Boating ... Almost

For Memorial Day, my aunt and uncle invited us to go boating with them. Mark and I haven't gone in several years, so I was excited to go and take the kids to the lake. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. It ended up being too windy to take the boat out, but we snapped some shots of Matthew at the lake. We tried to get him to go in the water, but he was too scared of the waves lapping at the shore. It took a lot of convincing to get him anywhere near the water.

 

However, the day turned out well. We visited Benjamin and Jess's apartment, and then stopped by to see Uncle Michael, Mark's brother. We then headed up to Trent and Christine's for the BBQ we were supposed to have at the lake. Lastly, Mark and I took the opportunity to stop at Scheel's, a newly opened sports department store here in Utah. The store was gigantic and had pretty much anything sports related you could want. Also, it had a bunch of fun activity spots to keep you entertained. The coolest being the gigantic indoor ferris wheel - which Matthew was not tall enough to ride. There was also a large fish tank, and a children's play ground - for which Matthew was also too young - and various arcade style games. I wonder how long it will take for Matthew to grow two more inches. I really want to ride a Ferris wheel with him.

 

Matthew and Aunt Jess

 

1 month old

As of Sunday, Hannah is one month old. She is just growing so fast. I think I'm going to start switching her to 0-3 month clothes. We took her to church for the first time on Sunday. She did remarkably well; she basically slept the whole time. I put her in her super pretty white dress, which is so puffy it makes it awkward to hold her. But I love it. Before the cookout on Saturday, my sister-in-law Jess took some pictures of Hannah. They turned out amazing! I love having a photographer in the family, particularly one that lives nearby.

 

 

Pingel Family Cookout

After having Mark's family over to show off our grill, I decided we next needed to have my siblings up for a cookout. I had already talked to Aaron and Benjamin about coming up when I found out that my Aunt Katherine was going to be in town with Tim. Thus, a large Pingel family cookout ensued. The weather ended up being perfect. We dragged our old kitchen table outside and then my grandparents brought their card table. Between those and the patio furniture, we actually had seating for 12 - not counting the couple of lawn chairs we have. We did a potluck style dinner, and everyone brought the most delicious foods. It was so nice to see Katherine and Tim again, and for Katherine to see baby Hannah. They were both so darling with her; I think they both forgot their jackets at the end of the night so as to have an excuse to come back the next day. I included pictures - you can definitely tell which pictures I took and which ones Jess took.

Katherine, Tim and Hannah

Ayden

 

Matthew

Aaron, Melissa, Grandma and Grandpa Pingel

 

Ayden Pingel

Matthew and Ayden

Aunt Melissa, Hannah and Great-Grandma Pingel

 

Grilling with Grandpa Robison

So, Mark's dad has had a lot of business in Salt Lake over the last few years, so we are lucky to be able to see him every few months. This last trip, his first day in town happened to coincide with our pediatrician check-ups for both Matthew and Hannah. Since I haven't found a pediatrician in Layton, we still go down to Salt Lake. I wasn't ready to brave the pediatrician by myself - the logistics of getting to children crying from shots from the doctor's office back into the car seemed too daunting. So Mark came too, which worked well for us to visit his dad. Ironically, neither Matthew nor Hannah had any scheduled shots, so my worries were unfounded. However, after our visit, we drove out to Park City to meet at Elwin's hotel since his hotel had a pool. Elwin enjoyed seeing Hannah for the first time, and Matthew enjoyed playing in the water. He mostly stood on the top step and kicked water at Mark.

 

Elwin also was able to stay at our house Saturday night and Sunday. Once again, his timing was excellent. That Friday, Mark and I finally purchased some items for our gigantic empty deck - a grill and some patio lounge furniture. It ended up raining that whole weekend, but at least it stopped raining long enough for us to grill dinner on Saturday with Elwin and also dinner on Sunday with Elwin and Mark's siblings. Mark has decided that the grill was a wonderful purchase - I think his comment at our first dinner was that we should grill every day. I'm enjoying having it - though I still haven't actually touched it yet.

 

Grandpa Robison and Hannah

 

Matthew and Mark

Hannah and her snow leopard

Our new grill

Grandpa showing us how to grill vegetables

 

 

 

 

 

Startling a Baby

Hogle Zoo

On Saturday, my mom took us and Aaron's family to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. She actually bought us a year pass as a Christmas present, so we will be going back often. This was Matthew's first trip to the zoo. I learned from the Dinosaur Park, and we borrowed a baby carrier instead of using the stroller. The zoo was packed, so I'm glad we didn't have the bulky stroller. Ayden and Matthew seemed to enjoy all the animals. A large chunk of the zoo was under construction; they are opening an African savannah area next year. But they had recently finished a major construction project at the opposite side of the zoo. The made new habitats for the bears, and added a polar bear, sea lion and seals. The other animal that was lots of fun to see was the tigers. We got to see one playing in the water, and another pacing up and down a bridge. It was a fun day, and very good exercise for me.

 

Mark carrying both the kids

Mark, Hannah, Matthew and I

 

Ayden and a monkey

 

Aaron, Melissa and Ayden

Mark, Matthew and I

Holding hands

Ayden

Matthew

Mom with her kids and grandkids

 

Dinosaur Park

On Friday, my mom and I took Matthew, Hannah and my nephew Ayden to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. The park has a museum (which we skipped), paved paths with dinosaur statues, a spot for children to dig for dinosaur bones and a large playground and picnic area. The day started out rocky. Matthew's obsession with the stroller continued. All he wanted to do was push it, and started to throw a fit every time we stopped or if I had to make any adjustments to his steering. Eventually we got him away from the stroller and he wandered around with Ayden and my mom. The boys seemed to enjoy the excavation site. Mostly they just played in the sand. The playground was also a hit, but when is a playground ever not a hit?