Lane's Birthday Safari

Our sweet Lane turned 4 on Tuesday.  For his birthday we got to go on a Safari with Grammy and Grampy at the most amazing place!   It's not open to the public, Clint knows the owners through work and they were kind enough to allow our family to go on a private tour.

Lane was the most excited about getting to go on a "school bus".  He talked about it all morning!  We were happy to see that it was actually an old school bus when we got there.

 The crew on the bus ready to go!  As we drove to see our first animal we were greeted by an Ostrich.

Our first big animal to see up close was a Black Rhino.  We all got to feed it apples and bananas, Lane and Marlee held on tight to Daddy and Grampy. 

 Marlee's favorite part of our visit was watching out the window.  She spent her time on the bus standing in the seat watching out the window.

My favorite animals of the day were the monkeys.  They had 4 or 5 different kinds.  Lane is crazy about his stuffed monkey EE so we thought he would love to see some real ones.  It took him a little while to warm up to them, but once he did he loved them!  We fed them lots of crasins!  I loved how they would reach their little hands out for food.  One monkey in particular reached it's hand out and patted Marlee's shoulder.  It scared Marlee so we stepped back a bit and the monkey reached it's foot and tail out to try to bring us back closer.  It was neat to see the animals were just as interested in us as we were them.

We got to see some tigers.  We had never seen tigers so close!

 And our final animals of the day were two giraffes.  We got to feed them baby carrots.  This giraffe really liked Marlee's hair.

 And this giraffe gave Clint a big smooch!  Our guide told Clint he could put the carrot in his mouth and the Giraffe would take it from him.  He did! 

The Campout

 Lane and Clint spent their first night out in the backyard in a tent last night!  Lane was super excited to "camp".  Clint and Lane set up the tent late yesterday afternoon to get things started.

 Marlee helped a little and was very interested in the tent once it was set up.

Lane and Marlee were both ready to move in for the night.   They had the best time playing in the tent while we got our picnic together.

We had our dinner outside on a picnic blanket by the tent. 

And after dinner we made a little campfire to roast marshmallows.

Lane's face doesn't look like it, but our smores were delicious!

Marlee loved hers too!

After we had our treats we sat by the campfire and Lane sang us a few songs while playing his "drum".  Marlee tried to sing along every few words.

About 9 pm the girls headed inside to sleep in our comfy beds.  Lane was sooo excited to finally get to be in the tent alone with Dad.  They both took out a flashlight and Lane took out books for them to read together including the boys favorite book that inspired the camp out "A Camping Spree with Mr. McGee."

I left the camera with Clint, he said Lane loved reading with his flashlight.

The boys lasted outside until 1:15 am.  The wind chimes finally got to Clint. I think they both had so much fun that another camp out, with the windchimes down, is in their future! 

They both took a great nap this afternoon!  Even Murphy was worn out!

Confessions from the Ballpark

Baseball season started for us last Friday. I excitedly took the kids to the game, but my excitement quickly went down hill. Marlee was all over the place!! Girlfriend wore me out!

She was cute eating her hot dog, but man she was a handful! After the game was over Friday I decided that I would keep the kids home the rest of the home stand - I thought all of us would be happier. But, tonight in a weak moment I decided to try it again. And I'm so glad we did! We had a great time!

We ate dinner and yelled for the team. Water bottle wrappers are very entertaining!

Lane got to do the bungee jump. He thought EE would like it too.Marlee jumped in the bouncy house and loved it!And we made it up to Clint's booth just as the game was ending. The kids love to see Daddy while he's working.Tomorrow night is the last game of this home stand and were going back! Wish me luck!

'Twas the night before...

Baseball season officially begins for our little family. The Express open at home tomorrow night so Clint has been super busy getting everything ready for the game tomorrow night. We took dinner up to him tonight and got to hang out for a little bit. Lane made a bee line to Clint's microphones. That boy loves to hear himself on the mic... like father like son?

Marlee got to have a microphone too.

We went down on the field with Clint for a little bit. Lane and Marlee had so much fun running around. They each took a baseball down to play with.

And now... Lane and Marlee on their Mics. It's hard to tell but Clint turned them on so they could hear themselves over the system. I think we have two naturals on our hands!

Coloring Eggs

This was Lane and Marlee's first year to color eggs for Easter. They both had so much fun! We set up a little station for each of them and the went to town. Marlee didn't use her little egg dipper tool she used her hands to drop her eggs in and then pull them out.Lane thought his tool was pretty cool and used it like a pro.Removing eggs from the color.

Marlee really enjoyed coloring her eggs. She had so much fun putting eggs in and taking eggs out of the color.

The finished eggs. The kids decided to dip them twice and they turned out great!

Grammy's Surprise

We made a quick trip to Oklahoma for the weekend to surprise Grammy. As Lane puts it, "she got a new knee". We wanted to check in on her and see how she is recovering. I was a little concerned that it might be hard for her to have us there, but the kids did great and we all had a great time together, as usual!
Grammy's pretty much confined to the couch, a daybed in a guest room where she does her knee machine, and her bed. Marlee found a perfect spot to play with Grammy.

Grammy had a walker, and was transitioning to a cane while we were there. Lane found a cane that was adjustable and latched onto it so Grammy insisted that we get a cane for Marlee too.

Dad spray painted it pink and the kids were off and running with their canes.Marlee even needed her cane to swing.And Lane used his to tow Marlee back when she tried to take off on his 4 wheeler.Thursday night we had a really fun hot dog roast on the back porch. Nina and Popeye came and we all loved having them there! Lane and Marlee found a little spot away from the grown ups to eat their dogs.Lane loves to make funny faces for the camera.I was able to get one quick pic of Lane and Marlee with Nina and Popeye before they left for the night. No one looked at the camera for me but, they're so cute together I love it anyway!

Peter Cottontail

Yesterday the kids and I played with Peter Cottontail. He lives up in Lane's closet and comes out every year just for Easter. Lane and Marlee love the song and have lots of fun singing and dancing with him. Yesterday afternoon Lane decided that he was going to teach me the song. He sat his chair a ways away from me and sang with the rabbit a couple of times. I asked him if I could video him singing and he promptly said No. So, I asked again and told him if he would do it I'd let him have a couple of pieces of candy from the Easter candy Grammy and Grampy sent. He very quickly decided that sounded look a good idea.

Lane really turned it on for the camera. The first few times he just sat in his chair and sang, but when the camera came out he added some motions and got into it! Lane's just started really singing along with me in the past few months. He's always liked songs, but he's really getting into being heard and doing the motions when he's singing. He's such a cutie!