A Wet Trip to the Zoo

The first weekend in May, Matt was out of town, so Dody came and we decided to take a trip to the Jacksonville Zoo for the day. The chance of rain was 10% but it was perfectly sunny when we left that morning. As we headed south, it got cloudier and cloudier. Well, needless to say, it started pouring as soon we pulled into the parking lot and didn't stop until we crossed back over into Georgia! We made the absolute most of it though, and we actually had a lot of fun. 

Pre-trip milk. 

 At first it just sprinkled….

But then it POURED! We were soaked in about 2 seconds (since I was totally unprepared….no raincoats or umbrellas!). Finn and Dody held hands and ran as fast as they could and I ran with Henry in the stroller….him laughing all the way. We decided to break for lunch and the food was actually decent. Of course Henbo wasn't complaining! 

At the candy shop I let Finn get this sucker. He was pretty stoked!

 The animals were hiding from the rain too, so we only got to see a few from a distance. We thought it might blow over, but it didn't, so we decided to call it a day.

 We didn't make the kind of memories that I had planned, but we definitely made some. The very best part was that the boys had an absolute blast and they weren't disappointed at all! This picture sums it up!

Grandmother and Finn

First a few quick pictures of the cutest cousins there ever were. 

After a super-fun weekend in Columbia visiting Matt's sisters and their families, Finn and I headed up to Rock Hill to visit Grandmother Dora. The precious-ness (it's a word) of this visit cannot be underestimated, nor can I communicate how thrilled she was to see us. It was a LONG ride home to Savannah, but it was worth every single second.

Finn was a little slow to warm up, but soon Grandmother reeled him in with the promise of a ride on her "scooter". Here they are looking out into the courtyard of her apartment. Of course he wanted to go out there and she was happy to oblige! 

People, she is 100 YEARS OLD!!! And she was pushing Finn around on this thing like it was nothing!  She even did a few turns in the elevator. Safe? Maybe not, but you only live once, and I wasn't about to tell her to be careful....I think she's earned the right to do whatever she wants. And Finn was loving it!!!

Finn was so kind and gave Grandmother a rock he found. I convinced him to sit and let me take their picture with their rocks. 

This is right before he slammed his rock into hers...."BAM!!!" he said. She was a little surprised....but then she laughed and said "Wow! I guess he's a little boy after all!" :)

Before we left he gave her a hug and said "I love you Grandmother." I didn't get a picture of it because I was literally holding back tears. Too sweet. 

Spring Wrap-up

Whew! The time is going by so fast, I can barely keep up. Here's a wrap-up of our very busy spring!

Aunt Dody visited (always a favorite). The boys absolutely love these little bumper cars that C.C. gave them. They ride them all the time! 

I swear Finn is not naked in this picture. He does have on underwear! However, he is VERY often naked, leading my mom to ask questions when we FaceTime…..like "Does Finn ever wear clothes???".  Answer: Yes, he does. Rarely. 

Two cuties who love to eat!

And play outside!

I found these "I love Nana" shirts on-sale at Old Navy. I thought I'd get a cute picture to send to my mom. I thought wrong. Finn was not in a cooperative mood. But I did think it was hilarious how Henry was teasing him. The madder Finn got, the happier Henry got! Brotherly love I guess!

 This is a one-sided hug.

 This picture is actually really sweet. 

We never really got a good one, but Nana knows we love her anyway. :)

In April, we went to the Strawberry Festival in Bloomingdale with our good friends, the Lunds. They have since moved back to Minnesota, which was literally so heart-breaking! The army has been awfully good to us, but the one thing I'll never get used to is making such awesome friends and then having them move away. The up-side is that we will have friends all over the world!

Here is sweet Amelia.

Finn loves, and I repeat: LOVES riding ponies. Any festival, fair, or farmer's market that has 5 dollar pony rides is a winner in his book!

Finn was a little nervous to ride this cow train by himself. We thought it would just make a small circle and come right back to where we were, but instead it drove half-way across the farm! Then it was Matt's turn to be nervous. He ran all the way across the field to catch up. What a sweet daddy. :)

He loved this silly duck game and wanted to play it for hours.

I liked the "corn crib" best. Even though we left covered in yellow corn dust (and I'm sure lots of carcinogenic pesticides), we enjoyed playing in all this corn. It was almost cold and really felt soothing on our skin. 

Of course NOT eating/throwing the corn was a tall order. 

The grand finale was the funnel cake. It's too bad the kids didn't enjoy it. 

Just kidding….they couldn't get enough of it!

Yes, we allowed this. You gotta pick your battles, and honestly who doesn't understand the desire to LICK the leftover sugar off the plate!?!

Look at those tongues! :)

We spent Easter at my mom's. She really makes holidays special, always has.

Here she is holding the gigantic Henry. Notice she's having to use her leg to support his weight because he's gotten so dang heavy. This is one of the last few bottles he had. I cried when he had his very last one. I guess it's a mom thing, but it just makes me so happy-sad that they're getting bigger!

Here are the bunny footprints that were left for the boys to discover….

Finn was very excited to see them!

The baskets were PERFECT. Of course. Thanks Nana-bunny!!!

Since Finn woke up first, he got to rifle through everything before Henbo did. 

He was more than a little psyched to discover this sucker….and 20 of it's friends…..

He had to open it immediately. 

No, this is not the same sucker. I'm estimating it's his third. Ok, fourth. 

Finally Henry woke up. He was still a little sleepy I think. ;) 

Look at this face. It says "Either feed me breakfast, or I'm goin' back to bed."

Typical Henbo. More interested in the printer. 

We went to church which Finn loved. He was (surprisingly) really well-behaved. I've had to download the Hallelujah chorus since we heard it and he became obsessed with "the song from Nanny's church."  Last week he sang it to the lady cutting his hair at SportsClips.  Hilarious. 

We dyed eggs. You can't have Easter without egg dying! Or silly trash bag outfits!

Or tasting the dye!

Or making a mess!

LOVE these little crossed feet. 

The Terry's came by and brought Finn his first bowling set. He was in heaven!

The boys were loving the extra attention!

Finn loves Jessica! 

Here are Dody and Henry making some very dramatic faces. I'm not sure who is copying who…..

It was a great Easter. And Easter is what it's all about. Jesus came, died, rose, and will come again. Hallelujah indeed!!!!