This Autograph Could be Worth Millions Some Day...

With how big and athletic he is, Sean and I have always kind of joked about Aidan growing up to become a professional athlete. One day he could be making lots of money crushing people on the football field or dunking baskets on the hardwood, and then signing lots of autographs afterward (because he wouldn't be a stuck up athlete - he'd be very accommodating).

One day last week we were playing with chalk on the driveway, and little man went off to a corner by himself. All of a sudden, I heard him spell out loud, "A-I-D-A-N!" I went over to take a peek and he said, "No, wait...I have to put a string under it" and then he underlined his name.

We knew he had been working on spelling his name out loud and he was starting to write some of the letters, but he now can put them together - complete with an underline!

OK guys, here's your chance - this very autograph could be worth millions as Aidan's first "autograph"!

A Father's Day to Remember

Probably one of the most random things happened to us this Father's Day. We went up to my parents' house on Saturday to go to church then out to dinner to celebrate Sean and my dad. Originally we had planned to go to one restaurant, but it was so packed, so we decided to head to the restaurant at the local regional airport.

Ever since we have returned from our trip to Florida, Aidan has been obsessed with airplanes and flying, and has asked no less than once a week, "Can we go in an airplane?" As we were walking to our table, we saw a little airplane on the tarmac and pointed it out to the kids - Aidan quickly said, "I want to go on the plane!" as we walked past a nice family of three who smiled as he said that.

We got to our table and ordered our food and as we were doing that, the same nice family we walked by started to walk out onto the tarmac towards the very plane that Aidan was obsessing over. They got in and started the prop, and the kids ran to the window and pressed their little faces up to it to watch. We noticed the plane wasn't moving - and all of a sudden they shut it down and walked back into the restaurant and approached our table with the restaurant manager alongside. The very nice dad and his 16-year-old son said, "We aren't in a big hurry, and we heard some kids wanted to ride on a plane. Want to come?"

WHAT?!? These complete strangers wanted to take my kids up in their plane? You all know how I feel about flying, so I told Sean just to take them out and look at it - maybe sit in it. All of a sudden, I got a text from Sean that said "We're going up!" What could I say at that point, except, "Bring my babies back safely...AND TAKE PICS!"

I sat there looking out the window shaking like a leaf as the nice family's mom took to the sky with my family. The dad and son were with me and reassuring me they'd be fine. I found out they live very close to us and all three of them - including the 16-year-old are licensed pilots.

Of course they landed safely, and as I ran out to my family, the flying family said, "Come to our hangar any time - we'll take you up!" I can safely say that none of us woke up this morning thinking something like that would happen. What a great memory - and so strange that I was mostly OK with some strangers taking my family up in the sky.

Happy Father's Day, indeed!


A bird's eye view of our college football stadium and track:

Interview With a Five Year Old **UPDATE**

Recently in summer preschool, Ava completed an assignment titled "This summer I am going to..." She gave three very good answers. *How many can you decipher?
*Answers:
1) swimming
2) King's Island
3) Emmas Laneys (Emma and Laney's)

Ian's 6th Birthday Party

Did I really just type that?!? I cannot come close to believing Ian is 6! We have known this boy literally from the first day of his life and have watched him grow into a big almost-first-grader-little-man.

Cute kiddos waiting for their pizza at the arcade:
After lunch, the kids were given tokens to play games on their own:
This picture makes me laugh because Ava looks a little too big for that little pony:
Aidan and Daddy ridin' on a hog:
Ava whackin' those moles - always a favorite:
Aidan is starting to accumulate quite the stash:
And Ava worked on her jackpot too...
...75 tickets = 1 proud girl:
However, the jackpot award of the day went to Logan. He scored 1000 tickets! I love how he's proudly pointing at the game while the tickets spew out:
Think he looks happy?
After games, we headed back to the party room for some Paradise Bakery cookie cake (mmmm) and presents:
Happy Birthday Ian - hope you had a fantastic day!

The Zoo!

This past weekend we made our first trip of the season to the zoo. This was a particularly exciting trip because we got to see the new tiger exhibit where we could get really close and actually see them!

I made sure to get a pic of the kids right when we got there before one or both of them had a meltdown or became disagreeable:
Usually the red panda is off hiding somewhere. We got to the zoo really early, so a lot of the animals were sleeping or just waking up, and not hiding because they were sick of seeing people:
Outside the tiger exhibit, a tiger expert had a little booth with a tiger skull, claw, and tooth cast to give people an idea of how large they are. I think this is the only tiger's mouth we'll let our kids put their hands in:

I'm not sure I like how the tiger is eying my children - she looks awfully hungry:
We always think it's funny that tigers do a lot of the same things our cat Gobi does - only on a much grander scale:
There was also a new bat exhibit at the zoo this year. It was so gross and creepy - they were just hanging from their feet with their big disgusting vein-y wings wrapped around them. Gave me the chills so much I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of them. We did let the kids see how big their wingspans were:
Ava thought the gibbons were pretty cool - especially these two. One was scratching the other's back:
Sean's favorite...the bear. He usually just paces back and forth angrily, and today was no different:
Aidan was digging the bear too:
Not sure what these guys were...some kind of yak or wildebeest:
My favorite! There is a new baby giraffe - he/she is on the far left getting his/her grub on:
There is a cool cheetah exhibit that includes a little racing game where you can pay $.50 to "race" a cheetah. Sean and Aidan gave it a try, and neither came close to succeeding. The moral of the story: don't try to outrun a cheetah - it will spell your certain demise:

And yet another new exhibit this year - warthogs! These guys were really ugly and awkward - but also strangely kind of cute. Maybe it's because "The Lion King" made them kind of endearing with Pumbaa's character:

And the infamous shark petting tank - this has been around a couple years. Every time we go, Ava insists she will be brave enough to pet one. And up until this year she has chickened out every time (despite the fact that she has pet numerous snakes and even an alligator). Waiting for the right opportunity:
She finally did it! Aidan did too (or should I say Sean shoved Aidan's hand under the water and forced him to pet one. This resulted in screaming and crying from a weirded-out boy).