NC Zoo

We took a family day trip to the NC Zoo yesterday.  It was a great summer day to go...it wasn't very crowded and the weather wasn't too hot, thank goodness!  We got to see most of the animals there, but there were a few that were hiding like the rhinos and chimps.  Brayden had a great time though.  His favorite part was the dinsoaur exhibit that had animatronic dinos that moved and made sounds.  He even correctly named a few of them to us like the Triceratops and T-Rex, which I was kind of impressed with!  I enjoyed seeing all the animals, but my favorite was probably the gorillas.  They were cooling off in the shade, one right against the glass  divider where we looked at them.  The elephants were also very close to their viewing area too, which was cool to see them so close up.  Greg enjoyed the animals too, but his most memorable part was seeing a woman at the gorilla exhibit getting pooped on by a bird in the trees...Gross!!  : )  Connor went with us too and did a great job of mostly sleeping in the stroller.  He did get out for a few pictures though!

 

     

Quiet Time

Brayden no longer takes "naps" during the day.  He whines & whines if I make him take a nap lately.  Instead, he has started having quiet time in the late afternoon where he has to be still and watch tv or something for awhile.  (Mommy needs quiet time so she can get some work done or have a break herself!)  Most days, I end up finding Brayden asleep after a few minutes of quiet time...he still just can't make it through the date without some sleep, although he doesn't think so.  He won't admit that he fell asleep either when I ask him....just like a man!  Here are a few pictures I've gotten of him over the last week during quiet time  : )

Start of summer

Brayden's last day of Mother's Morning Out (or school as he calls it) was last week.  Connor and I went in for a small end of the year celebration, where Connor was a big hit with all the little children.  They surrounded him for the first few minutes we were there, and Brayden was definitely a proud big brother showing him off!  Brayden will continue going to MMO summercamp a few days each week during the summer, but his regular teachers are taking the summer off.  He'll definitely miss them!  Next year he is off to "big boy" preschool!!

 Connor loved the attention

Brayden with his teachers Ms. Kim and Ms. Donna

Brayden recently participated in Smithfield's Kinder T-Ball for 3 & 4 year olds and loved it!  They had 4 practices / games where they learned about throwing, catching and hitting the ball.  The last two nights were "games" which were pretty chaotic and definitely entertaining!  So cute to watch at this age!

Waiting to catch the ball

Brayden at bat; he was pretty good at it!

 On first base

 Throwing the ball

Brayden with his best bud Tanner after a game

We took Brayden to see Seasme Street Live - Elmo's Superheros last weekend in Raleigh.  He is all about superheros lately, so I thought this would be right up his alley and something special to do with mommy & daddy for some individual attention that he doesn't get as much these days.  He really enjoyed the show, but I think his favorite thing was the kid sized urinal in the bathrooms....he asked to go 3 times during the 1 1/2 hour show!! 

 Superhero Brayden (he wanted to wear his cape to the show!!)

 Enoying some popcorn with daddy waiting for the show to start

Elmo and friends

Not too much new to report on Connor....he is still just my sweet baby boy.  He is getting sooooo close to laughing, which I can't wait to hear.  I love baby laughs!  He still loves to play on his playmat most of all, and can now reach up and grab some of the toys that hang from the top.  I can really tell he is concentrating & studying everything he sees now.  He has found his hands...it is pretty common to see him sucking on his fingers and/or thumbs if the paci is not nearby.  I hope that is just a temporary thing! 

 

 

Connor with his friend Alex

 

We are looking forward to seeing what the rest of the summer brings...hopefully lots of time outside with good friends!