halfway

last night,
our handsome little pup
decided halfway around the block
was far enough,
thank you very much.

a full two minutes later,
he decided to press on.

all's well that ends well.

animal kingdom?

so, yes, we've been
a little animal-heavy
here in stroesslerland.

but listen,
when the little man digs it,
it occupies hours at a time,
and its free...
i'm sure you can indulge us.

plus, who doesn't love an orangutan
(especially one named Daniel),
a mother wallaby hopping over
right next to your feet
to show off her new baby,
or a big mouthed gharial
that swims right past you
to show off his silly grin?

thank you, Zoo Membership.
we really, really love you.

yum

its a shame you weren't around for this:

(or were you?)

spontaneous zoo visit

naptime ended early yesterday,
much to my dismay...
so we up and went to the zoo
despite the crazy thunderstorms.
thank you, Rainforest,
for being about the rain
and not in it.

joshua loves this guy;
he calls him Big Monkey Dada.

they sat eye-to-eye for 15 minutes.

big counting & big jumping

recovery

turning two is exhausting.

the truth

i'll be honest.

i love my garden.
but i love so many other things, too.

sometimes,
dividing my time, attention
and, well, motivation
can lead to squash such as these...
yes, that's a credit card.

however,
fear not, hansy & gigi.
tomatoes are ripening for you as i type.

late last night, post-party,
i made some toast on the charcoal grill that was still hot,
spread some hummus,
(thanks, grandma!)
and salted slices of this beauty.

i would have taken pictures of the sandwich,
but my mouth was closer
than my camera.

a snippet of the party

well, he's two.

these are just a few shots of the shindig...
there are more coming on shutterfly.
(let me know if you'd like the email)

the last picture is just before the end o' day tubby.
thanks to not taking a nap
(why would you on party day?),
he was exhausted and slap-happy.

its my favorite.

thanks for coming, everyone!
we loved celebrating little man with you :)

3 of my favorite things

the Boys go to the Zoo

Dino Power!
a little access to see the dinos and "other" animals

but first... some lions and a two-dimensional bird.
and something realllly interesting on the ground.
"lets go Shua"

"sup birds, check out my wheels. jealous?"
"Joshua, don't taunt on the flamingos"

hangin with the koalas. literally.

"dada, can we have a waterfall?"
"sorry buddy, we rent."
in the koala exhibit, there is this display.
guess what Joshua wanted to do?yup... red buttons.
"umm, can we see some dinos?"
"ok buddy"

"oneee, twoooo, three"
the hunt for tRex begins.

"maybe he is over there. i think i see him."

"no buddy, those are the Amish. they travel in packs though."
(i'd love to listen to that conversation, you know,
the one where the Amish talk about the Jesus Horses, i mean dinosaurs)
"hmmm, interesting stuff.
from on top of this table i can see four groups of dinos."

"what the! he's behind me!"

ummm, i call this "tRex face"

- - -

that was fun, but lets check out the lions one more time before we take off...
"bye beeeg liions"

mmmmmm, FL

so i got to hang out with my sister.
no, not that one,
that one, that one, that one,
that one or that one.
this one.
the redheaded one.

in florida.
its a shame, i know.

i miss it...uh, i mean her... already.

#9 & #10

i cannot get enough of these two.

the bean turns 5

beaner turned five this week...and we celebrated
beaner-style.

(aka: applebee's for a hot dog, fries and presents.)

joshua was more interested in my iced tea, his fancy green truck and developing a true love-hate relationship with balloons. the last picture says it all.

(aunt amy, we'll need to stage a thanksgiving week Balloon Intervention.)