Aunt Kelly & Parker Visit

First, let me apologize up front to anyone who also reads my sister's blog since this update will be very similar to hers.

Aunt Kelly & Parker came to visit last week and we had a busy, fun-filled time.  The weather was unfortunately over 100 degrees each day (and still is - yikes!), so we had to cancel a few of our outdoor plans.  We were so excited to get Charlie and Parker together - we last saw each other when we visited Rochester over New Year's Eve, so needless to say the babes have changed a lot since then, when they barely paid each other mind.  This time they were crawling all over the place, playing catch (kind of) and taking each other's toys - true cousinship!!

Kel & Park (or Parkies as Jack was calling her) arrived on Wednesday evening, so we just had a low-key visit at our house that night.  Jack immediately warmed up to Aunt Kelly and wanted her attention at all times - she even read him a bedtime story.   The babies hung out too and even sat back-to-back at one point - goofballs!

Thursday morning we went to Faust Park to play on their cool playground and ride the carousel.  We went at 9:00 and it was already 85 degrees, so as soon as the carousel opened at 10:00, we headed inside.  We had a nice time, but Charlie was not feeling well and was acting very lethargic.  Side note: I took him to the doctor that afternoon and he had another ear infection.  He took antibiotics for 10 days and seems better now.  I'll probably take him for a follow-up next week to be sure he's totally clear.

It was Charlie's first carousel ride and he liked it, but as I said he was out of sorts and clearly not feeling well, as evidenced in this video I borrowed from Kelly:

Thursday night I tagged along for girls night with my sister and her girlfriends.  We went to Bricktops in Frontenac and it was delish.

Friday morning we checked out the splash pad at Millenium Park in Creve Coeur, which was lots of fun.  The boys and I had just been there Sunday for a play date with Emily, Lisa and Jen, so they were expert splash pad-ers.  These are from that play date:

Friday it took Charlie and Parker a few minutes to figure out what to do, but once they got going they loved the water, even when it splashed them in the face!  Jack was happy because we brought some balls to play with, which is clearly the way to that little guy's heart.

 Jack and a new friend figured out that they could put one of his balls on the water spout and when it turned out the ball would float on top of the water.  Pretty cool.  You can tell by Jack's expression in the third picture that he got a kick out of it.

 Love this one because Parker looks like a little diva:

Friday after lunch we headed to Kelly's friend Katie's house for a massive play date.  There were 14 kids there, 12 of which were boys (and that wasn't even all her friends' kids)!  Needless to say, Jack was in heaven!!  I didn't take any pictures there, but I borrowed this one from Kel - can't have that many kids together and not attempt a group photo!!

Friday night we cancelled our plans to check out the Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens because of the heat, so instead we just went to eat at McGurk's.  It was crowded and VERY loud, but we survived.

Saturday we played some more in the morning, then came home for naps.  After naptime we went to our friend Nathan Mincher's 3rd birthday party.  They had a cool inflatable water slide, so Jack played on that for a little bit.  It took some coercing to get him to go down the slide but once he did, he loved it!!

 Have I mentioned it was really hot?  Charlie had to go shirtless since we were outside watching Jack slide.

After a quick visit at Nathan's we headed to my parents' house for a party. They invited friends and family over to see Kelly and Parker and we had a great turnout.  It was nice to see everyone!

Charlie & the ladies (Aunt Patty, Aunt Jean and Aunt Lori)

Right after I took the picture above, all three of my aunts pictured claim that Charlie said "Thank you" after Aunt Patty said it to him first.  I was doubtful, but then a few minutes later he said it again - both Jason and I heard it.  I'm sure it was just a fluke, but sounded a LOT like thank you to us.

 Our fruitless attempts at a cousin picture:

 Jack caught lightning bugs with my Uncle Jim and his granpda and daddy.  That was a first for him and he thought it was really cool...until Grandpa made a ring out of the light - he thought that was gross!

Kelly and Parker left Sunday morning.  We were sad to see them go, but we had such a fun time while they were here.  Jack loved spending all that time with Aunt Kelly (he even asked for her in the middle of the night Wednesday night), and he especially liked making Parker laugh.  Our next visit will be sometime in September when they come back to St. Louis and again in October when Grandma, the boys and I head to Rochester for Parker's first birthday.  We're counting the days!