June 12, 2010 - road trip to IA for Auntie Stacey's bridal shower

Fun in the sun day after Stacey's bridal shower in Des Moines! Colin got to play with Sam (Stacey's nephew) all weekend and the boys had a great time.

Exhausted back at the hotel after a long day

June 10th, 2010 - Colin's new skills

Colin discovered how to twist his tongue, in all it's odd deformity

June 1, 2010 - after hockey practice

Complete silliness by these kids after hockey skating practice!

May 26 - 30, 2010 - Long weekend with the Kansas clan

Lissa, Dan, Kivrin and baby to be came to visit MKE and we did all sorts of fun things!

Downtown trip to the kite festival where Dan and Colin picked out a cool dinosaur kite to fly together.

Bedtime story reading with the kiddies!

Colin wanted his face painted like a dragon

Zoo day with Lauren and the kids

Colin trying to pick up Kivrin by request... with a guilty look that he knows that he should make the attempt. / Making fun monster sticker pictures thanks to fun crafts that Aunt Lissa brought!

Kivrin and Colin hanging out in rocking chairs at the Audobon Nature Center

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!