Summer is Here!

Summer doesn't officially begin until June, but we are pumped about the few recent weeks of super nice weather.  Meredith has been asking for about 4 weeks now when the pool will be open.  We keep telling her how many weeks are left and then we got into the number of days left and we were finally able to go on opening day on Saturday!  Meredith keeps trying to "swim like a fish" (as she says) in the bathtub, so we were all looking forward to the pool opening :)

Meredith took a little while to get comfortable in the water, probably because it was so cool.  But once she did, she was very eager and enjoyed the water.  She went down the big yellow slides with Daddy and Mommy and even once by herself (with a little push from Mommy).  Luke seemed really excited about it, but once we got his feet in he was scared.  It will probably just take him a while to warm up to it.

This was our first time in town for Memorial Day in a few years, so it was nice to have a 3-day weekend to relax.  We ended up going to the pool two of the three days.  We also went to Morraine View State Park and walked along the dock, then had a picnic lunch at a small park in Leroy on the way home.  Beautiful weekend!

My pretty girl.

This girl is obsessed with dandelions.  Needless to say, we finally applied weed 'n feed to the backyard this weekend....hehe :)

As long as it took for Mommy to take this picture was as long as they stayed in this spot.  Way too close to the water for our comfort!

It was bright out!

Last summer, all she wanted to do was swing at the park.  This summer, she loves the slides. 

They look so much alike here, with their gray shirts and red hats (okay, and the red hair helps too!).

Mommy and Luke.

Why won't toddlers (AKA: Meredith) cooperate for pictures?

So cute in his little trunks.  This time last year, he was only 3 months old and spent most of the time sleeping in his stroller while Meredith swam.

This is what happened most of the time we tried to put him in the water.  If we went in while holding him, he did much better.

We brought a ball with us to play with at the pool.  It's a GREAT way to make instant friends :)

She was practicing holding her nose.

I Hate Naps

Let's put it this way...I LOVE naps when the kids will nap.  It gives me a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the morning.  The stars and moon have to align just right for both kids to nap at the same time on the same day.  Anymore, it's a very rare occurrence.  When Meredith was a baby, she would protest sleep horribly but once she finally fell asleep, things went fine and she got the sleep she needed.  Her brother, on the other hand, goes to sleep very easily with little to no protest.  However, he takes extremely short naps (we went through a period of two months of 30 minute naps...it was terrible!).  Now, he naps for about 1 to 1.5 hours a day, which I still don't think is enough and likes to wake up around 5:15 a.m. and then fuss all morning.  Anyway, my struggle lately has been with Meredith.  Whether it be nap time or bedtime, she keeps getting out of bed.  It drives us NUTS!  She gets out of bed really quietly and doesn't disturb Luke (since they now share a room), but we hear the door knob turn and the white noise get louder and look up and behold - it's Meredith staring down at us from the hallway.  We've tried disciplining and positive reinforcement and nothing seems to help.  This week has been the worst.  She basically refuses to nap for me.  She talks and talks and I have to end up bringing her downstairs for some quiet time in the playpen.

Some people have mentioned to me that maybe she is ready to give up naps.  We know that's not the case, since she is so crabby by about 4:00 all the way until bedtime.  Today she went on and on about how she didn't feel good, but told me she wasn't tired.  I told her that she could sit in her playpen while I read to Luke and maybe that would make her feel better.  Soon after, Chad called me and this is what happened while I was on the phone, with the lights on and Luke running around yelping.  Yep, I think she still needs a nap.

Birthday Girl

The birthday girl is now officially three years old!  On the walk up to bed the other night, we told her that when she woke up in the morning she would be three.  She asked, "When will I be two again?".  The more I thought about it, I realized that I won't ever have a two year old Meredith again.  Sigh.  We celebrated her birthday with a trip to the St. Louis Zoo.  To say that she was excited would be an understatement.  She couldn't wait to see the "big" animals - giraffes, rhinos, hippos, and elephants.  We have a nice zoo here in town, but not near the variety as this larger zoo could offer.  We had a great time!  The Perry grandparents and Uncle Derek were able to join us also.  A beautiful day as well: 78 degrees, sunny, and no rain!

This was taken before we left town, at the crack of dawn....okay, well 7:15 but same difference :)  I found this hat for her at a consignment shop.  It has a super wide brim, which I thought would be good for day-long outings such as this.

The birthday girl with the Perry family.

Meredith didn't want Daddy to "touch her" in this picture.  Can you tell we let the birthday girl have her way on her special day?

I was so thankful for the three extra sets of hands for this day.  My only regret was that I didn't bring the double stroller.  It would have come in handy later in the afternoon when both kids wanted to rest at the same time.

Isn't she such a big girl?

Pelican!  I love his/her spiky hair :)

Luke was getting in on the action.  We had him in the stroller quite a bit of the day, but once we got to a new animal he would get fidgety and grunt which meant he wanted out to see the animal.

I love this girl!

I love this picture!  I captured it just as she was coming off of seeing a gorilla.

Getting out to stretch!

Watching the gophers.  

Grandma Perry and Meredith

Mommy and Baby Elephant.  Absolutely adorable to see!

Luke would never fully fall asleep (until the drive home), but came pretty close!

Daddy, Meredith, and the elephant.

Meredith had her first ever ice cream cone from start to finish.  She loved the strawberry flavor.  I first got her dip n' dots, but it was way too cold for her and she said she wanted my ice cream cone instead....okay, anything for the birthday girl.

Meredith loved counting the humps on the camels (probably because of her Dr. Seuss book).  The camels were shedding, which was extremely weird to me.

Zebra!

Lions!

We were so close-up with the ostrich.  Really neat!

Love her face here after walking through the mist (on the far left). 

What better display of God's creation/creativity/coloring than the flamingo.  I have less nice things to say about their smell, though :)

Ended the day by test driving her new ride before heading back to Bloomington.  

She was pooped!

Grandpa and Grandma Prentice came over the next day to help us celebrate Meredith's birthday at home.  She loved seeing both sets of grandparents this weekend.

Luke followed Meredith around, wanting to "help" her open her gifts (also known as: playing with wrapping paper.)

Before Grandpa and Grandma left town, we played in the backyard.  I love the way Luke was walking around - with his belly pooched out...hehe :)

What a sweet way to end her birthday weekend - picking a bouquet of dandelions.   I guess it's time to weed n' feed the backyard.