Trains & Playgrounds!

It's been a while, and we've been a bit busy, so here goes on trying to catch up on the last 5 months!

We stopped off for some play time and watching the trains! Matt loved that we got there just in time to see one arrive.

We decided to swing by the train museum before we went out to play. The boys ran around in an old mail car.

Our big blue-eyed boy sad for a pic, but only briefly.

Time to play! Racing on dual slides is always a favorite.

The catch up will likely be gradual, but at least this is a start!

The Other Half

One of the boys' favorite playgrounds is the one by a tennis club. We frequent it on Tuesday and Thursday mornings mostly, because those are the days I only work a half day. The tennis courts are usually full of women who arrive around 10 and leave by 11, most of them driving high end SUVs. We just hang out on the playground and watch the traffic drive in and out of the parking lot while playing on the play structures and in the huge sandbox. I now have a permanent place in the back of my car for our frequently used sand toys, because of this playground!

Matt is beginning to take to the big brother role and occasionally teaching his little brother things that will help him keep up and play with Matt better. This day, he taught Jonathan how to climb up the rock wall at the playground.

Tunnnnnnnellllllllll!!!

More twisty slides!

Sand toys are a big hit!

Going solo on the rock wall!

Recommended Playground

In trying to find new playgrounds, I read a review on this one in a local parenting magazine. We drove around trying to find it, and finally we did. Jonathan had just had a trucking accident a few days before (see earlier posts with the boys pushing trucks on the sidewalk), which explains the nose and upper lip!

Venturing up the big boy playground proved a bit troublesome.

My little pilot!

Jonathan tried to copy Matt, but wouldn't get up on his knees to drive, so I couldn't quite get him in the shot.

A twisty slide!

Matt's first turn was successful.

Jonathan started the belly ride trend again.

Shortly after this, while going down in sitting, Jonathan's shoes proved to be his breaks, and he went head over heels into the bark. He was fine and even played a bit more, but I had to keep him off the big boy playground. Shortly after that, Matt somehow hit his chin on the slide once he was down. Needless to say, I think it's a great playground, but we won't be back any time soon! The boys had fun until they both got some bumps, bruises and scrapes!

Surprise! It's a Train Show!

I surprised the boys one Saturday last month and took them to a train show. Little did I know that we should have brought some step stools! Somehow we made it through, even with the constant "Up, Mommy!" and "Mommy, lift me up so I can see better" requests.

The poor boys were being teased at every counter height display. But they loved it!

Matt was loving it. Jonathan stood back and pointed at everything he could see!

After we looked at all the trains and displays, we found the train tables that were set up. The boys played for a while and did a remarkable job with all of the kids that were around. I was pleasantly surprised at just how well they did. They even transitioned to leave with relative ease.

In the Hood!

It took a long time to get Jonathan to tolerate wearing a jacket. Once we won that battle, we had to get him used to wearing a hood with the wind and the rain that we had encountered. On day, he just wouldn't put the darn thing down! "Hood Up!!!"

The Go Wheelie is a hit again!

Chasing down the sidewalk time!

Matt in the lead, and Jonathan losing his hood. Oh no!

Weeeeee!

Uh oh, Jonathan is finally catching up!

Pulling out the trash truck/dump trucks for this race.

This sidewalk will be worn down by the time we leave. The boys love to run up and down, racing trucks, or whatever is the toy of the day!

The Reward!

We went to the outlet mall a few weeks ago to add to the boys' wardrobes. It's crazy how big they are getting. Jonathan is inching into 3T clothing and Matt's now beginning to wear 5T. I can't believe how fast they are growing!

The outlet mall in Allen has a bunch of coin operated toys scattered around, so I promised the boys that if they were good for me while we shopped in the last two stores, that they could ride the rides outside. They were both very excited and were able to handle the last two stops.

Matt picked the space shuttle for his ride.

Look closely, he's in there!

Jonathan thinks these things look great, but will rarely sit on them, not to mention actually let me put the quarters in and stay on them. He's definitely my boy! Don't know what solicited this expression, but I couldn't resist the shot.

A Playground? Not us!

Another day, another playground! The boys just love this crazy adventure, as long as I don't wait too long to find the playground!

The double slide is always a good find!

There was a bit of a puddle at the bottom of the slide, so we covered it with some leaves and the boys had a ball crashing into the pile at the bottom.

More crashing!

So fun!

He kept checking on me from above!

Checking on mommy through the bubble!

A "twisty slide" is always fun!

More leaves for Matt to crash into.

Matt let Jonathan crash into his side without clearing the leaves first.

Matt decided to throw some leaves up into the air, toward Jonathan. Think they landed inside his collar?

Flying leaves are great fun!

Airplane!

Big boy swings together again.

Jonathan made a new game of sliding feet first, and Matt decided that crashing into each other at the bottom would be even better.

They had a blast at this playground, just like all the rest! They just love playing outside!

Reading Time!

These pictures are not what I was hoping for, but if you can look past the blurriness and red eyes that were unable to be fully edited, you can see what was happening - brotherly love!

One morning, while trying to get the boys dressed for the day, they gathered some books and went into Matt's room to "read". Jonathan was pointing out "McQueen" in the book.

Matt filled him in on the other characters that he saw. I love this picture!

Although it looks like Matt might be sharing the book with Jonathan, he's also looking right past him into the mirror on the dresser. Ah, the mirror is so fun for all his many expressions.

Intro to Elementary School

We spend a lot of time driving around, running errands, and I try to throw in a trip to a playground at some point in the mayhem. This day, we were running low on time, so we took an adventure down the street from the neighborhood playground, to the elementary school.

Although it was a bit chillier than I thought it was going to be, the boys were not phased, and had a blast exploring all the new things to do.

Jonathan wasn't sure about this structure, but inspected it for quite some time.

Peek a boo was fun with it!

The boys were introduced to teamwork in action. They actually lasted a bit longer than I thought they would, although they weren't really moving much.

My little boy turned into a big boy this day and decided he wanted to ride on the big boy swings!

I LOVE these boys!!!

Playing in the New Year!

January brought some nice weather, so we took advantage and took the Christmas goodies outside to run off some of the energy from the holidays!

Jonathan was able to steal the Go Wheelie from Matt long enough to run into the lot next door!

So happy! Who knew that Santa should have brought two?

Chillin' in their bowls after a day of playing outside. I originally bought them for the boys to play with in their kitchen, but they had different ideas from the start. They sit in them and tip over backwards most of the time. Giggling ensues!