The End to a Year

Jake finished preschool on Friday. I think it was a perfect fit for him to go one day a week this year. I'm so pleased with his class and teachers, and Jake loved it. It's amazing how much he's changed over this school year, especially in his speech. He barely said anything in September and now he's talking in sentences! I think his favorite things about preschool this year were his friend, Patrick and playing outside because those were about the only things he ever talked about. Here's Jake on his last day of school...

compared to his first day of school in September...

Sea World

My parents took Jake on his first trip to Sea World. They spent two days at Sea World so they could break up the trip and not feel too rushed. I think it's safe to say they all had a blast! Here's Jake near the entrance. He would not pose for pictures, so here's what they got...

Here's Jake taking in one of the shows...
He really liked the seal show...was a little afraid of the dolphins at first, but then got used to them and realized they are sweet...How can you not like dolphins?And no trip to Sea World is complete without seeing Shamu. Jake loved Shamu and came home talking about how he waved good-bye with his tail and fins. He's also faithfully slept with his stuffed Shamu toy every night since he's been home...

They spent the final full day of their trip enjoying all the cool stuff at the resort. There was a game room that Jake loved. He played basketball with Papa...

Looking proud...

He played air hockey with Grandmama (and they reported he had pretty impressive hand eye coordination)...

He played on the playground...

And he played with his water blaster on the patio...

He LOVES this toy! Can you tell?

Thanks for a wonderful trip, Papa and Grandmama!

Missing you

I miss this sweet, smiling, happy face a lot. Can't wait to see him Thursday! We love you so much, Jake!

Back-to-Back

Jake was a very lucky boy and had back-to-back grandparent weekends. After a great extended weekend with my parents, Kevin's parents came in town for a visit last weekend. Since we had Saturday wide open and it was great weather, we decided to try one of our original Mother's Day outing destinations--The Exotic Resort Zoo outside of Johnson City. My parents took Jake and I here when he wasn't quite one (http://kellielawson.blogspot.com/2009/10/worthy.html), and I knew it was a place where I wanted Jake to go to again, and that I knew Kevin would love. For those of you who may not know, Kevin is a fool for anything with animals! Again, this place did not disappoint, and I'm proud to say I was much braver this time! We didn't, however, have any close encounters with camels which is what freaked me out the most the first time, but we did have some crazy tongue encounters... Just in case you're not an expert at tongue identification, this is a buffalo...

Jake was very cautious during the ride. He didn't even really want to sit next to any of us or on our laps. His spot of choice was center of the trailer...

His safe central spot did not keep him from keeping a keen eye out. He definitely was good at spotting all the animals and liked seeing them...He mostly threw out the food from right in the middle too. He would just get a couple pieces at a time to throw (you can see one piece in his hand in this pic). I thought this was a little funny because most of the kids on the trailer would grab big handfuls at at time. Jake was much more conservative about it.One cool thing about going this time of year is that we saw lots of babies! Babies of any kind are so cute! In front of these big, burly cows are little baby emus (at least I think so)...It was a great ride! Once again, I definitely recommend this for a fun, family outing.

They also have a petting zoo which is included in the price of your tour. After being a little apprehensive on the trailer, I thought Jake would be even more apprehensive in the petting zoo since nothing separated him and the animals. I was so wrong! He did really great. He refused to hand-feed any animals while on the tour, but he was hand feeding in the zoo like a genuine farm boy...The most funny thing about the petting zoo was one particular deer's fascination with Nana's shirt. This deer kept chewing on her shirt! He tried it a little with me, but there must have been something especially sweet tasting about Carla b/c he tried to follow her around like this for awhile. This might have been Kevin's favorite part ;-)

After the zoo, we headed into Marble Falls to eat lunch. We had a great view of the river, so we had to get some pics...

After well-deserved afternoon naps and our first sprinkler fun of the season, we headed to Jason's deli for a light dinner (we were all still pretty stuffed from lunch). Jake enjoyed an ice cream cone for dessert, so I just have to include one ice cream pic!

Beach Boy

Over Mother's Day weekend, Jake had the opportunity to go on a trip to Galveston with my parents. I know he had a wonderful time, even though we missed him a ton and I will confess I was just a tad bit jealous. Here's some shots from their hotel balcony...

