Columbian Park

On Friday, we spent the day with good friends and had a FULL day of FUN for FREE! We went to Columbian Park in Lafayette. It was soo great! We went to a mini zoo (which is what all the pictures are from) and played on some super fun playgrounds. Next time we go back, we will have to spend the day at the water park. Check out this cute little zoo! So many interactive exhibits = so much fun!

The wallabies--they hopped on the path and all over the place!

A little petting zoo--They had 15 baby goats. Lilly was not so sure she wanted to be too close to those goats.

Our favorite exhibit-The river otters! They could swim on all sides of the tunnel and played really close to us. When one of the otters went RIGHT underneath Owen's feet, we jumped and clung to me like a leach for several minutes..a little too close for comfort!

All the kids got soaked from head to toe playing in the water! Perfect for a hot summer day!

Bike Ride

And not just any bike ride...a MOTORcycle BIKE ride

and Lil' Sis had fun watching, wishing she could ride too.

Side by Side

Enjoying the afternoon on our backyard playground

Did I mention that my kids love food?

First try at a whole banana

First taste of corn on the cob

Swim, swim, swim

Both of our kiddos started the season with timidness around the water. Owen has been warming up to the idea of swimming and enjoys jumping off the side of the pool into Mommy or Daddy's arms with a little splash.

Lilly did not approve of swimming pools until this weekend. She used to cry if we even walked toward the edge of the pool. But, something made her change her mind...She decided that this baby innertube was pretty cool! She thoroughly enjoyed sitting in here and watching everything going on around her. YAY!

Circus Parade

The next town down the road has one of the biggest amateur circus' in the world. To kick off "Circus Week" they have a HUGE parade! I took the kids, (sadly, Jimmy had to work so he didn't get to enjoy the fun) to see what it was all about. For the whole 2 hours, Owen sat in the heat watching the bands, clowns, tractors, trucks, lions, elephants, bears, etc. Lilly did really well hanging in there even though she probably would have rather been taking a nap.

One of Lilly's loves

FOOD! She always gets so excited when it's time to eat...and soo upset when the food is gone!

I just love her and her sweet personality.

FOOD! She

The Cass County Fair

The county fair was a couple weeks ago and we took the kids a couple times during the week to see the animals and walk around and get ice cream. Owen is still talking about the pigs two weeks later.

Lilly LOVEed the horses!

Why Owen loves our neighbor

Our neighbor is a collector of tractors. This is one of the reasons that Owen has taken such a liking to our kind neighbor. The other day, our neighbor saw Owen outside trying to learn to ride his tricycle. He hollered across the road that he had something Owen would like. So we followed him over to his barn and he pulled out this pedal tractor. Owen is obsessed! We spent the next hour or so riding it up and down the road,...and Owen's favorite: down the hill! It didn't matter that we were experiencing a heat wave--this boy had himself a TRACTOR to ride!

July 4th

We went up to South Bend to visit the Rodriguez family and celebrate the 4th. Our kiddos had a blast playing together. Owen and Ryder played hard the whole time...so hard that Owen fell asleep literally 30 seconds after driving away from their house to head home.

Lilly stands up every chance she gets.

Owen shivering at the splash pad.

And, our fireworks show. Here's the audience.

The boys LOVED watching their daddies set off the "booms."

Owen didn't like the smoke in his eyes.

Sparklers

The boys took a trip to the park in Ryder's "swagger wagon."

Thanks, Brandon and Alex, for a great time!

They melt my heart...

We were ready ahead of schedule before church yesterday, so we went out on the porch to take a couple pictures. (Thanks, Robin, for making the beautiful dress for Lilly! She wears it quite often!)

Aren't they sweet? Owen even decided to give his little sis a squeeze for a couple of pictures.