A visit, the zoo and a fire, oh my!

Our friend Casey was in town from Fairbanks, AK this week on business but fit us into her schedule one night last week. She hadn't seen Graeme since he was first born but I think they hit it off! 

Graeme was totally in the mood for taking photos so we took advantage! 

 The weather towards the end of the week and weekend was beautiful. Mid to high 70s during the day and low 60s at night.

 We thought the weather would be perfect for a morning at the zoo. So did everyone else, apparently! We got there early and headed to the Dinosaur exhibit right away. Graeme slowed this process by wanting to push the stroller instead of riding in it. Just be thankful he's not getting his driver's license anytime soon! 

This guy didn't get the message that we were coming to see him. 

Onto the dinosaurs. Graeme was hesitant at first because the 'greeters' hissed and spit water at you. After we assured him that the dinosaurs were friendly, would not bite and were just saying, 'thanks for coming to see us,' did he enjoy himself. 

 After the dinosaurs we headed to the farm. Graeme more or less freaked out about riding in the tractor pulled wagon. He loved it. We even scored a cute family photo! 

Graeme got to sit on a real tractor...

...and a not real pig.

It was warm enough as we were leaving to hit the splash pad. We planned ahead and Graeme was already dressed in his trunks. He and the little girl running away in this picture took turns splashing each other. When asked what his favorite part of the day was between the tractor, dinosaurs and swimming, Graeme responded 2 of 4 times: TRACTOR!  

We were all exhausted after a fun morning so Matt and I relaxed with a beer and fire. 

Family Reunion

We traveled to a family reunion in Tomah, WI last weekend. Graeme had an awesome time as is evident in the picture below. They had a water park at the hotel we stayed at the kids had a blast. Graeme even went down the two slides they had. 

 Like most events, Graeme was part of the entertainment. He and Josh kept people laughing with their synchronized funny faces : )

 We had a nice sit down dinner but all Graeme cared about was the birthday cake that followed! 

 After dinner the kids, several of which were two-ish and under ran to their hearts content in a hallway outside the dining room. Naturally, the drinking fountains were a hit! (L to R: Tallulah, Sydney, Graeme and Josie)

 Towards the end of the night, I remembered that I had Graeme's Tractor in my bag. It was a welcome addition to the party.

 When it was time for bed, we changed into pajamas, ate some cookies and watched the Olympics. Graeme is getting to be such a big boy! 

 Sunday morning we met a big group at Perkins and while we waited for our table the kids messed around with the vending machines. 

 Surprisingly, the weekend didn't catch up with him until about 45 minutes from home where he conked out for the remainder of the trip. 

Going Viral

Graeme and I were sick most of the week with what turned out to be a nice little virus (thanks, daycare!) so it was a pretty low key week for us. We tried to make up for that this weekend. Friday night we dropped Matt off at a birthday party and ran to the urgent care just to rule out anything major. We left with Sudafed, nasal steroids and a 'good luck!'. This is how we and Sims felt about it.

We did still manage to catch a few photo ops.

Going incognito at breakfast. Yes, he had cookies for breakfast. Don't judge.

Graeme requested he 'hold' the tree...

Best part of the birthday party? The neighbors abandon lawn tractor!

Today we were all feeling better and after nap we headed to the park. It was a beautiful day and we had the place to ourselves

Fwinging!

First time down the big slide

Peeking through the bars

Highlight of the day - the tunnel slide. Graeme went down it three times by himself! 

Pooped

Weekend Wrap-up

Nothing much doing here at the Treds house. Graeme is battling a serious case of tooth cutting (at least 3 that we can see!) and with that, some of the worst diaper rash we have seen to date. Needless to say he wasn't in the mood for much of anything this week or weekend other than crying, whining or sleeping. We still managed to fit in a few activities between bouts of toddlerdom. We started a rainy Saturday off with a breakfast trip to Bruegger's Bagels. We spent the rest of the morning working on shape sorting and singing the ABC song. Graeme's never misses the LMNOPQ section, sometimes skipping right to it if you aren't singing fast enough. He's recognizing more and more shapes and colors everyday too!

The weather cleared up in the afternoon so we ventured outside and hit the pool. Graeme calls it 'Fwimming!' He loves letting water out of the pool, going down the slide and splashing around (and mom and dad!)

Matt had a good time too.

Even thought it was still pretty warm out, a bonfire seemed like a good idea. Matt has been wanting to work on his fire building skills and found a good tutorial online. The fire was a great success! It burned long and HOT which will come in handy this fall/winter. I have been playing around with random apps on my phone and found one where you can make an animated gif. It essentially takes a series of images and loops them together. I tested it out with our fire last night. Not bad for a first try:

Budding Chef

Graeme loves helping in the kitchen so this weekend we made muffins for breakfast (another one of his favorites).

Filling the muffin tins 

Mix, mix, mix!

Ready for the oven (note the portion of cups that Graeme filled closest to the bottom...) 

Tastes like a success! 

Out and about

We started today with breakfast at Panera. Graeme chose the blueberry scone and milk, naturally.


We had to pick up a few things at the grocery store too but spent most of the morning playing.

Plowing the fields...

...sorting the shapes in the barn...

...and counting the wheels on the trucks! Graeme can count to ten now with little help.
This afternoon we met up with Paul, Kendra and Silvia for Hopkins Raspberry Fest. Since the temps were in the 90s, the women and children didn't last very long. Before we left we caught a couple of minutes of live music in the park and enjoyed a snack: a gyro for Kendra and applesauce for Graeme.

After the park we headed home to hang out in the a/c. Baby Silvia is getting so big and Graeme thought it was cool they had the same blankets.