Sea World (picture overload...sorry!)

We met the Townsends, Rowells, and Hartleges today at Sea World. Ben and James took the day off work to come with us too, so that was fun as well as extremely helpful to have more hands!

Here are Colin and I at the water park area.
Hmm...picture is tilted. Sorry! He swiped my sunglasses and it took me a few tries to get them back!
Watching the water.At least he didn't lay down and drink the water like he did on the patio yesterday after our brief rain storm.
Ben and Natalie.
Colin saw Seth get out snacks and made a beeline for the goldfish. You'd think he never got fed at home the way he mooches snacks off everyone. He had scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes for brunch right before we left and he ate chicken and watermelon after this for lunch. *sigh*
More Ben and Natalie. Ain't she a cutie?
Oh look, another cutie!
Awww....
I guess boys can be cuties too though, huh?
:) I have nothing else to say about her. Just :)
Turned weird and I'm not gonna fix it. Tilt your head, he's playing in the water.
Boy loves that Brenna.She might like him a little too. But not as much as Zach.Thirsty, thirsty boy.
After eating lunch, we decided to take the big kids on some rides. They did the Ferris wheel first and then rode Shamu's roller coaster.
Leah rode with the love birds, Zach and Brenna.
And I got to take this goon: Seth.He thought it was so cool that we could see his mom and brother below us! Near the end of the ride he looked and me and said it a totally chill voice, "this is cool."
There's my little baby watching me. He even waved a few times! :)Part of our group, Miss Brenna waving!
Colin and I while the big kids rode the coaster!
And headin' out after 4 hours in the heat!

Duck Pond Playdate

Yesterday we met some of Leah's friends (who all have BOYS) at the Duck Pond. Needless to say, Colin enjoyed their rambuctiousness and was climbing up all the playground equipment with them. He also enjoyed feeding the ducks and thought it was so funny to watch them eat the bread. He was a bit confused at first though why HE shouldn't be eating the bread! Here are a few pictures that will probably give my mother-in-law Laura a heart attack!
Colin, standing off from the group! You can see one of the two girls who was there in this pic ~ LOL! Poor thing; there were at least a dozen boys, this girl and a girl Colin's age!
Here ducky, ducky.
Come here, strange, Texas water-fowl.
To throw...
Or not to throw... that is the question.
Being boys, they all also had to chase the poor other birdies at the park...
No fear, that one. No fear.
Later we went to Leah's for a yummy, yummy lunch. I have GOT to get the recipe from her and share it with you. It's basically pork loin, black beans, tomatoes, mango, celery (and some stuff I'm sure I've forgotten) in a vinaigrette and served in a pita pocket with lettuce. Looked easy, but wow was it good. I had seconds and was thinking about it the rest of the day. Yum!

And your daily dinner pic...bugogi, essentially a Korean lettuce wrap, including sticky rice and seasoned steak, which is then dipped in a mixture of chilie sauce and soy sauce (we each mix our own, having *slightly* different heat tolerances).

Mommy's Helper

I actually had my camera in the bag today at the commissary, so you get a picture of Colin by the broccoli. We were waiting on "Joe the Produce Guy", whom Colin has to talk to each time we go. I became friends with him while I was pregnant (back when I could barely stand to be in the grocery store) and he has chatted with Colin every week since he was born. We were picking up broccoli today when Joe decided we didn't want any of what was out there and went in back to get us some fresh off the truck! LOL! He's such a sweetheart (in his 50's?) and regularly gets things from the back for us!
This afternoon we decided to cook with some of our produce. Can you guess what we're making?
Here are most of the ingredients...
And Colin helping me. Yep, apple pie. Yum! He was fascinated by the apple peeler! And (I discovered) can now take a bite out of an apple.
Pardon my huge hand. There's a reason I don't normally take shots of the two of us...
Mmm, don't worry, his hands were scrubbed thoroughly. I eventually had to stop him eating the apples though. I was was afraid we were not going to have enough if I let him eat all he wanted!
Trying the apple peeler again. He was starting to get the hang of it by the end. Probably by the end of summer, I'd guess.
Being silly.
And the (almost) final result...not yet baked.

