The Big Slide and other Stuff

Spring his here!  Here are the only non-phone pictures on the post.  Lauren Cromar invited us to hang in the park with her and baby Oliver yesterday afternoon.  She like to take pictures.  Sometimes we benefit from that.  Yesterday was one of those days.

Don't know how Lauren got me to jump in a picture.  I am still recovering from some weird ailment where my eyes were super swollen.  Here not so swollen, but kind of.  Look how beautiful my children are though!  

This picture took a lot of convincing.  Ezra just wanted to squish the "grapes."  I remember being tempted to do the same thing to these flowers when I was a kids.  Apparently, they smell just like grapes too.

I love, love, love this picture.  Look at her pretty eyes!

One very warm spring day when we went to Brooklyn with friends.

Lucia loves the swings.  A month and a half ago, she was terrified of them.  Now she would swing the whole time at the playground if I let her.  Usually, when I take her out she throws a tantrum.   Big surprise there.

Saturday, during the afternoon session of General Conference, our kiddies were losing it from being inside all day, so we decided that we take them out while there was still a bit of light.  Conference, we'll catch up with you!


It turned out to be such a fun outing.  Rocks and grass and scootering.  And spring flowers!



Lucia is at that age when it is ALL about the stairs.  Nothing is more tempting (or makes here happier) than practicing her ascending/descending skills.  Maybe she's a little old for this, but city babies don't get a lot of stair practice (Imagine little hands on the subway stairs, or the stairs in our building, for that matter.  Yuck!), so their a little behind the curve when it comes to this skill.  Papa's a good helper.

Flowers!

Lucia LOVES her new rain boots!  She drags them around the apartment, and when she decides that she wants me to put them on her feet, she is very vocal in letting me know that she is not open to other options.

We've spent tons of time at the zoos (Bronx and Central Park) lately. Ezra very often requests to go the "museum with the live animals."  This of course, distinguishes the Zoo from the Museum of Natural History.  I keep telling him that the "museum with live animals" has a name, which is "Zoo," but that must be too simplistic for him.  I don't take pictures at the zoo, because honestly, I can barely keep up with my two toddlers.  They're usually running in opposite directions.  Here's a very sorry shot of Ezra showing off his beloved gift shop snake and Lucia picking up something that she probably shouldn't.  

Today we went to the zoo again.  I ran down to the Central Park zoo with my new Craigslist purchase that looks like this.  

I kind of love it.  It means that I can do fun park outings sandwiched in-between Mama runs.  I spent the last two summers doing these outings several times a week, but it seemed like logistically it wasn't going to work out this summer.   This baby is going to make it possible!  

The zoo was fun.  My favorite part was watching Lucia warm up to feeding the animals at the petting zoo.  At first she cried and walked backward when I put her too close to the fence.  I was so proud of her when she finally let a sheep slime her hand!

The highlight of our day was the the playground with the big slide.  Everyone with kids has heard of the big slide, but I had never been there before.  We were there for hours.  Such a good time was being had that Ezra even wet his pant for the first time since last summer.  We went and bought him some new shorts so that the fun could be continued.  It ended up being a 10-5 day in the Park.   When you see the kind of energy Ezra was exerting the whole time, you will be amazed.  

Ezra found some nice big kids.  Thank you nice big kids!  Seeing Ezra so happy to have "friends" to play with was the highlight of the highlight of my day.  

Does anyone else ever feel like your child is the loudest and the craziest?



Here is one of Ezra's new favorite pastimes.  You've gotta love the lyrics of a two-year-old.  Did I mention that he's loud and crazy?