Memorial Day and Grandpa's Birthday

Ryan helped Grandpa open his birthday card

Here are Ryan and Grandma working on the frog puzzle that Pa made

Ryan in his cool new shades

Hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Riek

This little cart is made to be pushed....but it has turned into a very cool ride for Ryan

which of course then turned into a ride for Grandma

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Sitting in Grandpa's chair, reading the paper

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At the park

We went to the park down the street from Grandma and Grandpa Riek's house, Sunday afternoon and had a great time (as you can see)

Unfortunately Ryan seems to think Mommy or Daddy needs to swing next to him... Very easy to do on our swing set at home that has a regular swing next to Ryan's toddler swing. Here's proof of Sean's attempt at the toddler swing...

Here's Ryan's attempt to "crawl" up the tube

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St Louis Zoo - the SNAKE statue

Every year we take pictures at this snake statue - Ryan was not very cooperative, but hopefully Aunt Linda and Uncle Jon (and Nathan, Christopher, and Jason) will get a kick out of these!

Here we are at the zoo last year (april 2006)
Nathan and Christopher

Ryan

Christopher, Nathan, Jason and Aunt Linda

St. Louis Zoo

We went to Grandma and Grampa Riek's house for the long weekend, and for Grandpa's 65th birthday (yikes!). Saturday we went to the St. Louis Zoo - if you ever get the chance to go, it is the best in the country - and it's FREE! (a fact my dad really likes)

Ryan had a great time and was fascinated with anything involving water ("wa-wa") Here are Grandma and Ryan at the fountain by the entrance

Ryan wanted to help Daddy push the stroller - for once he was actually too short!

Grandma and Grandpa taught Ryan a new trick - swinging between the two of them

Here's Ryan at the hippo pool - he was much more interested in the boy next to him and the fish.

Ryan and Grandpa

Grandma and Ryan ~ watching the polar bear swimming!

Daddy took Ryan on the carousel at the zoo - it is really cool, all the "horses" are different zoo animals. Ryan rode on the penguin.

Random bird babblings

well, we finally caught the indigo bunting on film ~ these birds are really cool, as they are not really blue, they are actually black! See here for more info on them. My mom and I have a competition (friendly of course...) over who has more indigo buntings. I think we are tied at 3 each. I have to laugh that mom and I are even having these conversations (and Sean is now a bird enthusiast too) seeing as how I used to make fun of my mom and grandma for watching birds. They used to call each other all the time to report on who has which birds at their feeders. Guess the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree ~ I often think of Gram while I am watching all of our birds - she would have loved our birdfeeders.

Aunt Harriet's Birthday Party

Today was Harriet's birthday (Sean's Aunt) so she invited the family over for a wonderful birthday meal! It was a beautiful day, so we took lots of pictures:

Papa and Ryan

Grammy brought Ryan this really cool ball - note that it matches his outfit (ha!)

Ryan had his own "Ryan-sized" chair - he carried it straight over to this little table and wanted to be pushed right up there so he could bang the table

Grammy and Ryan on the balcony

Mommy and Ryan

Ed (Sean's dad's cousin) had a blast playing with Ryan ~ Ryan had us all laughing hysterically (see the video below!)

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Ella is here!

One of my good friends from my online buddy group (July '05 Moms) just moved out here to Kansas from the D.C. area!

Jess, her husband, Bob, and their daughter, Ella now live about 10 minutes away.

Ella, as you would expect is also a July 2005 baby, born on July 5.

Ella and Ryan get along great - in fact Ella calls Ryan "Rhine"

Ryan vs. bike

and the bike won.

twice.

note the road rash on the forehead and the knee....