Tulsa Zoo and Aquarium

This weekend was a rare weekend where we didn't have a bunch going on.  We saw an advertisment on TV for the zoo so Steven and I at the last minute decided to take Eli to the Tulsa zoo and Tulsa Aquarium.  Parenting lesson # 10, 213...you probably should wait to take your child to the zoo when it isn't above 100 degrees.  Eli was fine and he enjoyed himself, but Steven and I probably sweat off 10 pounds while there.  We are thankful for the stroller, but when Eli wanted to be carried, we about died!  Most of the animals were inside their caves as well and with reason.  I would have been in my cave too.  Regardless, the zoo is really great and we will be going back, but probably not until the fall.  There aren't many photos of the zoo mainly because we were too hot to do anything but walk. 

The aquarium (all inside thankfully) is a different story.  It was fabulous as well, but who knew Tulsa had such a cool aquarium.  We aren't sure if Eli really understood what he was looking at, but we could tell by the many "oooooos" and squeals that he loved it.  There is the coolest shark tank that you walk under.  This got lots of squeals.  Eli tried  pronouncing the word "fish" hundreds of times.  He got really close, but it really sounded like "shhhhh."  Here are some fun pics of the weekend.

Eli telling us that this is a "dog."

Still pointing and talking.  Look at the goats face.  HaHa! 

Eli kept trying to peel my hands away to get to the "ducks."

watching the fish

This is our new smile.  HaHa!  He is showing off those teeth. 

No Steven isn't putting Eli in the tank, he tried to climb in....

Fish or should we say "shhhhh."

Still pointing and talking.

HaHa!  Cheese!

Under the shark tank.

Showing his belly to the sharks.

Love,

Kristin

Springdale aquatic center

School let out early on Friday so Stephanie and I took the boys to the new springdale aquatic center. It was awesome! It has a big pool, a splash pad, some bigger slides and a gradual slope pool (where we stayed the whole time) with little slides and cute water animal sprinklers. I have to say I was honestly not expecting it to be very nice but it was very clean and well thought out. The shallow area had a little shade over it for the babies. I guess I was thinking back to the Texarkana rolling water days and how gross that was. Every time you swam there you came home with the party favor of an ear infection. It was 100% not like that thankfully. We will for sure be going back soon.

Now, let's talk about Stephanie and RDs baby ( or should I say toddler now) Hunter. He is fearless and such a ham!!! He wanted to slide, and slide and slide again. There was a little concrete divider between the shallow and deeper area. He got up there and danced-haha! He was stomping his feet, shaking his bottom and dancing away. It was so funny. My more cautious baby, Eli climbed to the top of the slide and then he backed down. He enjoyed watching Hunter slide, he also loved walking around the shallow area and splashing.

So if you haven't taken your kids there yet, you totally should give it a try.

Here are some cute pics.
Love,
Kristin

Gulley park

I cannot believe I have lived in Fayetteville for 13 years and I have never been to a gulley park free concert! I was reading Michelle Elliot's blog and she mentioned it recently and I have always wanted to go...I would just forget. Thankfully, Stephanie Daniels reminded me last Thursday and Eli and I went with she and Hunter while the daddy's were out of town. Eli LOVED it. He was so busy. I think he pet every dog there and walked at least a mile between all the people. He also attempted hula hooping which was really funny. We enjoyed getting to see everyone and our time with Stephanie and her family. We will for sure be attending more concerts in the park in the future. Here are some cute pics from the night.

"Tractors taste good!"

Eli "feeding" Hunter

This is what we did the WHOLE time.

Hunter is such a dancer!

Sweet belly!

Love,

Kristin

14 month photos with Chris Stinson

Steven, Eli and I had our friend Chris Stinson come take some family pics when Eli was walking sturdily. It was so hot but Chris was great with Eli! I am so impressed at how Chris kept up with him. He got some really sweet moments. Here are some of my favorites.  Thank you soooo much Chris!!!!

Eli loves to read!

I love this one!  Look at Steven's face as he reads! 

Bubbles!!!

A little river time.

Love,
Kristin

15 month checkup

We had our 15 month checkup today and Eli is doing great! He is above the 95 percentile in height at 33 3/4th" and 50th percentile in weight. He is starting to recognize that the Drs office means shots. He does really great though. He only cries for a little bit and then he forgets (thankfully). It about does me in every time.

When asked what a cow says, he now "moooos" and "ruff ruffs" like a dog. Along with the noise of a sheep and horse. I was told at school recently that he said "please and thank you". This makes me sooooooo proud. Steven and I are big on manners and we are trying to start him early. Some other words are yellow, purple, and a few others but if we ask him to repeat something, he most of the time tries which is fun!

Kudos to the preschool prep DVDs our friends the Stubbs gave us. They are awesome!!! Repetitive and a little annoying to us, but PERFECT for Eli.

4th of July fun!!!

The 4th of July was so fun! We were so excited to go out to the lake withthe Lesters' and Pearcys'! Eli isn't too big of a fan of his life jacket, but Ithink he got used to it. We are starting to put it on him a little in the poolwhile we hold him. Hopefully we eventually can go to the lake without tearswhen we first put it on him. The first hour he really didn't want much to dowith anyone, but eventually, he wanted to ease in with Daddy and then I wasable to get in too. I think he really warmed up to the lake toward the end.Steven and I LOVE to "bob" in the lake. I cannot image a summerwithout bobbing so hopefully he will love it as much as we do eventually.

On pinterest (Steven wants to have a "pinervention" with me-HA), Isaw a cute craft of an American flag. So after we ate a yummy dinner, the kidspainted American flag's. I wish we had gotten a group shot, but they wererunning in all different directions. I taped off the lines and the area for thestarts and the kids finger painted the white space left. Eli likes to fingerpaint, but not for too long. I had to keep running and getting him and bringinghim back to the painting. Here are some cute kids of the kiddos in action.

Lake Fun!

Hudson and Eli "cleaning up" in the puddle

Eli Finger painting

Hudson and Ashley

Lexi's turned out really pretty!

Eden the artist.

Eli

Lexi and Ayden hard at work

Hudson the artist

They all turned out a little different, but here is how Eli's turned out. I think I am going to attempt to do white hand and foot prints on the blue. Cute HUH!

Love,

Kristin

Rodeo

During the 4th of July weekend, Steven, Eli and I were running errands and we spur of the moment decided to go to the rodeo. It is so fun watching Eli see new things through his eyes. He is learning to say his farm animals. As soon as he saw an animal he would try to name it. Most of the animals were "dogs," in his eyes, but he enjoyed himself. He loved all the music and bobbed his head everytime it was turned up. As some of you know, my parents were big rodeo-ers. Dad was a calf roper and Mom was a rodeo queen and barrel racer. To make PePa (I still don't know how to spell it) proud, we bought Eli a lasso. He "ropes" Filson which he is pretty much calf size so we will say he is a roper in training. As soon as we can get Eli to participate in mut-n-busting (spelling), where 4 year olds ride sheep like they are bulls, we are going to. It is so funny to watch and kids think they are soooo big and bad after they fall off their sheep. We had a fun night and since we didn't get to watch the fireworks on the 4th, we watched a little of the rodeo fireworks.