Soakin' it up

We're soaking up the springtime in an especially sweet (busy) stretch around here between T-ball, birthday celebrations and the end of school. Over the weekend, we had a pair of fun family days. On Saturday, Tobin's little league held their annual Slug Fest fundraiser. Players earned up to twelve swings based on the amount of donations they raised and then were awarded points for the types of hits they got. Thanks to the generosity of our out-of-town family, Tobin took twelve swings. While he could have taken swings from the tee, he chose to have Matt pitch to him. He had a good time and was impressed that his teammate Caden won the T-ball division trophy.



After Tobin was done slugging, we hung out and let the boys run around on the adjacent track.



They also climbed the football field bleachers for quite a while.



We finished up the morning eating a free lunch while watching players in the older divisions hit.



Yesterday, in honor of Tobin's birthday we traveled 66 miles to visit the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. He enjoyed sharing facts about the animals we saw--like how ostriches can run faster than any other birds!



The boys loved the special dinosaur exhibit, which included large-scale mechanical dinosaurs. Matt and I were amused that they were so excited about the "fake" dinosaurs--creatures they found to be "scary" enough that they sometimes wouldn't stand next to them long enough for us to take pictures.



Evan really didn't like even looking at the T. rex and clung to Matt, but at least it made for a good father-son picture.



We spent about six hours at the zoo, walking lots. The weather was cool (high 60s) and cloudy, which made it mostly pleasant. We did get rained on a little at the end, but no one complained. In fact, it was only in the last hour of our visit that Tobin said he was tired. So Matt helped him out. (Evan much preferred walking to riding but we'd usually try to put him in the stroller when I was carrying Lauren. It helped us with our forward progress, which was a bit lacking late in the day.)



Lauren spent most of the day in the stroller but when she got a little fussy, I'd put her in the ergo. I switched the carrier from her usual front-carry position to my back. She apparently was quite comfortable.



Matt and I have lived in this state for nearly 17 years (counting college) and neither of us had ever been to the zoo before yesterday. It is an especially beautiful place. I think my favorite exhibit was the last of the day: the elephants.



As we drove home on idyllic US-64, the boys slept most of the way--a peaceful, adorable end to a memorable day together.