Having fun at the gym

We went to the local open gym over the local schools Spring Break. Even though we had a good time, we have learned NOT to do that again. It was raining that day and there were 4 times as many kids as usual. Typically Everest and his friends are among the "older kids". On this day, there were kids as old as 14 running around the gym.

I am not doing anything I shouldn't be doing....at least not right this minute while you are looking.
Everest and his friends, Morgan and Roman, jumping and having fun.


This is Roman's little brother Julian. He has the most beautiful chocolate eyes. He is such a happy baby.

Courtney got out a parachute and the kids had a great time playing under it.

We have so much fun at the gym.

Leaf's idea of packing

This wraps it up for our Spring Break vacation. We had a great time (even though Nathan worked most of the time). As we were packing things up, Leaf decided to help.

First he took everything out of his suitcase (and most of his brothers).
I think I forgot a few things.
Then he decided to put everything back in (in no particular order).
Look how much fun packing can be!

Playground in Charlotte

We found a playground on our last day. It had a playground, sandbox, train, walking trails, pond, ducks, fields and a lot more. There were a lot of kids who brought sand toys and shared with everyone. Leaf had a great time filling up the bucket and then dumping it.
Leaf getting brave. Luckily the bars were too far apart so he didn't get very far. But he tried!

Everest spent most of the day at the train. he found a few other kids to play with. The spent the morning running around the train playing.
Leaf found the slide, and made more than one parent nervous. I was at the top, every time he went down, someone would run over to the bottom to catch him.
We ended up going back to the park the day we left. We played and then went for a walk to tire the boys out. Thanks Aunt Teresa for playing with us. We miss you.

Discovery Place

Waiting for the train to take us to the Discovery Place. This was a highlight for Everest. We only rode it 5 blocks, but it was worth it.

Look how happy he is.


This was very cool. Both boys spent a lot of time playing the drums. It was just a bucket, some pots and pans, and rubber drum sticks.
There was a VERY COOL water table for little and big ones. You can see the different levels of the table. They each had different water toys that were appropriate for each age. Leaf spent the majority of the time (almost 2 hours) at the water table. He was SOAKED. But he had so much fun it didn't matter. It doesn't look like it in this picture, but the water table was packed with kids the whole time we were there.
Leaf playing in the water. Look at his shirt.
Everest got into the fun, with the highest part of the water table. They had clear pvc pipe for the kids to build different channels for the water. Everest got all the tubes to flow into the water wheel.
Leaf taking a turn on the drums.
Everest the mad scientist. There was a rocket you could launch. You had to pump a handle to build up the pressure and then hit the button and see how far and fast it would go.
We took a break in the middle of playing to catch a 15 minute 3-D film on turtles.
Everest had fun with this contraption too. You sit down hard onto the seat and it pushes a metal piece up the tube to ring the bell. Leaf tried too, but he was too small.
Everest built a castle (Leaf helped, but he wondered away when I got the camera out). You can see the giant light bright table in the background. Very cool!

We LOVED the Discovery place (even though the majority of it was closed for renovations- the Kidscience room was enough for us). If we would have been there longer, we would have visited this museum again...and again.

Fountains in Charlotte

This was my first visit to Charlotte NC, even though I lived in NC for 5 years (many eons ago). If you have never been there, it is a beautiful city. They are doing a lot of construction, reconstruction and beautification. It was a great place for the family or alone. We found plenty to do with the kids and Nathan and I got to enjoy a little of the night life (thanks to Teresa-we love you).

We went to dinner at a place that had lights all around the building. When you touched them, they lit up and played different sounds or music. The boys had a great time exploring all the different sounds.

This was a raised seating area near a lot of food places. Everest thought it was great. He pretended it was his firetruck...surprise, surprise.

Everywhere we went there was art or fountains. Everest wanted to touch the water of every fountain we passed. I am sure if it would have been a little warmer, he would have "accidentally" gotten into each and every one of them.
Everest and Mama, enjoying a walk and the sites of Charlotte.
This one, he actually tried to lick while I was taking the picture. When he was younger, I would have freaked, but now...well I have 2 with another on the way. I have learned that nagging him about things isn't the way to go, dirty water might make him sick, but maybe he won't do it again. Then again, he is 4, it might take a few times to get it through his head.

He liked this fountain, he wanted to walk up it. The other side has holes where the water runs down the wall. A fountain that looks totally different from each side, how cool is that!
This fountain is in front of the NASCAR hall of fame. We stayed in a hotel right beside it. It is not open yet, but even to a non race fan, it looks cool. If it was open, we would have checked it out.
We have a lot more fountain pictures, and a lot of fountains we didn't photograph. There was so much to do, I would love to go again. But next time we are flying, I don't care if the tickets are triple what they usually are (just because of spring break). If you get a chance to visit Charlotte Let me know what you think.

Babies, babies and more babies! And all are boys!

February and March have been a time for lots of babies among our friends. We want to say congratulations to all those who have recently had a baby.

Congratulations to Nathan's sister Liz and Jordan Good. They had a baby boy March 2nd. Baby James joins his sisters Victoria, Lily, and Cece. Congratulations, we can't wait to meet James Jordan.

