Last Day Of School

Cole finished up his first school year.  He had a fantastic year and really enjoyed his class.  He has a few weeks off and then starts summer camps for the remainder of the summer before school starts next Fall.

Sesame Street Live - Elmo

We experienced our first big show with Cole this weekend.  Sesame Street Live was playing in Long Beach.  This was the first real event we have taken Cole to and he loved it.  The show was great and he was engaged the whole time.  He talked about the show the rest of the day.  

Rieman Gardens

On Wednesday we went to Rieman Gardens on the ISU campus.  It is a beautiful garden that also has a butterfly sanctuary.  Currently they have a number of large sculptures of insects on the property.  Cole had a lot of fun running around looking at the fountains and the flowers.  They also have the second largest gnome in the world.  They started out building the largest and in the time it was being built someone else built a larger one.  

Driving the tractor.

When we first pulled into the garage when we arrived, Cole saw the tractor and said "That is a beautiful tractor!"  Needless to say he was excited to see and ride the tractor.  He mentions it each time we go into the garage.  You can see the pure joy on his face when Grandpa started the machine.  Cole quickly got the hang of steering...almost too quickly which scares mom and dad a bit. 

Iowa Trip - New Trike

We are having a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  As you will by the pictures we have been very active.  Luckily the weather has been cooperating and we have had some really nice weather.  

These two photos were taken right before we left.  This shows you Cole's favorite spot at the park, the ledge where he can race his cars.  There is a little path being worn where he races back and forth.  The poor tires on his cars are taking a beating and we have unfortunately lost a few cars due to playing.  Concrete and plastic tires don't go together.

 Here Cole is showing off his new trike at Grandma and Grandpa's.   They have some nice long sidewalks where Cole can ride for a long time.  He is really getting the hang of things and loves racing around.  It really wears him out.  

From Memorial Day Services.  It was a really windy day.  Cole wasn't a fan of the wind and wanted to get back into the car.

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing all of our moms a very Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Easter!

Cole still hasn't quite figured out the whole Easter Egg Hunt thing, but he did enjoy finding a few eggs. We had to convince him to try the Jelly Beans and chocolate.  He didn't trust us at first.  He found that he really liked the Jelly Beans, but for some reason was calling them coffee beans.  

It was a bit of a dreary day but we were able to go for a long walk and play at the beach for a little while.  Then we headed over to our friends Ray and Zoe's house to have dinner.  They have two young children   one of which is close to Cole's age.  Cole loves to hang out with his friend Luke.  He even did a happy dance when we said we were going to Luke's house.  

The boys dyed some eggs and then had an egg hunt outside.  I think Luke was more into the candy than finding the eggs as he would open up the egg as soon as he found one and take a break for a little snack. 

Overall a very nice Easter Sunday.

Song And Dance Before Bed

The other night Cole was getting ready for bed and was not ready for sleep.  So he put on a show for us.  Very happy kid.  He did his number and then went straight to his room to get in bed.  Mary and I were laughing pretty hard.  Sorry that the video is not a little better.

Our Happy Worker

Cole loves to sing and hum lately.  He also loves his broom.  So he recently combined the two and is a happy worker.  Think he will be this happy later in life when he has to do chores?  Keeping this video as proof!

March 2011

Cole has been spending a lot of time at the beach with Grammie and Papa.  He can dig holes for hours and not loose steam.  

One tired boy.  When he sleeps, he sleeps hard.  And does not like to be woken.  We have been trying to wake him from his nap so he doesn't sleep too late and then not sleep at night.  A bit of a struggle.  But when he does get a good nap he wakes up all refreshed and says "I had a really good nap!"  Very cute.

Pretending to still be asleep.

He loves jump ropes.

This is a mailbox near where Grammie and Papa are staying.  Whenever Cole goes down there they have to stop off to see the Giraffe. 

During some recent storms a few trees fell.  This was a cargo van that took the brunt of a falling tree.  

Snack time.