*sniff, sniff*

Tonight we surprised the Hartleges with a going-away! I really think we did surprise all of them, so yay us! We had a great time just hanging out and spending a little more time together. We ordered pizzas and just generally had a good evening. Here's Ryleigh, who was very excited when Brenna got there (she can ennunciate "Brenna" now too!).
Some of the kiddos playing in the floor. Natalie (front and center) sat herself back up from her belly for the first time tonight and everyone saw it. She looked SO pleased with herself. I'm convinced she was just waiting for a big enough audience to show off her new trick! She even did it again later and looked around the room with a big grin as thought waiting for applause ~ which she promptly received.
Colin desperately wanted Brenna's shoes to fit him and kept thrusting it at me and then at his foot saying "shoe". I could not get it on to suit him.
Courtney's grandpa on the other hand, could. The minute he walked in the door, Colin made him put the shoes on, then made him "vroom" a car. Then when the poor man tried to walk into the kitchen with the rest of the guys, Colin ran after him and clung to his leg until he picked him up. Apparently Colin knows a good grandad (or at least a sucker) when he sees one! :)
The kids enjoyed their pizza and Colin did a decent job keeping up with the big girls.
Then we all sang a song to Ben and Shawn.
Lyrics are at the bottom of the post for those who are interested. :)

We got Shawn some little things to remember us by too and the guys got some gag gifts for Ben.
Belly tickles for Colin.
And more for Brenna.
And Brenna giving them to Colin. Who wouldn't like belly tickles?!
Colin had a great time pushing Roo's stroller into everything in sight. Why is it he enjoys crashing so much? Was it because he was born in San Antonio?
And, at least the 4th time in the past few months we've gotten a picture of us girls with NO kiddos...Although tonight was harder than other times...I have at least three more with various ones running in front of us! :)
And finally, the lyrics you've all been waiting for, to the tune of "I've Got Friends in Low Places"...

Blame it all on these dudes, The Air Force said move
And ended the fun we've had here
It's time now to go, Time now you know
Y'all are the best friends we could have had here!
And we saw the surprise and the joy in your eyes,
When they said you're going back home
And we hugged you, said "y'all may have to move,
But we'll Facebook every day!"

'Cause y'all've got friend in many places,
From Henderson to San Antonio
No matter where we go...
Well I'm not big on Dayton, Ohio, think I'll fly y'all out to LAS VEGAS! (Courtney solo)
Oh, Y'all've got friends in many places.

Well, the Air Force was wrong, y'all just don't belong
They don't even speak English here!
Everything's all right, it's just a short flight!
And we'll come try Ben's new beer!
Hey, Shawn's never mean, her house's always clean,
So why do we love her so much?
Their kids are too cute and never act like toots,
Like the rest of ours do!

Well y'all've got friend in many places,
From Henderson to San Antonio
No matter where we go...
Well I'm not big on saying goodbye, don't know how to stop once Shawn starts to cry! (Lauren solo)
Oh, Y'all've got friends in many places.

Well, your time here wasn't long
Not as long as this song (Ryan solo)
We're so glad for the fun we've had here
Everything's all right, we'll party tonight!
And maybe take a picture or two
I'll blog them tomorrow or maybe even tonight, don't know why y'all just can't keep up! (Ashley solo)
So now Hartlage family, we'll stop singing so badly and y'all can fill your cups!

Cause y'all've got friend in many places,
From Henderson to San Antonio
No matter where we go...
Oh, Y'all've got friends in many places.

Good morning!

Colin kept trying to help Michael put his hat on this morning! Michael ended up being able to distract him with waffles though! I love watching them interact together!
Colin was being so funny at dinner last night! We were cracking up at his antics ~ such a ham! Sorry the pic is a bit grainy. I forgot to change the settings from the food pic! Whoops! Oh well, makes it harder to see the booger coming out of his nose just as I clicked the picture! heehee. :)
Speaking of which, steak and spinach salad.
And the pie I forgot to post a finished picture of the other night! :)