Congratulations to our Montana (now Michigan) friends Dana and Mike Tuffelmire. They had a baby boy in Feb. Jones Danger! Jones joins his brother Tannen.

Congratulations to our adopted sister Krista and Jason Kirk. They had a baby boy Matthew Carlson on March 8th. Matthew joins his brother Joshua and sister Sarah.

Congratulations to my cousin Heidi and Kenny Gianella. They had a baby boy Gavin Julius on March 15th. Gavin joins sister Gabriella.

Congratulations to our Utah friends Melanie and Justin Ballard. They had a baby boy on Monday. Haven't heard the name yet, I know they were struggling with a boys name. It took us a week to officially name Leaf, so I know where they are coming from. Baby boy Ballard joins brother Ethan.

Soon our good friends in Winchester Virgina Carrie and Matt Ludwig will have their second baby. They have a 3 1/2 year old Molly Jane. Can't wait.

This was also the week for many we know to pass onto the next chapter of life. We want to say goodbye to Monsignor Heberleine, he was my grandparents priest and good friend for as long as I can remember. Noni Meehan, who is my uncle Mike's long time girlfriend, Chris's mother. And to my Aunt Robynn's father grampa Carney. May you rest in peace.

More hiking in Raleigh

We hiked around a local lake by Teresa's house, fed the ducks and played at the playground. Bailey (Teresa's dog) had a great time walking with the boys.

A blue heron (I think) in the lake.


Teresa, Nathan, Everest, Leaf, Bailey and the blue heron at Lake Lynn.

Leaf's first time down the slide alone.

Daddy waiting at the bottom. Yeah Leaf! He was so proud of himself. He went down the slide at least 20 times.
Everest showing off his new racing shoes. They are the exact same shoes he had last year, just a different color.
Going down the big curvy slide. Both boys are there, if you look closely, you can see Everest's legs. Nathan held Everest and Everest (and Nathan) held Leaf.

Hurricanes Hockey Game

One of the things I LOVED about living in Raleigh was being able to go to a major league Hockey game. Hockey is by far my favorite sport to watch. There is nothing better than being at the game. Teresa got us tickets to go to a game. Everest LOVED the game. Leaf enjoyed it, but he had REFUSED to take a nap that afternoon, so he was CRANKY.
We had good seats. We enjoyed the game even though the Canes lost. They played the Bruins, I was surprised at how many Bruin fans were at the game. One guy had a Bruins jersey and the B had blinking lights on it. Every time they scored, he would stand up and his shirt would blink.


Everest was very animated. He wore his Purdue shirt, because it was the only black shirt we had. Notice Leaf at the bottom, throwing a fit about something.

This was the only mistake we made. We promised Everest some ice cream, this was the smallest cone they had (no wonder so many people are over weight these days). We all ate a little of the ice cream, but Everest got most of it. (more ice cream than he has every had) He did well until the sugar kicked in. He had a very difficult time keeping it under control after that. But boy was he happy to be eating his ice cream at a hockey game!
Aunt Teresa had a wonderful time with the boys.

When we got to the arena,Everest got a poster of all the Canes who played in the Olympics. He saw people holding up signs to cheer for the Canes and wanted to make one of his own. He missed the point a little, his sign was construction trucks and rocket ships. Ahh the life of a 4 year old.

Go Canes!
Thanks Aunt Teresa, we had so much fun at the game. And hanging out with you. We love you and miss you.

Visit to Raleigh

We left Friday afternoon for Spring Break. We were ambitious and hoped to reach Raleigh (11 hours away) at the wee hours in the morning. Nathan had to drive to Chicago that morning to visit a student teacher. When we started our journey, Nathan had already logged 3 1/2 hours of driving. Needless to say, we did not make it to Raleigh on Friday.
Saturday morning, we were ready to go and thought we would be there by noon. We should know better. Traveling with 2 kids, a tired daddy and a pregnant mama, doesn't make for a quick trip. We finally arrived in Raleigh Saturday around 5pm.
One of our goals while we were in Raleigh, was to get Everest some new shoes at REI (the closest REI to us is in Chicago). Sunday we got up and went hiking at the Art museum. Everest was all decked out in his sweater that Grami made, strobe light (that we keep in the car for emergencies) and his fox boots (the only shoe-boot that fits him right now).

Nathan and I actually got a chance to talk on our walk. We had Aunt Teresa to "look at this", "run over here", and "watch me do this". It was a very nice break.

As we walked the sun got higher, brighter and hotter (something we do not see much in Indiana). Teresa and Leaf hanging out.
The family at the whisper bench.
Leaf learning how the whisper bench works.
Everest listened intently to Leaf babbling on and on. He really is a good big brother...most of the time.

While in Raleigh, I got together with my wonderful friend Jen Super. We were supposed to get the kids together to play (Jen had a baby boy in Nov., Sofia and Everest are about 6 months apart). We planned on meeting at a playground, but after a long day walking both boys zonked out and slept for 3 hours (we finally woke Everest up). They missed all but the last 15 minutes of the play date.

Sofia and Everest still enjoyed playing for a short while.