I know it is a little hard to tell what is happening in this picture.  Colton is laying on his tummy in his crib and Brian is trying to get him to crawl down to him in the crib.  Brian lined up a bunch of little toys in the crib and Colton thinks it is fun at first.  Brian and Austin stand at the end saying, "come on Colton, you can do it Colton"  Then Colton stops thinking it is fun and starts to fuss and cry.  Brian tries to continue to coax Colton to crawl and/or move himself around in his bed but Colton isn't having it.  Then Austin, the dutiful big brother, will look at Brian and say something like, "Daddy, he just wants his toy" and Austin will move the toys closer so that Colton can reach them.  Colton and Austin are both then happy and Austin thinks his mommy and daddy are crazy for putting toys out of Colton's reach!!  Pretty hard to tell Austin to stop when he is just trying to be a good big brother!!

Here are a few pictures of the entire family enjoying the new pool!  It is long enough that Brian fits in it so Austin loves all the running around he can do.  We filled it all the way and then emptied half of the water out so that Colton could sit in it too.  Colton loves to sit and splash with his arms and kick with his legs.  Quick note:  Colton has two more teeth coming in at top so he actually has a total of three little teeth trying to make their way in all at the same time.  Now his crabiness is completely understood . . . poor little guy!! 

Number 5!

Colton's fifth tooth broke through up top!!  He is drooling all over again and this seems to be the first one that is making him a little fussy.  Nothing we can't handle but he just seems to be a little more uncomfortable than with the other four.  He is using his little tongue a lot to feel what is going on up top.  It is pretty cute watching him stick out his tongue sideways to get a feel.  He also got to start number three foods this week.  These have little pieces of pasta, vegetables and fruits in them. 

Dinosaur Ridge

Last weekend we went to Dinosaur Ridge!  They were having a little Dinosaur Discovery Day so we went to see what they all had to offer and it was a great time.  Austin was able to touch different turtles and snakes!  One of the pictures above is him "nose to nose" with a huge snake!  He thought it was cool that he got to touch everything.  Brian was pretty impressed with the museum and all the information they had about dinosaurs.  Then we rode a tour bus up to the top and walked back down.  On our walk we got to see dinosaur bones and we could see fossilized footprints from millions of years ago.  Half way down I spotted a rattle snake and we watched it slither over to a big rock and coil up.  We were about 3 feet away from it so Brian took the above picture of it.  It was a fun morning and both boys enjoyed all the excitement!!

Austin to the Dentist

This morning I took Austin to the dentist for the very first time.  He loved it when we got there because there were huge race car video games that he could play.  He was the life of the waiting room while we were waiting our turn to see the dentist.  The dentist introduced herself as "Kelsey".  Austin says to me, "That's not Kelsey mommy."  As I'm sure he was thinking of my cousin Kelsey and looked at the dentist suspiciously.  Once we got back to the dentist he was not as excited.  He didn't want to sit in the chair or check out any of the dentists instruments.  Really, the only one he showed any interest in at all was the one that sprays water!  They let him play with that and he of course got mommy's shirt wet.  He didn't cooperate too well but the dentist was able to count his teeth.  He has 20 teeth, 10 on top and 10 on bottom.  These include his 2-year molars, so it's nice to know we have those out of the way too!  After the dentist looked him over he got to pick a toy out of the treasure chest and then I took him out to lunch.  He thought that part was the best part I think.  So, now the dentist recommends we start flossing his teeth . .  . yikes!

Yesterday the boys went to a magic show.  Linda said that Austin laughed hysterically at everything the magician did.  He told me on the way home the magician was popping balloons and that it was so funny!  It's always nice to hear that they are having a good day even when I can't be there!!! 

Happy 4th of July!!

 Our 4th of July trip home to Iowa was a great time.  We went to Uncle Nick and Aunt Courtney's first.  Colton was up close and personal with both Hunk & Deuce and he was all smiles the entire time.  Austin spent a considerable amount of time in Hunk & Deuce's pool in the back yard.  Friday Aunt Courtney and I took the boys to the splash park in Ankeny.  They both had a lot of fun and were extremely worn out when we headed home to eat lunch.  We went to Emmetsburg Friday and spent Saturday morning on a boat.  This was Austin's first boating experience but he had no fear of the water.  He jumped in and out of the boat about 20 times.  He loved swimming in the lake.  After the boat ride from Lundgren we headed to the beach and met up with Uncle Nate and Tacee.  We spent over two hours at the beach on Saturday afternoon.  Sunday we went to Fort Dodge.  Austin held a sparkler for the very first time.  He thought it was pretty neat and didn't have any problem running around with Kelsey and showing everyone his sparkler.  It was making Brian and I nervous because he wasn't worried about letting the sparkler burn down to his fingers.  Annie and Papa had a jeep for Austin to drive around their yard.  This was also super fun but Austin couldn't figure out how to steer so we did spend quite a bit of time making sure he wouldn't run into anything and getting him "unstuck" on several occasions.  We also celebrated Daddy and GG Sally's birthdays together.  Austin and Daddy blew out the candles 4 or 5 times!!  It was a great trip home and the car ride went well again.  Both boys were happy to be home as they were both tired of travelling and slept great last night!!