Hikes and New Bikes

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather. We have been staying busy around here. You can't help but stay busy when you have two boys who are constantly on the go!! Graham wants so badly to walk. He stands, pushes your hands away when you try and help him walk, and then lunges forward into your arms.

April 15: Hiking Riley Moore Falls...a short hike but perfect for Cal's little legs to be able to hike. Bonus is a wonderful waterfall with sandy beach as a destination. We stayed and played on the rocks and around the waterfall for quite some time before heading back to the parking area.

Graham's first time in the big carrier. He loved being able to look around (and watch his brother!)

As always, Cal had a blast climbing on the rocks

April 16: Easter: We spent the day going to church and having lunch with my family. Cal enjoyed hunting Easter eggs and then making everyone else hunt while he 'hid' the eggs (He got bored quickly and started throwing the eggs in the air. Where they landed is where he hid them!!)

The best pic we got of the boys together!

April 17: A rainy day! I took the boys to the Farmer's Market to finally get plants for the garden. It was raining so hard that we stayed in the car for a while to let the rain die down. No such luck!!

Graham does not like his car seat right now, so he was very happy to be able to climb out of it instead of sitting in it

April 19: Callen has been taking swim classes since January. He has done so well and has progressed so much in his swimming. However, we are continuing to go because he doesn't float on his back long enough before having to flip over and swim. He keeps being told to rest longer...his teacher obviously does not know that Callen does not understand what the word rest means!

Working on his float!

April 20: Big day for Callen; he finally graduated from swim class. He was so excited to get his medal! Also, we have been looking for a bike with pedals for him. He has been doing so well on his balance bike that we thought it was time for him to start learning to ride a two wheel bike with pedals. We've looked for a used bike with not much success. Well, on the way home from swim class, we pass a new (and nice) pawn shop. There was a perfect size bike for Callen outside. He is super excited and doing fairly well riding with our support. We need to get him to an open field!

Getting his medal

Cal and his new bike

April 21: Augusta Circle Circus; Cal has been waiting all year for our local school's fundraiser to return. He had such a great time last year and asked for weeks where all the blow ups went. When I told him it was coming back, he was so happy. On Friday, he made me drive by the school anytime we were out so he could see the progress of the jump houses being blown up.

The attendant to this bounce house must have let Cal come through 10x without paying! He's going to be in for a shock when he's not so little anymore and he stops getting all these freebies.

Spring Break

This past week was spring break for many of the school districts in the upstate. Callen's school follows the Greenville County Schools calendar, so he didn't have school Monday and Wednesday, and his gymnastics class was also cancelled for Thursday. We took advantage of a free week and took several day trips out of town. It was a tiring week, but fun to hang out with friends and go to new places!

April 8: Clemson's Spring Game! An afternoon full of tailgating and good times with family. Best part was visiting the 'graveyard' and seeing this beauty of a tombstone!

April 10: We enjoyed a morning at the park with friends and cousins, and then had a little craft time in the afternoon at home. Cal was a 'little' messy after this craft, so we decided to take a hose bath in the front yard. That was probably the highlight of the day for Cal!

April 11: Took a trip to the Carl Sandburg home in Flat Rock, NC, to see the baby goats (several had been born only a few days before!)

Cal finally walked over and gave this pregnant momma a pat on the belly

April 12: Hiked at Crowders Mountain State Park in NC. We met up with one of my former coworkers and her new baby. Not a very long hike, but good to catch up with friends and visit a new park

Enjoying some lunch after our hike

April 13: Went to the Hands On! museum in Hendersonville, NC. This was a new adventure for us, and we enjoyed it. The museum is much smaller than what we are used to here in Greenville, but it was great not to have to chase Callen up and down three levels of exhibits.

Too many fun pics from the day, so here is a good sample

April 14: Stayed around Greenville and ran errands for the weekend. It was nice to have a day to relax after being on the go for so many days. Two boys needed sleep...Callen actually fell asleep in the car, and Graham took two naps that were more than an hour each (that NEVER happens!)

This boy is quick. Doug and I turned our heads for literally 30 sec and turned around to see this!

Easter Egg Hunts and Teething

We are loving the spring weather...the warm temps but not the crazy rain and thunderstorms that have hit the area this past week. We were lucky at our house, and barely saw more than rain.

April 1: Spring Fling at Michelin: Easter Egg Hunt, bounce houses, and lots of fun for Callen!

The best family photo we could get!

April 2: Rocking on the front porch

April 3: These teeth! Another one is coming in somewhere in that mouth. Lots of drooling, fussing, and low grade fever. Who knows where the next one will be...at the rate he's going, it could be his wisdom teeth. He has no pattern for cutting teeth!

Count Grahamula!

April 5: Callen has been begging

for 'tall socks like Caroline.' Caroline is 5, and lives 2 doors down from us. She goes to private school and wears a uniform with knee high socks...for a girl! I think he has seen older boys wearing these tall socks but Caroline was the first person he knew that he could tell me had some. So, off to Kohl's we went looking for tall socks. Mr. Opinionated would not settle for just any tall sock. He didn't want the grey and red ones I found on clearance (that actually fit his foot) or the plain black ones with the white Nike swoosh. Nooooo, he had to pick the black and red and white ones that go with NOTHING he wears other than his fire truck shirts. All his athletic gear is fluorescent orange or yellow. So, we bought the red ones and have to wear them all the time now. As I sit here on Sunday evening typing this, he wore a nice light green and white checkered shirt with khakis to church this morning....with the red socks with black lettering. He wouldn't wear the socks under his pants. No, they had to be pulled up because 'my socks are keeping my pants up!' Needless to say, he was quite the hit this morning! Too bad I forgot to snap a pic of that one.

So proud of his socks!

Hope everyone had a great week. Callen has spring break this week, so we are planning lots of day trips to nearby areas as well as decorating Easter Eggs and playing around here. Should be a fun week!