Hidden Pond Park

In an effort to enjoy every possible moment of life, we stayed very busy this week doing fun things!  And in between the fun activities, the whole house got cleaned too, so we're all pretty worn out.  Lydia, we're ready for you!  We spent one morning at one of our favorite parks/nature centers, Hidden Pond Park.  Sam was thrilled to see turtles in the nature center and out in the middle of the pond.  Abby was happy to have her new friend Liam around for 4-year-old fun.  They raced, explored various trails, and experimented with how different sticks and rocks looked as they were thrown into the water.  And the two little brothers (Sam and Liam's brother) were thoroughly entertained by the games and joined in as best they could with everything.  It was a gorgeous morning!

Sam has recently fallen in love with doing art.  He prefers markers and is well-trained to only do them at the kitchen table (after about a zillion reminders and nearly as many fights).  He'll travel the house with crayons and paper and request Abby, Roy, or I do draw turtles and monster trucks.  If you look carefully at the drawing below, you will see that Sam has learned how to draw his own turtles.  On the bottom right corner, you'll see a turtle shell and a head (that's the turtle not in the water).  And in the bottom left corner, you will see a turtle shell, head, leg, and tail (the turtle is in the water).  He drew the picture and then got really excited to tell Roy and I about his turtles.  I am super impressed that at age 2 he can draw a pretty good rendering of a turtle!

I'm hoping our next post is one announcing that baby Lydia is healthy, happy, and here.  No matter what, she'll be here by March 26 because I have an induction scheduled, but we are thinking happy thoughts that she will join us earlier than that.  She has 2 anxious siblings and 2 equally-anxious parents counting the minutes until we can hold her!