Time again for a park post!

It's that time of year again when we try to go to the park as much as possible. Though with the crazy warm temps we haven't gotten to go as much as we like. As always when we first arrive Ross has to swing! They have the water flowing in the pond again and that always is a big hit!

I snapped this picture as he was walking away but he was trying to drink the water out of that puddle on the rock. It was quite funny!

I let Ross roam a bit on his own and he had a good time doing it.

When I walked over to him he was climbing right on up the ladder. Once again, see ya Momma!

He ended up with company though. This little girl followed Ross all over the park and he was none too happy about it! If he was swinging; she wanted to swing. If he was sliding, she was right behind him. Now she wanted his ball!

He would play catch with her but would throw it in the opposite direction of where she was standing so she'd have to go get it. It gave him a second of freedom. He's learning early how to work the girls. :)

Getting hot!

Our park doesn't have much shade but there was a little section I found so we sat down and played in the rocks so he'd cool off. Buckets for the rocks are a must have. It took this new mom a while to figure that out. Ross would have bucket envy last year our first view park trips. Now we load up everything and stroll on down looking like Sanford and Son!

Visit at the farm

We went to visit the great grandparents and grandparents on Saturday. All we've been hearing about from Ross lately are 3 things: drive the tractor with Papa, fishing with Pop, or feeding the cows with Dennis and James (which I was just informed about from Da-Da this morning). On Saturday he got to drive the tractor with Papa! Since then he has told anyone that will listen that he got to drive and even demonstrates how to turn the steering wheel. He would often turn Papa off course. :) He's much stronger now then when we first started going to the farm.Also, Papa now has these fancy schmancy GPS units that steer the tractors. Each time Ross would grab the wheel it would knock the GPS off and it would start beeping and Papa would have to reset. Fun times! When we would get to the end of the rows Ross could steer all he wanted!

Yes my sweet man kicked me off my seat and I had to squat for a little while. This also caused me to slam my head (yes slam!) into the window. Shortly after I regained occupancy of my seat! A few poses with Papa.

My favorite! Who knows what Ross was telling him but I'm sure it was serious and had to do with management of the farm. I must teach Ross other things to discuss with Papa such as swing sets, bouncy houses, etc... By the way Papa is grinning it looks like he can be easily swayed by this little man (and the other grandsons no doubt).

We got back to Dad's and Ross was in no mood to go inside. He ran around "the circle" and had a great time. It is so nice to be in a small town where he can run outside and I don't have to worry about cars going too fast down the street.

A few comparisons, and no I don't plan them when I'm taking pictures but I guess I like the same poses. :) Ross was about 8 months old vs 2 yrs and 2 months old. Where has my baby gone? I do still call him my baby and he lets me. I know one of these days he won't but I think we won't talk about that right now.

Where's Ross? (and some other stuff)

Ross loves to "hide". He's not quite as good as Waldo when it comes to hiding but he is definitely quiet until you find him. He also stays completely still while you are looking for him. Does anyone know where Ross is? Goodness - again - where's Ross?

He's so good at hiding I have to look and look everywhere and then eventually I find his hiding place.

He loves the worm that Uncle Brent and Aunt Lexie got him for his first Christmas. As he gets older worm gets into more things. The other day I heard Ross say "hi papa" and I looked and he had the worm up to the phone charger talking to papa. I happened to have the camera in the room so I was able to get a picture as they were finishing up the conversation.

Worm has also developed the need for deodorant.

I love a good comparison picture and remembered I had one with him as a baby after he'd eaten some pudding. In the baby picture I'd fed him and in the newest picture Ross fed himself.

Please! Please!

Ross has started with the fake crying and he's quite good with his "pleeeeaaaase". I was trying to get him doing his monkey sounds, which he did, but it wasn't very loud.

A sunny Sunday afternoon

Sunday was a fantastic day for us!! Church was most excellent. Nap time was well received by Ross. I got his closet transitioned from Winter to Summer. We played outside! All in that order. :o)

As you can see Ross really was a huge help in the closet organization. I don't know what I'd do without my helper to to go through my neat stacks of clothes and scatter them every where and mix in most of his stuffed animals. It would be a boring task I tell ya! Yes, he had the monkey on his back - per his request.
Once the closet was in order we went for a walk. Ross needed take a few pictures. He likes you to pose for the camera and you must say "cheese"!

Once we finished our walk we got out the bubbles. He loves bubbles! Give the kid some bubbles and pizza and he's one happy dude!

Gymboree Bubble Ooodles are the best on the market! It isn't necessarily the bubble mixture but the contraption you blow on that is awesome! You don't deal with the drippy wand and one dip in the bubble liquid creates a ton of bubbles. Ross hasn't quite grasped how to blow so the bubbles will come out but he gives it a good effort.

A little batting practice. Dare I say could give a 3 yr old a run for his/her money! I'd venture to say maybe even a 4 yr old. :) At least where hitting is concerned. He "crushes" the ball and will let you know he does too!

Ross was quite hot after all our outside activities. He had to come inside and get some lemonade and a snack. I'm glad to see some cooler Spring temps this week. I was beginning to think Spring skipped us and we were already facing Summer. We are meeting some friends at the park this afternoon and I can't wait! I know Ross will be SO happy! (of course that is if it doesn't rain)

Memphis Zoo!

We went to the Memphis Zoo on Saturday with Brent, Lexie, and Alex. It started out a little cool and when it warmed up it was the perfect zoo day! It took us forever to finally get to see any animals exhibits b/c Ross was so excited to see their water 'exhibits'. I think you can see by the look on Da-Da's face that we'd been trying to leave the entrance for a while when I took this picture. :) "Look Mom more water!"

Finally we got to the first exhibit. This cheetah was pacing back and forth. We definitely got the agitated vibe from it.

We love the primates! Unfortunately this is pretty much what most of them looked like the entire day! Not just the primates but all the animals. They enjoyed the nice weather too!

I said it was a little cool that morning. Orangutans and their blankets are so cute to me!

At least the giraffes were moving around.

More water! Ross could have stayed here forever. The funniest thing that happened was a Dad and daughter were standing over one of the spouts when it was only shooting up in the middle of the exhibit. They didn't realize there were other spouts, and they just happened to be standing on one. They did about 5 seconds later when water shot out. Cracked me up! Yes, I'm evil. Ross inherited the same evil.

The Teton Trek exhibit was by far one of the coolest I've seen! Another sleeper! More water! The most action we see all day is from the flowing water all over the zoo.

When we were standing around the water spouts we could hear the wolves howling. When we got to where they were this is what we saw...

In the past we've watched the pandas for a long time b/c they are so playful. Not on Saturday, again with the naps! Luckily, they are extremely cute and much like I do with Ross I could watch them for a while regardless of what they are doing.

Overall it was a most excellent day! The funny thing is all these animals were sleeping and we couldn't get Ross and Alex to take a nap for anything. I ended up taking an animal-like attitude home that evening b/c Ross was quite the bear!