A morning outside with Tobias.

If I could bottle up all your zeal for life and apply it like perfume at the start of every day, I would.

     What the world must look like to one as little as you, gigantic, foreign, wonderful? Sometimes when I look at pictures like these I can imagine your awe. The world through your eyes, a beautifully scary creation rendered exciting within carefully constructed boundaries.

(Could you be any cuter sporting Auntie KK's beanie she left behind?)

     You love the outdoors, if I left it up to you you would spend all your time outside. I both love and dislike this about you. Rain or shine, heat or cold, no bugs or millions your enthusiasm never wavers (unless I mention Paw Patrol, but even then you are swayed only 50% of the time). I love this because if there is one place I can go to get refreshed it's outside. It's in Gods creation where I am reminded how small I am and how great God is. There is something very comforting in that truth. I dislike this because the heat annoys me and mosquito's are very literally the bane of my existence!

     Thankfully on this morning the air was crisp (my favorite kind) and the mosquito's were few. I had put Well's down for his morning nap and the three of us headed to the backyard to play.

     When Riggs wasn't standing at the back door wanting to be let in he ran around chasing squirrels. He made sure to give Tobias and his lawn mower a wide berth. He seems to be terrified of that blue and green bubble machine when it's at the hands of Ty. I can't imagine why? I don't know a person or animal who minds getting rammed and chased by a little squirt and his plastic mower ...

(I don't think my mom could have known how much he would love this toy.)

(The leaves tend to turn brown instead of all those vibrant colors like up north, boo.) 

(The sunlight that morning was just gorgeous.)

      He stood at the gate glued to whatever truck or bus happened to pass by. He would beckon to me frantically, desperately wanting me to share in his excitement.

(His little face! Those huge blue eyes, that sweet mouth and those soft cheeks, 

it's hard to express how much I love this boy.)

     He mowed the lawn five times over stopping every once in awhile to make sure I was watching or to investigate the nearest ant hill. He ended up transferring his hat to his mower, it was "coldy" and needed some warmth.

     He also drove to the store multiple times for various items mom forgot to grab. And he drove to work. He made sure to wave goodbye to me just like daddy does every time he leaves.

Oh to be little again. Don't grow up too fast baby.

The Riverbank Zoo.

Family trip to the zoo, a rite of passage I think ...

     We are members of the Greenville Zoo and as such we are afforded certain privileges. One such privilege is half-off entry to several zoos across America! We zoo people (more so my husband than me) think this is a pretty sweet deal. Especially when it includes the Riverbank Zoo.

(These little creatures put on quite the show popping in and out of their burrows.)

(The stroller was massive and therefore a huge pain to maneuver and overall very useless.) 

     The Riverbank Zoo in Columbia is only an hour from our house. So on a day off it makes a great extended morning. We took off around 9:30am with way more bags than we needed. I've resigned myself to the fact that this is my lot in life for the time being. We arrived around 10:30 and proceeded to spend two hours at the park.

     With a toddler two hours was definitely sufficient. We looped the park twice, saw two "shows" and spent extra time viewing our favorite animals. We then drove home while our two babes snoozed in the back seat. Aside from losing out on grownup naps it was a huge success! It is a day we still talk about and a day Tobias desperately hopes we repeat. He asks about it on the regular.

(I took these pictures through the glass, but it looks like the glass wasn't even there! Kudos to the glass cleaners, seriously.)

(My favorite photo from the day.)

     Gray and I loved the Gorillas even though Tobias wasn't as interested. They didn't do much (probably why he wasn't impressed), but their positions and looks were hilarious. Other animals of note were the lions and monkeys, always fascinating for various reasons. We really wanted to see the Tiger, but he was too sleepy to make an appearance, hopefully next time!

(We face-timed Nana because she loves Gorillas too!)

(You could walk through this open exhibit, pretty neat!)

