St. Louis Zoo

On our LONG drive to Michigan last Friday, we stopped in St. Louis for a few hours to wear Barrett out. We went to the zoo and we ate dinner, after which we put him in his pajamas and took off again. We thought about spending the night in a hotel and finishing the trip on Saturday morning, but Barrett fell soundly asleep, so we decided to go the whole way!

Barrett was so excited about riding the "choo-choo"!


Momma and B on the train:


Another nice picture on the train:


Daddy and B on the carousel:


B liked this penguin:


This was at a playground in the children's zoo area:


No more pictures!


The zoo was great and we could have spent all day there! There was so much we didn't see, because we wanted to get back on the road. Maybe we can go back someday and have even more fun!

Swimming video

This is a video that Kaitlyn's mommy took of Kaitlyn and Barrett swimming at a recent playgroup. It mostly focuses on Kaityn, but since I can never get a good video of Barrett while we're swimming (since I'm in the water!), this is the best I can do for now. It gives you a good idea of how confident Barrett is at the pool and you can see that he goes under water with no fear! I can't wait until next year when we do swim lessons!!

18 months!

I have a one and a half year old today!

Reading some books that were Max's when he was little:


Funny book!


Finally paying attention to Momma:


Close up:


Typical Barrett, climbing:

Swingin'

Guess what Max spent this weekend building for Barrett??!! A swing set! It's not completely finished yet, but it's completed enough for Barrett to play on it. My job while Max was outside building was to keep Barrett from doing things like the picture below. I'll admit I didn't do such a good job. Do you know how hard it is to keep a little boy from helping his daddy with tools? Pretty dang hard, apparently!


Here's the set. There are monkey bars that will be added to the right side and a slide will be added to the front. Also, there will be a tarp-like roof that goes over the little fort on top. Another swing and a glider are almost ready to hang, too. Check out Barrett sticking his head out the side of the clubhouse!


He was so happy when he discovered the clubhouse!


The planks on the back can be a desk or benches to sit on.


This is definitely Barrett's favorite part:


We've already logged HOURS on that swing.


Today, Barrett discovered that he can climb the ladder all by himself. Here ends Momma being able to let Barrett roam the backyard alone for a few minutes. Sob, sob!


Hi Momma! I love my new swing set!!

My Big Boy

Barrett is turning into a kid right before my eyes! We just ate lunch out together and he sat in a booster seat all by himself and ate his bagel. It felt so weird to have him sitting across from me instead of next to me in a highchair. It was weird, but nice, too. In the past few weeks, he's switched from a highchair to a booster seat at home and he seems to love it. He hasn't even looked at the highchair in at least a week. We also bought him a toddler bed, which he is napping in as I type. This is the first time he's slept in it, so I guess we'll try it again tonight and see how it goes. He almost always ends up adjusting more quickly than I expect him to and hopefully this will be the same way.


Here he is playing around in the new big boy bed (before we put a mattress in it):


I just included this pic so the whole bed can be seen:


I think he likes it!


Happy to be at the table!


Eating breakfast in his new booster seat:


Picking out lunch:


Helping give the dogs biscuits before we go out for the day:


Uh oh, well, Barrett just woke up and wanted in his crib. We'll just have to wait a few days and try again! I really didn't expect to fully move him over to the new bed until he is two (in January), so I was surprised he was in it today. Oh well.

Science Museum

Max and I decided kind of last minute today to take Bear to the Natural Science Museum. We ended up having a lot of fun and Bear was nonstop exploring, walking around and playing! He really like the aquarium part of the museum and laughed so hard when one of the fish that sucks the algae off the side (I have no idea what they're called, sorry) swam up to him and started cleaning off the glass very close to his hand. He also really enjoyed a wooden boat that was set up for kids to play on.


Here he is "driving" the boat:


He was too excited to take a nice picture with Momma!


Being serious on the boat:


In the "Bone Yard", which is supposed to look like an archaeological site.


Fish!!


Playing on the big frog:


Being silly:

New Picnic Table

A few days ago, Barrett and I went to the park and when we got back, a new picnic table from Grandma and Granddad J. was waiting on the front porch for us! Bear really loves it and has been sitting at it to eat his daily popsicle.