Koen is so confident in the water paddling around by himself. He had some conversations with some older ladies that were paddling around. I'm sure he made their day.
Tavin worked up quite an appetite and ate his sandwich and then grabbed brother's leftovers and shoved it right in. Oh, Tav!
My little swimmers! Dilapidated cuteness at its best!
I had only seen it from outside the gates along Penn Avenue. I was amazed at how much beautiful land was on the other side! We even saw some deer! The parade actually ended at the Butler St. entrance to the cemetery, so we got a great spot to see the parade right near the end in the shade thankfully.
It was a hot and, well to be honest, sweaty walk home, but we did get to see the Air Force fly over for the ceremony.
Koen loved it of course.
As I mentioned we were all a bit overheated (nothing like hiking up a huge hill pushing a double stroller in the 90 degree humid heat!), so the boys and I headed to the little pool in the backyard and Doug was in charge of getting lunch together.
We had a picnic lunch in the backyard and then the boys played a little more in the pool until they both reached almost full crash mode. Then they both took great naps, Doug and I recharged and prepped for an evening with friends. We had a bunch of friends over for dinner afer the boys' naps. A great time of enjoying their company and we love sharing our home. I gotta say too that I just love having the boys be a part of stuff like that so they know our friends, our friends know them, etc.
They did very well with all the adult social interaction. And again they were quite tired at bedtime, so we put them to bed only a little late and then were able to keep visiting with our friends. A super great day indeed!
His getting so fast we have to speedwalk to keep up with him when it's downhill or straightaways!
Tav really enjoyed trying some new tricks with Daddy, specifically the bumpy bridge on the big playground. He would slide down one side and then hike up the other quite impressively.
I was really glad Doug got us moving early this morning so we could have some fun family time out of the house. It was a great start to the day! (Unfortunately, Koen was quite difficult after Doug left until naptime and Tavin was really upset due to not feeling well or something. I have high hopes that this evening will go smoother?!? Tav's cough woke him up early from his nap, so I'm trying to stay positive!).
The paleantologist was working on a fossil and waved at Koen. He thought he was so special (I think Doug was pretty psyched too).
This is such a college Doug type of thing to do and Koen thought it was hilarious too (gotta admit, I'm still in love with college Doug...who sticks there head in a fossil at age 31 and doesn't care about the middle schoolers on their field trip staring at him?). Koen was pulling Doug's leg trying to get him out. They sure are buds!
"So I see that we are in the dinosaur room on the map here, and if I just press this button I can learn a lot about this species" says Tavin.
Tavin making friends with a musk ox. He kept touching its nose and then yanking his hand away like he was afraid it would come to life and lick his hand or something!
Melder boys in a boat in the Native American exhibit. Tavin loved climbing around in there.
I guess Koen conquered the boat. He's so funny!
Koen later told me that the above activity was his favorite "Mommy, I liked making corn with you best." There's this little cabin in the Native American exhibit with a display set up so you can grind corn into cornmeal. He loved it. He explained the process to me about 15 times. He didn't like it when older kids came in and started hapharzadly going about it, Koen straightened them out (or at least scared them away).
Koen in the discovery room up close and personal with a grizzly!
Doug had shown Tavin the picture of brother, we think he wanted a similar experience. Here he is up close and personal with a bison. He even said, "roar!"
After about an hour of strolling through the best areas of the museum for a 4 year old and a trooper of a baby brother we headed out to a courtyard for an outdoor lunch. It was nice to get a quiet (well, except for Koen) lunch outside despite the overcast and on/off rain today.
Tavin wanted to be just like brother and begged to sit at the table. He was very excited and his appetite improved immediately...notice him attacking his sandwich!
Well, it was a great morning at home and at the museum. Good idea, husband. I love our days together with our boys!
Here's Koen participating in one of the songs...
The story was Eric Carl's "A House for Hermit Crab." Koen sat on his carpet square and was super attentive (it was so cute to see him in his "school kid" atmosphere. 
After the story, they did a game of limbo where they did the crab walk to get under the pole. So cute! Here's Koen waiting in line (it's a big deal that he participates without me, I love seeing that growth in him!). 
Koen has a slow and stumbly crab walk, but he was super proud of himself smiling at us the whole time as he worked his way under (and the line got all stopped up due to his slow progress). Here's a video of his adorable crab walk...
Before we headed out to the picnic, at the end of the program his teachers were given gifts from all of us and then they had packets of pictures and crafts for each child to take home. One very special thing they gave to the kids was a nursery school book. See, each day at nursery school they have a circle meeting where they go through their whole plan for the day using a book with cue cards and pictures to indicate what they will be up to. The book they were given yesterday is one for them to take home as a token of their special days at school. Koen was so excited about this and spent much of yesterday looking through it over and over again. Both yesterday and this morning we played nursery school using the book to cue our activities as well. Such a statement of the impression the structure of this safe and inviting atmosphere has left on our little boy. We only look forward to next year!
I was on the phone while helping the boys finish up breakfast. I spun around to check on Tav and what? There's a banana on his head!
Our lovely, sweet neighbors gave us this cute rocker for the boys. They love it (i.e. fought over it most of the morning). Tavin scored a few minutes alone with it while Big Brother was in time out (due to sharing issues). He had much to say about it.
You probably can't see the extent to which Tavin is dirty all over, but he has soiled his pants in mud, his shirt has food and dirt on it, his face has strawberries and dirt rubbed all over it. Oh, little boys!
Doug got right to work in the backyard on Sunday (well, after a nap of course). Tavin was his little helper...
Koen was happy to keep busy building a new construction site for his trucks.
On Monday, Grampa was on duty bright and early after breakfast. It was breezy and overcast, a perfect morning for a refreshing bike ride. Dad and Koen probably went up and down our block 12 times. They were out there for an hour and a half.
Tavin and I stayed busy on the porch. As you can see in the above, we got creative. =) Tav is such a ham!
Yep, there goes brother again! And again and again! Grampa was such a good sport!
Eventually I had to be productive, so I worked on pruning my petunias and watering them. Tavin thought the water was supposed to be a shower for him...
Needless to say, for Koen's second half of his bike ride time, Tavin was upstairs in the bathtub playing and getting cleaned up!
We chanced possible rain showers and took the boys to the playground later in the morning (Koen still on his bike!). It was such a nice time of enjoying the outdoors and Grampa and Gramma's company (not to mention their helpfulness!).
Tavin has gotten really comfortable with Grampa and Gramma and it warms my heart to see it!
Tavin is really itching to walk (yes, I know I've said this before, but we have to be getting closer now that he is 17 months, right?).
So Grampa took him around pushing the stroller. He loved it! He did it for about 20 minutes!
On Monday night we ended our wonderful day with the boys with a dinner out at Hofbrau House at SouthSide Works. We just love their back patio with a view of the river, fresh air, great service and it never seems to be took packed or loud. The boys stole our hearts as well as that of our server!