Another Nice Day... Another Outside Excursion

Since it was 75 degrees today and I didn't have my English class in the afternoon, I decided it would be fun to take Tristan to the park and let Chad work on his homework in a quiet house. So I called up my friend Mery from our ward and asked if she wanted to meet me at the park with her daughter Nova and of course she said yes. Nova is just a month older than Tristan and they get to see a lot of each other because Mery and I are in activity days together.

Riding the bouncy horse. He kept running over to play on it but wasn't quite sure what to do when I actually put him on it.

Nova's turn

A hazard of the playground... woodchips! He kept trying to eat them!

Mery and Nova sharing their snacks with Tristan. They both love the cheese-puffs.

Talking to Nova in the swing next to him.

Nova is going to be a big sister in March to a little brother. Mery keeps trying to get me to try for another. Haha not yet! Notice Nova's foot, she kept crossing her leg in the swing and refused to put it through the hole. Such a funny little girl! Also, look at how much longer Tristan's legs are compared to her... and she's a month older!
Out of the swings and right back to the horse

First Trip to the Zoo

It has been so nice this week here in Utah so we decided to take advantage and go to the zoo. We don't have the greatest zoo, it's really small and still have a lot of small enclosures for the animals. But it was still fun for an afternoon excursion. They have so many new babies; twin tiger cubs, colobus monkey, giraffe and their pride, Zuri the elephant. Tristan enjoyed seeing all the animals and I loved seeing all the babies! :D
Statue of the gorilla the zoo had for years.

Riding the tigers

One of the adorable twin tiger cubs

Baby giraffe and his mama

Tristan making friends with the penguins. They came running up to the fence as soon as he leaned over.

Me and Tristan in front of the giant elephant that makes noise and music

Not so sure about sitting on this thing! The Godfather shirt was a b-day present from his uncle Eddie and Aunt Gio (LOVE our friends!). He also got a Rocky shirt from Ryan and Janelle.

Outside the Elephant Habitat. If you look close, you can see the baby in the background.

Zuri the elephant and her mama

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday to Tristan!

I can't believe I have a one year old! This past year has been indescribable! It is truly amazing to think that just one year ago I had this tiny little boy that I had waited so long to hold. He's not so tiny now! At his one year check up he was in the 95th percentile for height at 31 1/4 inches (he's grown a full 10 inches since he was born). He's walking everywhere now, climbing on anything and getting into everything!

Since his birthday is Halloween I, of course, decided to have a costume party. The whole family were pirates.

Since we were pirates, I went with a pirate theme for the invites, pinata and cake. The invites were so much work but so worth it! Message in a bottle, I made all the "maps", filled the bottle with sand and mixed in jewels.I don't have pictures of the cake yet since my camera decided to die after one picture! We have a lot of video that I won't bore you with but fortunately, Ryan was there with his handy camera and he took pictures for me. THANK YOU RYAN!!!

I sent the kids on a treasure hunt around the house and front yard to find their goody bags filled with gold coin candy, ring pops, glow sticks and other treats. They all seemed to have a blast doing it! I also made a face cut-out poster that people could take pictures in. Here's the end of the treasure hunt... the dead pirate guarding his treasure. I made the Treasure Chest too. (Yes, I know I was a little out of control)The poster... I wish I'd done it on plywood instead of cardboard because it turned out so cute!

Our house was full to the brim with friends and family. We ate cake (which is a story in itself that I will share later when I have the photos), sugar cookies, opened LOTS of presents, broke open the pirate flag pinata and had a lot of fun. All in all, it was exhausting but so worth all the work! Fun but I'm not doing this again until he's five!

Tristan and all his loot. He loves all his new toys, especially the lion from his Aunt Jen, Uncle Brandon and cousins, Matthew and Tyler. When I brought it into the room his face lit up and his mouth opened as wide as can be! He kept going over and just patting it. So cute!

Mmmm Cake! His Pirate Hat Cake w/Green Frosting (another fiasco) as you can see he made a mess but only after I prompted him by pushing his hands into the cake. He was eating so daintly before I "helped".

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME AND I HOPE YOU HAD FUN!