More Columbia Fun

Finley Park

 

 

 

On the wedding day (in the morning) Ryan and I took the kids to Finley Park downtown.  We've taken them here before, but it has been awhile.  I don't think they remembered coming here in the past.  They loved it, especially Josiah.  They loved walking on the rocks and all the waterfalls.  It was a blast.  I was a little nervous that someone was going to fall and get all scratched up before the wedding, but everyone was fine.  They played some things on the safe side for me.

 

 

Josiah next to a waterfall.

After numerous tries, Aedan made it across the monkey bars!  He was so determined to make it!  Victory!



If there is a tree to climb, Josiah will be on it!

 

Lowes Workshop

We went to another Build and Grow workshop.  The kids did great and loved making their treasure box!  It was easier this time than last.  Yes, with two additional helpers it was much easier.  When we got there, we weren't sure that the workshop was actually going to happen.  Nothing was set up or anything.  There were several other families there, too.  The Lowes' workers pulled out all of the stuff for us, and we all found open spots on the floor to build.  I am glad we got to build the boxes, or we would have had some disappointed kiddos on our hands. The next workshop is July 13th, and they will be building a truck from Toy Story. 



Ryan and Aedan

Grammy and Mercy

Go girl!

figuring it out



Go Josiah!



The finished products

 Cousin Time

Cousins on the couch!

 Friend Time

Yay!  Danielle and I (and Amelia) got to meet up for yogurt and a little shopping Sunday evening.  Danielle is from Cookeville, and moved to Lexington almost a year ago.  Usually when I am in Columbia, she is visiting in Cookeville.  Not this time, though!  I was honored to witness Amelia's first bite of frozen yogurt!  After yogurt, we went to Ross.  I wish we had a Ross in Cookeville!  Oh, well! :)  We had fun talking and probably could have talked several more hours!  Miss you, Danielle!

the wedding

The day has arrived!  The kids were all ready to go and the boys were ready for the important task of walking down the aisle!  They looked very spiffy in their outfits.  The yellow bow-ties were so cute!  Here are some shots of the boys together before we left for the church.

 

 

 

 

Ryan officiated the wedding, so we had to be there just a touch early. (But not too early!)  We hung out for a little and took more pictures.  What else are you going to do while you wait...especially when your kids look amazing!

The kids and I

 

kisses

Mercy and I

 And more waiting...

playing rock, paper, scissors

 

 

And, a couple of up close shots:

I didn't take any pictures during the wedding.  No one was really taking pictures, so I decided against it.  Ryan did a fabulous job, which isn't really surprising.  The lighting in the sanctuary was dim, so his black-eye was camouflaged some, too.  Everything about the wedding was beautiful!  We are very happy for Seth and Stacey and wish them many years together!

Before I left the kids to sit in the sanctuary, Aedan was looking a little worried.  I honestly wasn't sure if he was going to walk down the aisle.  Sometimes he gets into certain moods and fear takes over.  He did it, though.  When he sat down with me he said, "Whew!  I'm glad that's over.  That was hard!"  hahaha!  It cracked me up!    


Ryan and the kids after the wedding

The boys with their sign

The beautiful bride!

 

Seth and Stacey with their nieces and nephews

 

the wedding party

 

a quick family shot

  

Josiah and Aedan with their cousin, Cooper

 

Mercy with the sign

Before the wedding, we also did a little more practice:

the rehersal

Since I have a lot of wedding pictures, I thought I'd post the rehersal pictures separately.

Here they are:

my three sweeties

 

my sweet ones

 

a little practice
Aedan looks a little gloomy here.  Don't worry, it's just the picture!  He looked much better in the moment.  And also, in this practice Josiah is hogging the sign a little as you can see.

Holding the sign

Yellow flowers!

 

A pretty Crouch frame!

Ryan, Seth, and Tannya with all the kids at the rehersal dinner.

 

An attempted silly shot.

 

 

Riverbanks Zoo

A few days after Ryan returned from Costa Rica, we headed down to Columbia for Seth and Stacey's wedding.  On Friday, we went to the zoo.  The kids love the zoo there and seeing all of the animals.  Josiah insists on me taking pictures of almost every animal, so I have lots of pictures.

 

A lion sleeping
 

More lions
Josiah loves the lions.  He begs me to take pictures of them!

 The next series of pictures are my favorite.  Usually koalas can be a boring animal to see at the zoo.  They are usually sleeping huddled up in a tree.  Much like the one below.  And, yes...this one was sleeping, but we also got to see a mama with her baby koala!  It was the cutest thing! I even have a video below of the mama walking and climbing with her baby attached to her back.

 

This koala was sleeping, but I appreciate it looking so cute and being out where he could be seen (and take a good picture).

 

The mama and her baby.  The baby is kind of underneith here in this picture. 

 

the kids with the sleepy koala

 

Mercy and I with the sleepy koala.

 

The mama and baby 

 

and another

and another

 Finally, the sweet video!

 

Grammy and Grampy with Ryan and the kids

 

the alligator

 

Feeding time

 

More feeding

 

Josiah and the alligator

The boys with the fox!  We have recently seen a fox in our backyard, so the boys are into foxes!

 

a zebra!

He's hungry!

Aedan will feed him!

elephants

The boys with little crocs behind them.

The flamingos!
Mercy's favorite animal.
Yes, they are her favorite because they are pink.

 

Mercy and I with the flamingos.

 

a baby flamingo!

  

the baby and her mama