Day at the Zoo!

We headed out early Saturday morning for Como Zoo to hopefully beat the crowd and the heat of the afternoon sun... I think that's what everyone else was thinking too since the first two parking lots where already full by the time we got there.

Steve and I got to see the Lions, Tigers, Penguins, Zebras, Giraffes, Fish, etc. While Ethan saw the big kids running around, the little kids in other strollers, the tall grass behind the tall fences, the boulders in the middle of the field...you get the idea. It's not that easy trying to get a nine month old to focus at an animal in the distance when the kid in the stroller next to him has the same pacifier as him ;) We did have a lot of fun though and will definitely have to take him again when he's a little older.

Standing and Crawling...watch out!

As soon as Ethan was able to sit up on his own we moved the mattress of his crib down a notch to keep him from falling out...about a month later Oma walks in to get him after his nap and he's standing up and hanging on to the rail...we moved the mattress all the way to the bottom now...there's no way he's going to be able to climb out of his crib now.
Of course the crib isn't the only place he's standing up now either. He's been able to grab hold of the couch, people sitting on the floor, small cousins, chairs,... and stand up.
He could do this before he figured out how to crawl, which happened the past two weeks. Now he's traveling from room to room in the house and keeping me very busy.

There are two videos that I look of him that I had to share. One of them is Ethan crawling in the dinning room and being his usual cute self. The other one is him eating and doing this new head shaking thing that just started this week. I don't think he's saying no...maybe I'm just hoping that he doesn't know how to yet.

Muhr's at the Cabin

We got the call this last week that Dan, Elizabeth, and Corina are wanting to go to the cabin and do we want to come too? Or course... we get to hang out with Corina! We did end up having a really fun and rainy weekend with the whole family. All of the brothers, wives, kids, and grandparents were at the cabin together for some family time.
Part of the agenda was grilling, pizza at Rafferty's, swim in the lake, play Skipo, and play with the kids of course.
Corina is already getting so big; Ethan is slowly crawling around the living room; Julia is trying so hard to keep the toys close to Ethan so he doesn't have to crawl to get to them; and Sophie is just about everywhere in between and all over the place. It was a very busy little cabin that usually seems pretty big. ;)

Happy 4th of July!

Steve, me, Ethan and both sets of grandparents spent the weekend in Nisswa at the Gustafson's cabin together for the long holiday weekend. I think that might be the most attention Ethan has had in a long time.

Most of our time was spent trying to work up an appetite before the next meal...we had to fit at least three meals plus snacks into each day...and mind you none of them were small.

Since the water on the lake is so low again this year and we can't get the boat into the lake, we had to watch the boat parade from the dock instead of being a part of it.

We also made it to the Brainerd Parade and got to shake Senator Norm Colman's hand, collect about 20 little Frisbees, eat popsicles, fight off the other kids for the candy, and get sun burnt.

The water was perfect for swimming though and Ethan had a blast splashing in the water and walking in the water with an infant inertube around him.