Family Time

Visiting with family is one of my favorite things! 

Who wouldn't love this sweet face?

Oh, what a look!

Taken by Eli

Also taken by Eli

*Not* sharing with cousins

Loving on babies

"Fishing" at the park

He loves helping!

Super bright day, but he loved, loved, loved the trains at the Jenks herb festival. He really wanted to hold them!

Sad because he can't touch the trains!

This was the best self-control I've ever seen from him! NOT touching the train inches from his fingers!

Web City Park

Everyone has fun at the park!

She sure loves her daddy!

Why are rocks so fun? To stand on, climb, jump off...

... and throw in the water!

Even now, weeks later, Eli sees these pictures and talks about throwing rocks!

Believe it or not, this is not the same rock as before...

I think he was asleep half way back on the five-minute drive from the park to the house.

Train Park

Two weeks ago we went to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale where they had a special event just for children 6 and under. There were lots of people there, I didn't especially check to see if all the kids really were under 6 years old, but many, many little children were running around, lets just say that. 

They had so many things to do! Bounce houses, face painting, game booths, a petting zoo, balloons (and a particular guy making balloon animals), and best of all, train rides!! Everything was free, except for the train rides, they were $2 a person with children under 3 for free. We could have gone so many times! But the line was so long we had to wait close to 30 minutes for just one ride, and Eli really isn't that patient.

It was a super bright and sunny day, and the pictures suffered from it. But you can still see all the fun!

At the petting zoo we saw piglets, a miniature pony, chickens, bunnies, and goats. Eli wasn't too sure about being in the pen with all the animals roaming freely. He just stood and watched for a few minutes, then started walking slowly around...

He is actually very good around animals, for the most part. He will slowly approach, sometimes crouching down to their level, and just hold out his hand. He was gentle with the little horse, softly petting it's shoulder and back, and slow with the bunny (who was almost at big as he is), carefully touching it's back. 

 He loved the cool bounce house in the picture above. They had about 5 or 6 different ones, but this was his favorite (probably the one most suited to his age). Second favorite was the big slide! He went down several times. 

Next, we went inside a big building with lots and lots of toy trains. They had all different sizes and types.

Eli really liked this little train car he could get in, he climbed all over and tried all the controls.

From there, we went to ride the train! It was getting later in the morning, close to nap time, and Eli was fading while we waited for our turn to ride. 

 It was finally our turn! We were in the very front of the line, so we choose to sit in the front of the train right behind the engine. But being at the front of the line and getting in the train first meant we had to wait a few minutes while everyone else took their seats, hence the sad faces below. 

"Lets GOOO!"

He's ready!

Watching everything go by

This is his, "really, Mom, pictures?" face.

Going through the tunnel! He was so brave!

After the train ride, I think Eli got his second wind when he saw the cool playground. He really liked this rock to climb up to get to the slide. He was pretty good! 

Fun day!