Swimming at the Reservoir

Last week, two other moms (Stacey and Katie) and I took our boys out to the reservoir to play in the sun and sand.  It involved lots of reminders to share with each other and not to throw sand at others, but the kids seemed to really enjoy having the run of the beach!





Bennett, Lewis, and Ike checking things out.  Dave is not among any of the pictures-he was doing his own thing the whole time!

Ike had no trouble plopping right in the water.

Ike and Samuel enjoying one of several snack breaks.  

Playing with bath paints.  Here's a video.

Meet Dave's newest obsession-creating robots from paper.  You give the kid scissors and glue and he is all set.










And one final video, Ike saying Bubble Guppies.  He asks to watch it constantly, but I am happy that he likes a show enough to sit and watch it for 20 minutes so I can get something done!

Fair and Neighborhood Fun

I have been slacking in posting again!  It is so hard sitting down to post (and remembering to take pictures) when we are outside and it is beautiful out.  So thankful for our nice cool week last week!

Our county fair was last week, so of course we went several times to enjoy the animals and partake in the delicious fair food.






Dave with the freakishly tall corn.

Riding the super fun 4 wheeler ride.  He also rode the huge slide with me-we totally went airborne!









We had a new family move onto campus, and their oldest son (Lewis) has made fast friends with all the boys.  Every time we walk past their house Ike starts yelling, "Ewis, Ewis!!", it's super cute.  They also have an almost one year old (Samuel), who Ike and Bennett insist on calling "baby" constantly.

Here's Ike and Lewis enjoying a ride at the fair.













Ike and Bennett take pool/sprinkler time very seriously.

Dave and Ike on one of many laps around the yard in their truck.

Corabelle and Dave playing a board game.















Ike loves it when baby Livy comes over to play!

Ike has learned to climb up into the windowsill to sit.

Awww....brothers.

4th of July (Ike Turns 21 Months)

We celebrated 4th of July down in Evansville this year since Josh was able to get a couple of days off and make it a nice long weekend!  Most of our time was spent lounging by the pool or hanging out with all the family.   Since Ike turned 21 months while we were there, I am going to weave in some of his latest milestones in this post.





He is such a water fiend.  Ike spent hours playing in the pool.  He especially loves to say, "ready, set, go!" and then jump straight in.

Hanging out with Papa Charlie.

Ike and Liam (with a little bit of Dave in there).  

He had to take a ride in Papa's awesome truck...notice the hardhat!

Big 21 month old!










The picture above perfectly captures Ike right now.  He refuses to be clothed and runs around naked any chance he can get.  He is kind of potty training, and does fine with peeing, but he has repeatedly pooped in the house, the front yard, and even on the concrete outside of the dad and Kyra's pool.  Oops.

Dave in his new big-boy car seat!

Dave pulling Uncle Tony and Ike around in the pool.

Cheesing out.

Ike loves to scream, "ride it!!!" at anything with wheels.  Thankfully, Grandpa Dave indulges him.









While we were in Evansville, we got two sets of family photos done.  They all turned out great!

With Dad and Kyra.










Oh my the cuteness!

With Mom and Andrew.

And Ike with his buddy Uncle Nona!












Other stuff about Ike recently-he knows everybody by the car they drive, and almost always gets it right.  He refuses to learn colors at all.  And I am pretty sure he would live completely outdoors if I allowed it.  As soon as we wakes up in the morning and after nap he tells me, "bee, bee" (which means outside) until we get out the door.  His vocabulary continues to expand and he has started putting together two and three word sentences like "ride it", "i want it", "taste it", etc.   Overall, he is still such a happy, entertaining kid!

Trip to the Zoo

A couple of weekends ago Josh and I took the kids up to the Fort Wayne Zoo and out to eat at Caliente, our favorite little restaurant that makes the best Cuban food.  We hadn't been up to the zoo yet this year, so it was fun to see all the animals again and see the new work they are doing on some of the exhibits!

Check out the peacock in the background!  It stood with its feathers all out just strutting around for a long time.










Taking turns brushing the goats.

Dave on the giant turtle statue.

Ike was really into the train.  It's cool to see him really get excited about stuff like this now-last year he was still too little.

Ike and I in Africa.

Playing some drums.

Dave didn't feel the trip would be complete without posing in the giant egg shells.

And Ike followed along!











As far as the animals went, I think Dave's favorite was still the alligator (he kept asking to see it) and Ike seemed to enjoy the kangaroos the best.  A couple of them were going crazy and hopping all over the place so it was by far the most exciting thing we saw.  After the zoo, we went over to Caliente and had a Cuban feast.  Dave wasn't quite as adventurous this time, but he did like whatever Josh got (some kind of pulled beef sandwich).  Ike tried a little of everything and loved the tamales.