Pool Fun!

We bought a little blow up pool this weekend since it was supposed to be pretty hot. Ethan loved it! His favorite part was filling the bucket and pouring it on mine and Michael's feet. The water was really cold but luckily it was really hot out!

Chicago Botanic Garden

Last year was the first time we had visited the Chicago Botanic Garden and Ethan loved it so we knew we wanted to go back this year. Just like last year, Ethan's favorite part was the train garden. I didn't think we would ever get him out of there!

Splashing in the fountain!

It's Thomas!

Totally enthralled!

Our little miner!

The farm that we go pumpkin picking at, Goebbert's, added a really cool mining tower last year but it was after we had been there pumpkin picking. We usually only go there once a year but we thought it would be a fun experience to do with Ethan. They have a cool wooden train you can climb on and of course Ethan had to go on that first!

Choo choo!

Then we got to mining. They have this big tower that pumps out the water and it goes down the sluice tray all the way down. We bought a bag of dirt that contained gemstones that needed to be sluiced to find them.

We added a little bit of dirt in the tray, put the tray in the water and then let the water sift the dirt out.

Ethan had so much fun picking out the big gemstones.

Ethan's gemstone bounty!

July 4th at the Lake

Michael's parents bought a vacation lake house last Fall in southern Indiana and we planned to spend our 4th of July weekend down there. We hadn't been there before because they've been doing a lot of work on the property so this was our first visit. Ethan was in absolute heaven. He is such a nature boy and loves to be outside at all times. He just loved exploring by the lakes, throwing rocks in the water, looking for frogs, going on the boat and driving Grandpa's tractor. We had a really great weekend.

Exploring the lake with Grandma

We found a baby frog

Boat ride with Daddy and Grandpa

Driving Grandpa's tractor

On July 4th we went to the Evansville Zoo, which was a great zoo. The highlight was feeding the giraffes, they were so close to you, Ethan loved it! They had a lot of amazing exhibits, we were pretty impressed.

The night of July 4th we hung out on the dock, fished and waited for it to get dark so we could see all of the fireworks. It was really cool!

The community where Michael's parents house is has a couple of pools. One of them was a perfect kiddy pool for Ethan. It was only 12 inches on one end and 18 inches on the other so he could walk the whole thing. He loved it and had so much fun!

Besides driving Grandpa's tractor, throwing rocks in the lake was probably Ethan's favorite activity.

Hanging out in the hammock wasn't too bad either!

And who doesn't like to swing?!!

This little guy loves Grandma and Grandpa's lake house!