Blank Park Zoo

One of the things both Adam and I have been waiting for is to take Reagan to the zoo(corney I know)! It was a perfect day for the zoo on Saturday. We packed up the car and drove to Des Moines. If you haven't been to Blank Park it really is a decent zoo for the kiddos!

Reagan was quick to point out the first "animal" once we walked into the zoo!



Feeding the Birds! It was really neat, for $1 you could go in and feed the birds. They were all very tame and just wanted to be fed. At one time Adam had about six birds perched on his arm eating off of his little stick of food. Reagan thought it was pretty funny. She only squirmed alittle when the birds were fighting for the food.









Checking out the monkeys.





I really wanted to feed the Giraffes but by the time we were done eating they were done. Even though we weren't able to feed them we still were able to see them up close.









Goats, Goats Everywhere!!









Feeding the Fish! I don't know if you can tell from these pictures but the fish are very well fed! They continue to jump and fight for the food though!





Of course these aren't all the pictures that we took but a few highlights of our day at the zoo!! Oh and you can't forget this one...we took this as we were pulling out of the parking lot! We had been in the car for literally 30 seconds!!

Rainy Day

It was another rainy day here today so we had to spend the morning inside. While I did a little picking up in the kitchen Reagan discovered a new toy...a cardboard box! She had so much fun climbing in and out of it. It will definitely be something that we remember on future rainy days!

Cousin Lauren's 3rd Birthday Party!

On June 5th we traveled down to Cedar Rapids for Lauren's 3rd birthday party! I can't believe she is 3 already! It was perfect weather so we got to spend most of the time outside. Dustin and Beth bought the kids a big bouncy house last year for Christmas and they had that set up for the kids to jump and play in. To my amazement Reagan jumped right in and had a ball!







Lauren's big gift this year was a bike! I bet she gets a lot of use out of it this summer!



Time for birthday cake!!



Happy Birthday Lauren, we love you!!

Happy Retirement Grandma North

Adam's mom, Barbara retired from the Ames Community School District on June 4. We surprised her with a visit that evening for dinner.

This was a new adventure for us. I am not sure if we are trained or if Reagan is trained but we try to stick to her bedtime of about 7 or 7:30. We really wanted to make this work so we went with the flow and it worked out great! We didn't leave Ames until 9 that night but she fell asleep in the car and had no trouble going back to sleep when we transferred her from her carseat to her crib.

We had a nice evening and enjoyed seeing Barbara and Les along with Anna and Jon. We grilled up some good steaks and had lots of laughs!

Congratulations!!

Here are some pictures from the night.





Reagan loves the strawberries!





Playing ball

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

I have to start off by saying I couldn't have asked for a better weekend! It was absolutely PERFECT!

Friday night Adam got home early so we started the weekend off with going out to eat. I don't know who likes eating out more, me or Reagan! On the way home we stopped and got some ice cream and then relaxed the rest of the night.

Reagan slept in until 8AM on Saturday, so did Adam and I:) This was a treat in itself! We did some house work, mowed the lawn and then got our swimsuits on and headed the the Cedar Falls pool!! It was a very warm day and it was opening day for the pool so we were joined by about 1,000 other people. As expected Reagan was reserved and wanted to take it all in before she got her feet wet. It took her about 45 minutes before she was willing to get into the water! I don't know if she got tired of watching other the other kids play, got tired of sitting on the edge of the pool holding her blankie or if it looked like dada was having too much fun but she finally reached for the water!









This facility is only a couple of years old but it is really nice. They have a zero entry area for kiddos like Reagan. In this area there is slides, water toys and a little playground. Other areas include the lazy river, two water slides, a lap pool, splash pad with sprinklers and then just an area for older kids to swim.

On Sunday Reagan slept until 7:30 and again, so did Adam and I:) It was another special treat for us! Sunday was another beautiful day so we packed a picnic lunch (which consisted of Subway) a few things for Reagan and headed to George Wyth State Park for a picnic! We found a good shade tree across from the playground and enjoyed lunch and some play time before Reagan saw the playground.









When we got home on Sunday we thought we would let her take a dip in her pool. She couldn't wait to get in so we let her dive in with her diaper on. It didn't take long for it to fill up and soon she was pulling at it because it was uncomfortable and heavy! We enjoyed some more outdoor playtime before heading in for supper.





Today we got up and headed out to school to do some packing up. Reagan has another tooth coming through today so she has been a little more irritable but who could blame her! As I write this now she is down for a nap and so is Adam. It is nice enough to have the windows open here and the breeze is just wonderful.

I hope everyone had as nice of a weekend as we did!! We also can't forget on this Memorial day those who fought for our country and those who are currently fighting. Thank you!

Praying for Ben Ricketts

Many of you know about and have been following the story of 22 month old Ben Ricketts this past week and a half. For those of you who aren't aware- Ben's parents found him unconscious and tangled up in a mini blind cord last Sunday. He was in intensive care at the University of Iowa Hospitals for over a week and passed away on Tuesday night. I got to know Dave, Ben's father my sophomore year in college. He lived down the hall from me in the dorms. He was an amazing friend who was there for you if you ever needed him.

It was such a sad sad week. It was something that constantly was on my mind and I couldn't help but think of how Dave and Steph were doing each day. BUT- I've seen some amazing things amidst the tragedy. Ben's facebook page has over 49,000 followers who were/are praying for them His CaringBridge site has over 171,000 hits. I'd encourage you all to go to the CaringBridge site and read the entries Dave has posted this past week. It has been amazing to read about his faith and to hear him say "God is Good" even when it'd be so easy to hate God for the situation. And here's another blog you must read- written by their pastor who walked with them through this time.

This week, of course, reminded me not to take any moment for granted with Reagan. In light of these events, I hugged her a little tighter, rocked a little longer at bed time, cuddled a little longer in the mornings, and giggled with her a little more. I'm thankful for every single moment I have with my precious family!

My heart continues to ache for Dave and Steph's loss. I am so thankful though that they have their faith in God to help carry them through such a difficult time. When seeing them at the visitation is was apparent that they are surrounded by love and support not only by their families but a community.

Reagan's Pool

Grandma Pat gave Reagan some money for her birthday and we knew exactly what she would enjoy this summer! We bought her a little pool! After pulling it out of the box it was a little smaller than we thought but it will be perfect for this summer!

We had some nice warm weather last weekend so we blew it up and let her get her first taste of summer fun last weekend! She was a little apprehensive at first which seems to be the case when we introduce her to something new but after we threw a few bath toys in with her she had fun!!





It started to cloud over and she started to get bored of the pool after awhile but she didn't want to take off her swimming suit! We played around in the backyard for a bit before heading inside.