Pullen Park

We are very blessed in Raleigh to have lots of good parks to visit. One of our favorites is Pullen Park, so a few weeks ago we took the kids on Matt's day off. Pullen Park has a carousel, a train, boats, a playground and picnic area with a pond . It was a little chilly, but the kids didn't seem to mind! Here are some pictures from our family outing. Maddie riding the carousel. She was on a rabbit that went up and down and loved it!

Davis started out on a horse, but as soon as the carousel started moving he was reaching for me and shaking with fear. Our little boy that jumps from couches and loves for his daddy to throw him "uh-high" was not too sure about these horses and other animals that move up and down. I tried to put him on a giraffe that did not go up and down, but he wanted none of it. I just ended up holding him and leaning and watched Maddie while the carousel went round and round. There were a couple of times he tried to get down - I think he just wanted off! Maybe when he gets a little older we can try again.

Next, we walked over to the pond to look at the ducks, geese, and even some turtles. I have a cute story about feeding the ducks I'll tell you a little later.

There is not a whole lot of playground equipment at Pullen Park, but the kids enjoyed "riding" the truck and the lion and sliding down the slide.

Matt with the kids on the train - I think Davis was a little hesitant after the carousel ride.

Here is me with Maddie and Davis on the train - they both loved it! After we rode the train we went and had a picnic lunch. We saved our bread crust to feed the ducks. The kids really enjoyed this - especially Davis who loves to throw everything! As we were finishing throwing our bread a couple of ladies from an assisted living facility came up and Davis started giving them the eyes and one of the ladies gave him her snack crackers to throw the ducks. Right about the time he finished one of the "chaperones" with the lady came up with a whole loaf of bread. We felt bad that the lady may have given up her afternoon snack for Davis, but she didn't seem to mind. They actually seemed to get a kick out of watching Maddie and Davis throw the bread and crackers to the ducks.

Matt took this picture so you would get an idea of the size of train that we were on and how it rides around the park and over bridges.

Last of the Easter pics

It was too cold outside, so we just took a few pictures inside before the kids went down for their naps.



With Mimi and Poppa - can you tell Davis is saying "Cheese!"?

Davis checking out his basket

Maddie checking out her Easter basket from Mommy and Daddy.

Maddie trying out her new magnetic fishing pole.

Davis taking a shot on his new "basketball goal" - the boy loves balls and because of the limited amount of space we felt this was the best way to go.

More Easter pics

I love pictures of Daddies holding hands with their sons and walking, so I had to snap this one of Matt and Davis and then of Maddie with her Poppa.

Better Late than Never - Easter 2009

Mimi and Poppa came for the weekend of Easter and hid some eggs for the kids to find. Here are some pictures of the hunt.

Baby #3

No pictures with this post. Just wanted to let you all know that we are having a little girl. We all went for the ultrasound on Thursday. Maddie said she was excited and that she was going to tell everyone she knows. She even got her own ultrasound picture to take home and put on the refrigerator and look at. We did not get the ultrasound pics on CD this time, so we will not be posting those. Everything looks good. Maddie is saying she wants to name her Gabriella after the Gabriella on High School Musical. We are going to have to break the news to her that that is not going to be her little sister's name. She is asking lots of questions about her baby sister, which is very sweet. She asked tonight where her baby sister is going to sit to eat when she comes out. We will have to remind her that the baby cannot do much at all when she is first born.

Turn About Is Fair Play

Okay, this post is for all of you who gave me a hard time for cutting Davis' hair a couple of weeks ago. Just so you know I didn't do anything to him that I wasn't also willing to let Davis (or Maddie for that matter) do to me also. Last night both Maddie and Davis helped out in cutting my hair.







Notice in the first two pictures that Maddie is wearing an apron. She would not help cut my hair until she had an apron on like Aunt Brandy wears when she cuts our hair.

Zoo Trip Part 2 - North America

Here are some pictures from the North American section of the zoo. (We really need to start a 'Flickr' account. We got loads of great pictures that we would love for all of you to be able to see, but too many to post on the blog.)

By the way - if you're a Puffin lover, don't ask us what we thought about them. It was feeding time when we went into the Puffin exhibit and Maddie didn't like the smell of the fish (as you can see from the picture above) so we passed through there in a hurry.