorite walks through Forest Park.  

 I think this picture of Grandma and Isaac is one of my all-time favorites.

 Here is James trying to go swimming with the ducks.

 Why does Isaac look so funny in this picture?

 In all these family pictures, Blake's expression is:  Do we really have to take photos now?

Isaac's birthday

We had a little party for Isaac this year.  He really wanted to go swimming.  The water was a little cold still but it was a perfect day of 88 degrees.  

 James was all about the food.   I guess it was  my fault because I didn't really want to get in all the way with him. 

 Isaac had a little help blowing out his candle. 

 Isaac, Brinley, and Peter.  These three see each other practically every day.  They are always riding bikes or playing at the playground or going for walks together.  

 When Blake got home we kept up the birthday celebration, even though it was technically a day early.  Blake had to work until 9 PM on Isaac's birthday so we pretended it was the day before.  We got some pizza and went to Citygarden with my brother and mom, who drove into town on Tuesday. 

 This is right after James insisted on going under water like Isaac.

 Here is the pure joy of swimming in the little pools at Citygarden. 

 We came home and did cake and green ice cream and presents.  I am not very good at doing cool cakes, but Isaac told grandma he wanted a frog cake, so I made a template and sprinkled on green sprinkles to make a frog.  He loved it so I guess I did ok. 

 He got way too many toys, somehow.  It was going to be a small birthday.  He got an ambulance, a lego set, a Curious George movie, some clothes, some books (favorite:  Lama Lama misses Mama), some train tracks, some littler cars, etc.   He had a great birthday and was thoroughly spoiled and is trying to adjust back to normal life. 

at the zoo

 I haven't taken pictures at the zoo  in a while so I grabbed my camera this morning as we headed out.  Here we are driving there.

We got the carousel to ourselves for a ride.

 Today we went on the carousel four times.

We usually head to the children's zoo when we are at the zoo during the first hour when everything is free.  Today we mixed it up and went to the stingrays.  We ran into some friends so Benjamin came along with us (on the left).

Who doesn't want to stop and look at trucks when they are at the zoo?

These turtles were super fascinating today.  They were fighting.

Here is James wanting to pet the turtles.

Notice Isaac's new crocs?  They are crocskin crocs and Isaac loves them.  He slept with them the first day he got them.  It is a good thing because he really really loved his old pair, which were fishes, but they were falling apart fast.

The giraffe was up close today.

I think James gets his poses from watching Isaac play bad guys.

Gorillas were up close too.  (maybe chimpanzees?)

Self timer worked out pretty well.

We are so excited to see my brother Andrew and my mom drive in tomorrow night.  My brother is moving out here to St. Louis to do medical school also!  It will be so crazy to actually have family here!  And it also helps that he is driving out his old clunker that we will be inheriting so Blake and I will no longer have to share a car!  This is a paragraph with lots of exclamation points!