The Accidental Boilermaker

Evelyn's swim lessons ended last week (opening up our Tuesday afternoons), so we went to the park to play in the splash pad yesterday. Evelyn was not deterred by the cold water and in fact played in the water, dried off, played on the equipment and then decided she wanted to go back in the water.  Jameson however wanted nothing to do with the splash pad and instead kept repeating "swing swing." Today we spent the morning back at the zoo! We got an up close look at the new male lion. Jameson was very well behaved today and got to spend some extra time out of the stroller.   Playing in the rain forest tree house. Playing on the train. I think Evelyn was getting tired on me asking her to look at the camera if she wanted her picture taken.

Monday morning at the zoo with friends.  It was super busy, lots of end of the school year field trips, but it was a beautiful day. We rode the log ride around the Australia exhibit for the first time. Penguins Butterflies Jameson did really well today and didn't fight going back in the stroller after being allowed some run around time.

Jameson turned 16 months old yesterday.  It's hard to come up with ways he's changed since last month.  I know he has more words, but I can never remember what's new.  Bedtime stories continues to improve with Jameson almost sitting still the entire time.  He tried a hot dog the other day and loved it.  He can also climb up into the kitchen chairs which is not so great. Curious George remains his absolute favorite, but he also enjoys his cars and trucks.  Jameson has started driving them along the floor, the futon, even up and down my legs or arms.  He loves the park and swinging.   We had a very low key weekend.  I got some snuggles on the couch Saturday after my run.  This morning, Nate was off in Kokomo for a time trial and he had a PR for the course.

Pat and Paul came down for a visit and to help with some home improvement tasks.  Nate and Paul put up a new storm door and a battery back-up to the sump pump. We also walked to the park.  Jameson fell asleep in the jogger but we woke he up so he wouldn't miss out on the fun. We tried to go to soccer Thursday night but it got cancelled due to thunder and lightening.  Evelyn was very disappointed so we told her she could have popcorn and a movie instead before bed.

Our church offered family pictures for Mother's Day.  I think it's a good picture despite Jameson sticking his tongue out. On Saturday the kids and I went to the zoo while Nate was at bike practice. Playing the drums together. In the ostrich eggs. New penguin statues.   Shark attack! Evelyn is getting good at pretend surfing. I can sometimes let Jameson out of the stroller but I have to choose when carefully.  He doesn't always like going back in. On Sunday I got to go for a run and come home to doughnuts.  We spent the rest of the day playing outside and relaxing.

We left Baton Rouge on Monday and took two days to get home.  You can really only do a 14 hour drive once per vacation.  We spent Monday night at a hotel in Arkansas, got to go swimming, and found a good bbq restaurant for dinner. We made it home around 8pm Tuesday night.  Thank goodness for rest stops with nice playgrounds.

One reason we visited Baton Rouge when we did was so that Nate could race in the Louisiana state time trial in La Place, which happened to be halfway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He and Jeremy drove to La Place in Sunday morning and then met Meredith, me and the kids in New Orleans at District Doughnuts.  Despite warm temperatures and being on vacation, Nate did well and took first in his category. After doughnuts we went to the Audubon Zoo.  We briefly considered just touring downtown New Orleans, but decided Evelyn and Jameson would definitely enjoy the zoo more.  Maybe next time we can see more of New Orleans. This zoo had elephants.  Evelyn was pretty excited. Evelyn chose Uncle Jeremy to ride the carousel with her. Where to next Evelyn? Evelyn didn't like it, but Jameson was interested in this caterpillar. Riding an alligator.  The zoo had a big Louisiana swamp exhibit. A komodo dragon just like at the ...

Saturday morning we first went to the downtown Baton Rouge farmers market.  There were lots of fresh fruits and vegetables but we bought gelato instead. After the farmer's market, we walked to the levee to tour the USS Kidd and a Spanish tall ship. The USS Kidd is a museum ship and is permanently docked in Baton Rouge.  You really could walk just about anywhere on the ship.  The stairs were so steep we made Jeremy goes first to help Evelyn climb down. Sleeping quarters. Lots of big guns on this ship. Evelyn peeking out a door.  She did really good walking around the ships.  Nate and I took turns wearing Jameson (because he's heavy).  He slept through half of the USS Kidd.   El Galeon is currently sailing into different cities near the coast.  We were just lucky it was in Baton Rouge when we were. After the ships, naps, and dinner we relaxed in Arsenal park.

Friday morning we went to the Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center.  The nature center had lots of fun animals to see and then we walked the trails through the swamp.  We saw a gecko, a snake, and a barn owl. In the afternoon, we fed the ducks near LSU.     Then we played at the park.  After the park, we took a short tour around campus. Everyone had fun running down the Indian burial mounds. Riding Mike, the LSU mascot. Before we returned to the apartment we stopped for snoballs.  Snoballs are similar to Hawaiian shaved ice and come in about 50 flavors.  I tried fuzzy navel on Friday and when we went back on Sunday I had red velvet stuffed with ice cream which was amazing.