May 15, 2010 - afternoon hike at the Audubon

We became members of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center today and excited about our adventures to come! It is located just north of us along Lake Michigan and offers many fun activities, hikes through nature and along the beach and lots of critters to see in the center and in the wild!

Colin and I did the hike down to the beach this afternoon, well worth it for the view and the great exercise!

Colin following the rustling noises of a chipmunk / leading the way on the hiking trail

Waiting for Mama to start the hike down to the lake / looking out into the water

Colin's favorite lake activity - shot putting rocks into the water!

A classic series of Colin/Mama self portraits :)

Enjoying the view out into the expansive 'ocean like' lake

May 15, 2010 - Colin the robot dinosaur

So, we may have misplaced the remote to the robot dinosaur that Colin got for Christmas since... well, Christmas :)

But we found it! And we spent some qt with our friend the robot dinosaur this morning. He roared around the kitchen and Colin pretended to be a robot dinosaur with him (after petting him in the first picture!)

May 11, 2010 - writing and coloring

Colin is constantly writing words and drawing pictures these days which is amazing to watch! He's got his names down: Colin, Mama, Dada, Papa without any help and then he is writing all sorts of words on his own with just needing to ask how you spell them and he can write the words. His pictures are turning into stories and detail (my favorite being eyebrows on faces!) It's so exciting!

May 9, 2010 - fabulous Mother's Day fun!

Colin and Mama had a wonderful Mother's Day together, he first gave me the pictures and card he made for me in the morning. Then we headed out for our fun day!

First stop- Comet Cafe for breakfast sitting at the counter! Mama had found some super cool monster hand tattoos at Urban Outfitters that I brought along for fun while we waited for our breakfast to arrive. So much entertainment and a tasty breakfast!

Next stop and focus for the day, the zoo!!

Colin made his first pressed penny, a tiger of course!

Colin's view to see the tall, huge elephants!

A special day calls for a pony ride of course :)

A full day of firsts... the penny and then the first plastic mold-a-rama, a orange cheetah

End to the afternoon on the carousel! And the best Mother's Day spent with my special guy!

May 6, 2010 - sushi night!

We invited Colin's favorite Aunties over for a home cooked participation dinner :) Asian fusion night with sushi rolls, lettuce wraps and peanut udon pasta - much fun to make and to eat!

Colin making the sushi, we found some new wrappers to use that are not of the seaweed variety and Colin loves them! They are soy based flavored with different vegetables for the fun color.

And of course eating the tasty dinner! Colin getting ready to eat a roll (made specially by himself, with fillings of rice, chicken and carrot :)

Our dinner guests, a great night!

A whole roll in the cheek of Colin's mouth-- maybe next time we'll make his just a little smaller... he didn't want to take them in two bites so it made for some cautious chewing!

May 2, 2010 - good friends

Colin, Katie and Brendan after hockey lessons tonight!

May 1, 2010 - and now relax

after a long and fun day...

May 1, 2010 - gardening assistant

Colin was a super fabulous gardening helper this weekend! We weren't around much in April when the ground finally unfroze... and we had a lot of outside work to do! Colin picked out the annuals, helped me plant them in the yard and planters and helped do the watering!

Colin had a lunch picnic while I did some weeding!

As a special afternoon treat, the Ice Cream Truck happened to be driving by, so Colin got to pick out his FIRST chilly sweet treat and now knows what the faint sound of music coming down the street means!

May 1, 2010 - hockey practice ice time with Mama

We hit up early morning open ice practice time at Pettit today, Colin had to stop at the intriguing hockey penalty box and his favorite part to practice is the speed skating, and he's getting FAST!

April 25, 2010 - laying out clothes for the morning

Colin picked out his clothes for the morning, laying them out perfectly like a flat Colin (with underwear under the jeans and all)!

April 19, 2010 - Colin the soccer player.

Colin started his micro soccer class for Spring and loves it (I don't think there has been an activity or sport that he has tried and not loved so he's getting in a lot of variety to try everything out!

He's the blond in the orange shirt / in line for scrimmages!

April 18, 2010 - hockey class

Colin is taking his first true hockey ice skating class, but still very focused on skating skills and he doesn't get a stick/puck on the ice until the third level!

And one of the most fun parts (for Colin and Mama :) - his friend Brendan is taking skate lessons at the same time so we get to catch up with our friends!

April 18, 2010 - Monkey Joe's

Colin had a blast at his friend Krish's birthday party at Monkey Joe's! Tons of inflatable bouncy houses, slides and games!

The birthday guests and Krish at the head of the table / Krish, Thomas and Colin - best buds

Colin, Sam, Caleb and Ayanna (friends from day care) bouncing around / The gang climbing one of the big slides- they were so quick it was hard to get any good action pictures!

April 10, 2010 - to the tractor mecca

MOLINE, IL... Homeland of John Deere tractors

Liz and I took the kids to the John Deere Commons to climb on and pretend to drive some very large tractors and diggers. It's a pretty cool place and everyone enjoyed!

All smiles driving his OWN tractor!

But being at the wheel of this rather LARGE front loader... now that's handling some heavy equipment!

And what about being INSIDE the bucket!?!

Amazed by all the machines!

Ella and Colin show how tall they are compared to the tractor tire!