     Tobias loved the Elephants and the Prairie Dogs, but we probably spent the most time at the Brown Bear exhibit. We watched them dig and swim and do bear things like pee massive amounts of liquid (sorry, it was hard to miss). I don't know why he loved them so much, but he did.

(I mean he was glued to those bears, they didn't bat an eyelash without us knowing. He made sure we were informed about every move they made.)

(The smelliest exhibit at the zoo, no joke. Barf worthy.)

     The two shows we saw were great, not too long. We watched a zoo keeper feed penguins and also saw sea lions perform tricks. I really liked the sea lion exhibit, you could go "under" the exhibit and watch them swim. If you stood at the right angle they looked like they were swimming at you, this totally freaked Tobias out and made me laugh (very compassionate of me, I know).

("Tobias, sit down!" This phrase was on repeat for the short amount of time he spent in the stroller.)

     In my opinion, the giraffes were the highlight! You could feed them!! Tobias was brave for about two minutes and let the giraffe grab lettuce from his hand once before delegating the task to daddy, "daddy feed," as he backed away.

(This giraffe was loving the food.)

     Overall it was a great experience! If the worst decision we made was paying too much money for cotton candy, I'd say we did pretty good. We will definitely be going back. Maybe by the time our next trip rolls around Well's will be soaking in the sights and sounds as well ... for the most part, he snuggled me in the ergo, made us both sweat and slept through all the excitement!

Getting Away

     Gray and I were able to get away for a couple days in May thanks to Gray's parents. It was a quite little hotel near Gatlinburg, not too close to anything major, situated on a two lane highway in the mountains. There was a cozy fireplace inside and a stream with a hammock out the front door. Down the road was a little book/tourist shop with great coffee and books that were literally stacked up from floor to ceiling. The hike was short but fun, the food yummy, the shop gazing diverting and the conversation a blessing. No little one in site to entertain and wait on hand and foot.
     There was a lot of talk about names. Our list at this point included, Emry, Damen, Theodore, Reuben, Simeon, Jude, Desmond, and Julian, none of which made it to the end. There was dreaming about what life would be like once this new one arrived. There was talk about finances and praying that God would provide for our needs (because having babies isn't cheap). There was talk about the future and grad school and what we saw ourselves doing in five years. It was the kind of conversation you don't want to forget. In all, it was a great two days, a break from reality, and a wonderful connection point for me and Gray.

Apple picking (a new family tradition, maybe).

     This is now our third year visiting Skytop Orchard. I am not sure how long it takes for an activity to qualify as a tradition, but I am going to assume that we've succeeded. Two years ago Gray and I went with friends, a very fun and relaxing day. Last year, we added my sisters to the party as well as our fresh babe; Tobias was only four weeks old at the time. It was cold and we didn't dress appropriately, but with a couple blankets draped around us we still enjoyed our time. This year we chose to go an hour after moving into our new house.
     This proved to be both good and bad. The house was a mess and things were everywhere. With a walking one year old in the mix, it was nice to leave the chaos and do something fun. The only con, we forgot a stroller, did not have our backpack, and had no shoes for the baby. Soooo, we carried Ty the whole time (minus a couple minutes towards the end when after scouring the ground for red ants and finding none, it was deemed safe enough for baby toes). He likes to get down and run around so I say "carried" lightly. It was more like a constant wrestling match to distract the kid from throwing his body towards the ground. In instances like these, I am thankful for gracious friends who take turns carrying said crazy child and attempting to entertain him.
     Regardless of that minor issue we successfully picked some apples, staymen and golden pears to be exact! Plus we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery all while sweating and climbing giant hills due to getting somewhat lost, but ya, can't expect perfection every time. Maybe next year will be better ... Good thing we do this once a year, I have time for this years experience to get clouded over with my desire to create dreamy fall time memories. :p

Credit for the rest of these photos goes to Katelyn Gray, she's the best! It is so nice to have a few pictures of Tobias and I!