Here's a full body shot of my handsome beach boy...Jake LOVED playing in the sand. This is no suprise since he already loves sandboxes and pits. Now he got to discover sand, God's way, and I know this must have been awesome for him...Jake had a warm up a little to the idea of the ocean, but once he warmed up to it in his own time, he loved it too! I'm so happy b/c I'm definitely a Mommy who loves the beach. I love this shot of Jake and my Dad...My parents reported that once he was ready to hit the water, he started taking off his swim shirt and trunks! They managed to get him to keep on the trunks, but he definitely gave them a good laugh. I think he might be thinking it's like a bath, or his time in a pool with just a swim diaper... It's hard to see his face, but it's filled with joy and a great big smile...
Cuddling with Grandmama after a nice swim...

They also went to the aquarium. Jake loved every minute and did not want to leave...
Here's a nice friend that was only a few feet from Jake at a patio. So pretty. Thanks for a great trip, Papa and Grandmama!

My Mother's Day

We celebrated this year's Mother's Day a little early. Kevin took both Monday and Tuesday off work, one day for a family day and one day for "Mommy's Day off." Jake and I are so lucky to have such a great husband and Daddy, because this special time meant so much to both of us. We had big and exciting plans for our family day. The schedule was supposed to look a little something like this:

7 AM: Wake-up to a beautiful day and get ready
9: Head to Sweetberry Farms to pick strawberries, onions and potatoes
10-11:30: Pick strawberries, onions and potatoes
11:30: Outdoor picnic at Sweetberry
12:30: Head to Exotic Resort Zoo outside Johnson City while Jake naps
2-3:30: Enjoy the wildlife at Exotic Resort Zoo
3:30-5: Ride and arrive home
5-6: Kevin grill/prepare dinner with out freshly picked produce
6 PM: Enjoy a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes & onions, strawberry shortcake
6:30-8: Family time at home until Jake's bedtime

This is what actually happened:

7 AM: Wake-up to a cloudy day with a 50% chance of rain and high temperature of 58
7:15: Kellie starts panicking about our family day being ruined
7:20: Check radar on-line and determine that it looks like the rain will pass us
7:25: Make myself feel better by deciding, "It's not going to actually rain, and we can deal with a little cold."
7:30-9:15: Get ready; pack lunches; dig out long sleeves and hoodies
9:15: Leave for Sweetberry
9:45: It starts raining; the panicky feeling is returning
10:15: Arrive at Sweetberry. It's raining and our the temperature reads 48 degrees
10:18: Jake starts yelling, "I want to get out, I want to get out!"
10:19: Kellie's panicky feeling is in full swing
10:20: Decide to head to town to let Jake out/wait out rain/browse shops
11:00: Determined there was no end in sight to the rain, so headed back to Sweetberry
11:15: Had a "car picnic"
11:35: Braved the rain and cold to pick strawberries!
12:15: Determined the Exotic Zoo was out of the question and headed to Bluebonnet Cafe for pie
12:30: Enjoyed delicous pie
1:15: headed home; Jake and Mommy napped
2:15: We're home! A little more family rest
3:30-5:30: Family play time
5:00: Decide grilling is out of the question b/c it is now raining in Cedar Park
5:30 Kevin makes tacos
6:00: Eat tacos and enjoy strawberry shortcake
6:30-8:00: family time until Jake's bedtime

Needless to say, our day turned out NOTHING like we planned, but it still was very fun and perhaps even more memorable! Here's Jake modeling out umbrella at the Marble Falls shops...
He was SO happy to be out of the car. He ran around with the biggest smile on his face!

I like to call this one his model shot...
Car Picnic...

Our car picnic was actually very fun. I hope to hang on to these days where Mommy and Daddy can turn something so simple into something so fun. Yeah for being 2! Our cold, wet and fun berry picking...

Jake loved every minute. He was in no way phased by the weather, and would run down the rows yelling, "I'm picking strawberries!" We were the ONLY adventurous (crazy) people there, so could be as silly as we liked... At one point, Jake was running and he tripped and fell into the mud. He quickly jumped up, but not without accumulating a lot of mud...

We actually got a great family shot!

Bluebonnet Cafe has AMAZING pie. WE tried apple a la mode and banana cream. Delicious!

Jake dove right in...

He has a tendency to take too-big bites, but with pie, why not? Back home admiring our strawberries...

Jake LOVED the strawberries. He loved eating them and talking about picking them. He actually brought up the strawberry picking on his own all week, asking to do it again. It made the rain and cold all worth it. We couldn't have planned a better family's day ;-)