some cute kids just being cute

A lazy Sunday afternoon painting the sidewalk with water.

Gabe charging the camera. I love this three toothed little grin. His fourth tooth just broke a couple days ago. In a little bit he'll be balanced again.

This summer we signed up for the Lincoln Safari at the library. It's so cute. You get a little book and a map. Then you go on a scavenger hunt of sorts. You pick a park and then the book gives you clues leading you to a rubbing. The book also has different fun activities that you can do at each park. Drew came with us so we hit up 3 parks in west Lincoln. Bowling Lake, Arnold and Olympic Heights. It's a lot of fun finding little places that I never knew existed. We're defiantly going to have to go back to Arnold this winter if it snows. The book said it's the best sledding in Lincoln and I'm sure they're right. Here are some of our pictures.

Calling all Lincoln friends...

If anyone else is doing the safari and would like to do it with us. Let me know. We did 3 at the beginning of summer and then 3 yesterday. That brings us up to drum roll... 6. Now that Drew's back in school full time we have a lot more park time.

Drew has season tickets for the Huskers. Opening game is Saturday night. If anyone wants to come over and hang out. I'll be home with some sleeping kids :)

And we're planning on going to the State Fair sometime in the not too distant future. We aren't sure when. So if anyone is going give us a shout out.

Indian Cave

We went camping at Indian Cave State Park for a couple days. I love camping. I told Drew it's funny that we pay money to sleep outside. It's a really neat Park. There used to be a town there called St Deroin. They've restored a couple of the buildings and do demonstrations in them, like broom making and candle stick making etc. Unfortunately they only do those things on the weekends and we were there during the week. As you drive further into the park to the actual "cave" you pass a little cemetery. We walked around and looked at some of the tomb stones. Most of them were too old to read, but there were all around the late 1800's and early 1900's. Except for a couple of people who were buried a couple years ago. That was a little strange. I read about how the cemetery is haunted by a man named Ritter. Interesting and a little creepy. There was also another cemetery on the map, but it wasn't off the main road it was in the woods and the path to it was closed. It was called the Half-Breed cemetery. Drew and I decided it must be where all the mud bloods are buried.:) In reality I'm sure it had something to do with the Frenchmen and Indian women. It was neat being in a place with so much history. Not a bad way to end our summer vacation.


Gabe and Drew reading about the cave.

The Missouri River.

Here is the Indian cave. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It was more of a wall than a cave. Molly was so excited to walk up the stairs.

There were wild turkeys everywhere. I have to be honest turkeys have to be some of the ugliest animals out there. Especially when they're running and there necks are bobbing. wow.

This seat is one of the greatest things ever. We stole it from my parents. I wish we had one for Molly.

There were little parks all around the state park. This one was at our campsite. I'm not sure if the picture really shows how scary it was. I was worried she was going to fall off the top. Molly didn't share my concerns she loved it. They don't make parks the way they used to.

Branched Oak Beach

We went to the Branched Oak State Park beach over the weekend. Molly loves sand. Molly loves water. Put them together and she's miserable. Here is how she preferred to spend her time. Snacking on the blanket.

Wet or dry Gabe's a fan of sand.

my boys.

Here are a couple of projects I've been working on. (don't mind the huge BBQ mark on Molly's shirt...) I made her this little hat. She also has a little yellow one. The giant flower is a hair bow I made. I can switch out the flower and the ribbon if I want. And then I made her this tutu. Yellow is her favorite color. The tutu is going to be part of her Halloween costume. I thought these were cute pictures. I love it that Molly loves all things girlie. I wish I knew about more crafty boy things...

Holy Zucchini!

Last week some friends gave us these zucchinis from their garden. Thanks Blacks'! They're enormous. You can gage the size by looking at our normal sized bananas. We've really been liking zucchini this summer. We've been grilling it on the griddle with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. So far we've used the biggest one. I'm going to freeze some for zucchini bread and stir fry, but if anyone else has any good zucchini recipes send them my way. I still have a lot...

Molly has become quite the climber. Ever since we got the bunk beds it seems she has lost all fear of falling.

We haven't been to the park around the corner at all this summer. I'd forgotten how much I like it. It's tiny and usually we're the only one's there. Because it's a small play structure I don't have to worry about Gabe falling off anything. It's nice being able to just watch and not chase him. I also brought Molly's bike and let her ride all over. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that? She's a really good peddler, now we just have to work on the steering...

A little of this and that...

I'm not sure what to say about this picture... Molly thought that resting her legs on her handlebars would be a good idea? Well it wasn't. She started screaming and crying. Drew thought the whole situation was hilarious and grabbed the camera before coming to her rescue. Poor Molly... If you look closely Molly is wearing knee highs. I wore pantyhose to church on Sunday. Molly was awestruck by them. She kept petting my legs and telling me about my pretty tights. After church I gave her the ones she's wearing. She wore them all day and insisted on wearing them on Monday. It's hard not to enjoy Molly's fashion sense.

If we had a goat and a sand box we wouldn't need to go to the children's zoo. I should say a baby goat. Molly refuses to feed any goat but the babies. When the bigger goats come to push the little ones out of the way Molly scolds them. "NO! sTOP!" As she gives them her death glare. Gabe on the other hand likes them all. They're a great team. Gabe distracts the big ones and then Molly can have the "babies".

Lincoln is a great place for families. There are so many parks and free things to do. Before we went to the zoo last week we walked around the sunken gardens. It's beautiful. Molly and Gabe loved this thing? I guess when you're little anything you can climb on is exciting.

There are a few coy fish ponds. Gabe really wanted to join the fish. He kept pointing "ish ish".

Priceless

Farmers' Market

Last Saturday we went to the Farmers' Market in the Haymarket. (For any non -Lincolnites the Haymarket is the old warehouse district downtown. It's been renovated and is now mostly restaurants and little boutiques. I think of it as a more trendy part of downtown. It's really fun and there is the the best ice cream parlor there. If you haven't been to Ivonna Cone, you should go. It's similar to the dairy store on campus, but with a much better decor. ) As we were looking for a meter we ran into some friends. Everything is always a little better with friends. We had a great time sampling and checking out all the booths. It was in the high 70's. We couldn't have asked for better weather. There were so many crafty things there. When I came home I wanted to make something.

After Drew and I put the kids down for a nap I attempted to make a butterfly. I think it turned out really cute and it was really easy. For anyone who is interested here are the directions.

I'm going to have to make more with brighter bodies. The brown gets lost in Molly's hair... Thanks Becky!

In other news Gabe has been taking steps for the past couple weeks. I can't call him a walker yet, but it's a step in the right direction. He's so easily distracted and doesn't have much patience for walking. It's amazing to me how opposite my kids are....