Bubbles!!!

We had so much fun with bubbles at Grammy and Grandpa's that we decided to get some to play here. Matthew loved all of the different bubble wands and bubble pipes-I even had fun with them-and Meredith enjoyed relaxing and watching all of the bubbles float over her.

Brittney and I tried to take Matthew and Meredith to the zoo yesterday, however, when we arrived there we found out they were closed due to a power outage-total disappointment! Matthew shrugged it off like it was no big deal-he's such a great kid-and we took him to a big playground instead. After playing until we were all hot and hungry, we met up with Aykut for a cookout at the park. He loves to help out, he was super psyched to carry the paper towels :)

Little Miss Meredith sat in her seat the whole time observing and listening to everything around her. She eventually fell asleep with a nice, warm breeze blowing on her.

Matthew really likes to be chased-Brittney didn't mind running all over the place with him.

Helping Aykut start the grill.

Mmm....yummy cookout food!

Bellies full, enjoying being outside in the sunny weather.

While Matt is away, Mommy and the kids will play :) Matt's gone for the weekend at some fishing tournament (keep your fingers crossed that he catches the one fish that's worth $3,000) so Matthew, Meredith and I played and played and played yesterday. Matthew brought his tool bench onto the deck so he could "fix" the deck and Meredith soaked up some sun.

How big is Meredith?! So big! (well, not really-she still weighs less than Matthew did at birth and she is two and a half months old!)

FYI-Matthew actually took this picture. He is becoming an old pro at taking pictures. Meredith will now roll from side to side when she is lying flat on her back-she's my little rolly polly :)

Moon sand, moon sand, the sand that you can mold

A piece of advice about moon sand-don't let your child play with it unless you are fully prepared to clean up a gigantic mess-it gets EVERYWHERE!

I took a record-breaking number of pictures during this Raleigh trip (over 650-which I'm almost too embarrassed to admit) so here is the last random group from this trip that I'll post.

Matthew loves that Meredith is becoming more and more aware of everything. He laughs when she watches him and has fun getting her to smile, which when she does he looks at me with a huge grin and says "Mommy, my baby sister smiled at me, she likes me".

Snoozin' in the warm sunshine

Playing bubbles with Aunt Ann

Great Grandpa really loved to see everyone-and of course we always love to see him

Hanging out in Great Grandpa's room

Playing catch, which Matthew is getting better at.

Aunt Julie still has the magic touch with Meredith

He was excited to help Grandpa with mundane chores around the house, like washing windows-he was in charge of spraying the Windex onto the glass.

My sweet, precious loves

Cuddle time with Great Aunt Barb

Meredith didn't seem to mind too much to get her baths in the sink-especially when Aunt Barb was there to help out.

Grammy loved getting her dressed all warm and snugly after her bath.

Computer fun!

More lovin' from Great Grandpa M

I couldn't resist-the stroller was just the perfect size!

The bean fell asleep holding his sister's hand-too precious

More time with Great Grandpa

Matthew has "claimed" Great Grandpa's blue blanket, and even though he keeps his room really warm, insisted on using it every time we visited.

Meredith passed out on Great Grandpa's bed

Julie and her boyfriend Nick. I was able to get out and hang out with them one evening-my first time socializing since Meredith was born-we had a blast playing pool and just being silly.

The Syracuse airport has part of an airplane set up that you can sit in and play with the controls, which of course Matthew had to check out.

The Durham Bulls

On Easter Sunday we took the kids to a Bulls games. Meredith was right around the same age Matthew was when we took him to his first game (although his was a Charlotte Knights game). We had an added bonus with SpongeBob being there. Matthew was real excited to meet him and was even able to get his picture taken with him.

The guys sat in front while the gals sat in back.

Matthew was interested in the game this time. The last game he went to, which was last Fall, he cared more about playing with the stadium seats, but he really got into the whole experience-he even yelled "get the ball out" to the players and participated in some of the chants.

SpongeBob!

So cool in his hat and shades :)

Matthew didn't really like Blue Monster that much. Unfortunately we didn't get to meet Wool E. Bull-maybe next time