1st Parade

I love it when Jack gets to experience something for the first time. It makes me feel like a little kid again! This year we took him to the Anderson annual 4th of July Parade. It was definitely a 'small town' parade with the highlights being the local firetruck and high school marching band. But, with the sirens blaring and the drums beating away Jack was pretty excited about the whole thing. There were also quite a few dogs there and he was very interested in meeting each of them. Towards the end he hit a wall and was ready for a nap, as you can see in the last picture where he is about to fall asleep on Erin's head. (after the zoo, Reds game and the parade Erin had big gashes and cuts in his ears from hours of Jack holding on to them like handles...what a good DAD!) Here are some pictures.
(promise to post his bday pictures soon!)

From Parade

From Parade

From Parade

From Parade

From Parade

From Parade

Go Reds!

We were busy last week. I had the week off so we tried to pack in lots of fun stuff. One afternoon was spent going to a Reds Game. This was Jack's second game, but last year he pretty much slept and we only stayed four innings. This year he was much more entertained by the whole experience and we stayed six innings before he was too wiggly to endure.
He loved it when people cheered and when music was playing. His favorite part was playing with various bottles that we had...empty beer bottle, empty coke bottle. He now calls all bottles ba ba and kept asking for one and then taking a 'sip'. The other excitement of the outing was that he kept his shoes on the whole time...a record setting event!
I think he looks so grown up in his little Reds hat....pretty cute. Here are the pictures....

From Reds game 09

From Reds game 09

From Reds game 09

From Reds game 09

From Reds game 09

From Reds game 09

We're Goin' to the Zoo Zoo Zoo...

Aunt Jessica came down for the day and we took Jack to his first trip to the Cincinnati Zoo. It was so fun to finally show him all of the animals we have been naming as we read books and play with stuffed animals and toys. He has been saying the word bear for a few weeks now (as in Teddy Bear), but now got to actually see a bear!
He seemed to love watching the animals. He also got a huge kick out of repeating the noises of the animals who would 'talk' to him. There was one particular herding sheep type animal that make a wonderful bleeting BAH noise. He and Jack went back and forth for a good 2-3 minutes BAAAAHHHHING at each other. It was very comical. The Bonobo Monkeys were also quite talkative and Jack loved watching them hang and leep around their enclosure while making some great monkey noises.
I have to give the zoo lots of credit they really get you close to many of the animals...Jack even got to touch a snake and feed a lorikeet bird. After our trip, I wished we had brought the video camera to capture some of the moments of the day...but here are some pictures, you will just have to use your imagination to add the noises!

From Zoo

From Zoo

First look at a rhino. I love the look on their faces, like WOW that is a really big and scary animal! Note Jack pointing slyly towards the scary rhino.

From Zoo

From Zoo

Bear Bear Bear. Actually, he was REALLY in love with the huge blue ball that the Polar Bear had to play with.

From Zoo

From Zoo

Here is the sheep that Jack became best buds with. BAH BAH BAH.

From Zoo

The Lorikeets were beautiful...and HUNGRY!

From Zoo

From Zoo

Hi Mr. Goat!!

From Zoo

Look Mom and Jess...I get to pet a MOOO cow!

From Zoo

Three Monkeys plus Aunt Jessica.

From Zoo

Real Monkeys! They were making some amazing and loud noises and really swinging all around. Almost as if someone paid them to really put on a show for us! It made the elephants and giraffes look kinda boring.

From Zoo

From Zoo

Snakes are COOL!

From Zoo

Aunt Jess is even cooler....thanks for coming for the first trip to the zoo!!

Favorite

The first picture here is my new favorite picture of Jack. We had spent the morning swimming in the pool and because it was super sunny we put sunblock on his head and hair. These pictures are post-swim and his hair is all greased up and going nuts. My favorite is a simple shot of him looking out one of our front windows....

From Jack window

From Jack window

From Jack window

TMK gets married!

My college buddy, Tracy Knudsen tied the knot in Park City, Utah. Erin and I left Jack with Grandma and Grandpa and make the trek to Utah for the festivities. It was an action packed and FUN weekend! It was wonderful to see all of my college friends again! Park City was absolutely beautiful. (it was home of the 2002 winter Olympics) The had a Friday night BBQ at the Olympic Park overlooking the aerial skiing practice pool. We all went back the next day to enjoy the thrill of the country's steepest zipline, the extreme toboggan ride, and an amazing show from many 2010 olympic hopeful aerial skiers. The wedding itself was SOOOO fun. Tracy found a kick-ass band and they literally had to kick us off the dance floor after four plus hours of dancing. Tracy and Brad are a beautiful couple and we thank them for having such a FUN destination wedding!

From Utah

From Utah

From Utah

From Utah

From Utah

From Utah

From Utah

From Utah

Splish Splash

Jack loves water and splashing about. He was introduced to a 'water table' at Mia's birthday party and we decided to get him an early birthday present. Here are some pictures from his first playtime at his very own water table. He loves going around in circles splashing and throwing things in and out of the table.

From Water table

From Water table

From Water table

From Water table

Dirty Boy

These are some pictures I couldn't help but post. Jack looks like such a little boy in this set of shots. He was chasing a ball outside in the morning and took a tumble and hit his head. Later it was wet after a rain and he was crawling around all over the place playing with the hose and dirt. So here are the pictures of my dirt ridden, scratched up little man...

From Dirty Boy

From Dirty Boy

From Dirty Boy

From Dirty Boy

Mia's Birthday Bash

The Bensman Family threw a wonderful party for the first birthday of their daughter Mia. (It was a few weeks ago...I am behind in blog posts!) Amy is my cousin, which I think would make Jack and Mia second cousins (and Mia my first cousin once removed!). They have a huge pool in their backyard and we had a great time visiting with the family and playing outside. Jack's other second cousins Liam, Charlotte and Olivia were also there to play! Jack spent a good hour playing in their water table (actually he loved it so much we ended up buying him one a week later!). Here are a few pictures from our afternoon. Thanks Amy and Brian for a FUN day!

From Mia's Birthday

From Mia's Birthday

From Mia's Birthday

From Mia's Birthday

From Mia's Birthday

From Mia's Birthday

From Mia's Birthday

From Mia's Birthday

From Mia's Birthday