Zoo Stroll

Peter currently has an obsession with big green men. It started with the Hulk, but has now moved on to Shrek and the Grinch. Several times a day he'll ask us to put a green man movie in. He goes around the house yelling "SHREK!!" McDonald's currently has Shrek toys in their happy meals so he was in heaven when we got a happy meal and he got his own little Shrek. He has been taking him everywhere ever since.


This week Shrek got to go to the zoo with us. We have had a couple cool days (high of 80) and are trying to enjoy the outdoors before it gets too hot.


Peter wanted to ride the elephant with Shrek. Shrek even got to sit on the elephants back, too!


Peter jumped in a puddle in his sandles for the first time and didn't like that his toes got wet. He whined for a bit and avoided puddles the rest of the time.


Peter loves the hidden frog that shoots water. He's strong enough this year to push the button all my himself.


All in all we had a fun time at the zoo and enjoyed the beautiful day! Shrek, too!

Jumping On the Bed (video)

After spending a few weeks at home we went a little stir crazy. Peter ended up pushing everything off his bed and started jumping on his bed. Here's some fun video of him being a bouncing maniac!

Another Friday Night at the Pool

Another Friday night, another Friday night BBQ at the racquetball club. It's my favorite night out! I was a little nervous about this trip though. John is now working on Friday nights so I braved it alone. In the past it has been nice to take turns chasing Peter since it is a big place with lots of possible "dangers" with the pools. Gotta be vigilant the entire time!


It went pretty well though. I didn't stay nearly as long as normal. We went in and headed straight to the kiddie pool. Peter had a blast walking around with his inner tube and pushing a kick board around. Now that he is feeling better he wants to go swimming every day.


I just sat in the shade at the side of the kiddie pool and watched him go! Even turned the camera on myself for a quick picture!


Peter found some tennis balls near the pool and threw them into the water. We played a game of making baskets by throwing them into his inner tube. Then I taught him how to hold the tennis balls under water and let them go. They popped right back up out of the water. He thought this was super neat!


All in all it went pretty well. I'm glad I decided to try it. It is nearing 100 degrees here and a fun dip in the pool is always nice at the end of the day. I wrapped Peter up in his towel and we went to lay down in the grass to dry off. It was a fun night.

Springs Gymnastics (video)

We went to a new gym this past month called Springs Gymnastics. It is a big professional training facility that trains people on olympic style gymnastics. It's pretty neat because the whole floor is cushioned and they have lots of huge trampolines to learn flips. There are a bunch of balance beams, dual bars, and even a giant foam pit that you can jump into.


We just went for their toddler free time. It's fun to let the kids run wild and get some energy out. Peter liked stacking the traffic cones for a little bit.


Peter loved the bouncy and squishy floor. And there were tons of other kids to play with.


His favorite part though was playing Tarzan! They had a big rope swing with a knot on the end of it. Peter watched his friends ride it for a little bit and then he hopped right up for a turn! I was so scared he would fall flat on his face! I figured that this was the safest place to try it though, they had a huge cushy foam pit right underneath it.


Peter loved it! He was laughing and giggling the whole time. He held on tight for probably 8 swings!


Finally he let go and landed in the big pile of foam. He had so much fun he ended up swinging on the rope probably 6 times before we left.


We went back one more time and Peter fell in love with the trampoline. After bouncing on the trampoline a lot he found a few hoops and tried to do the hula! Here's a video of Peter hula-hooping...or his version of it atleast!

Happy Mother's Day! (video)

It might be a little late, but we wanted to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day! We wish we could be close to you all and can't wait to give you hugs when we see you again! Hope you had a great day! ~ The Palmer Family

Peter has a special message for you on the website! Go see!

Peter Resting Up (video)

Peter is getting better as the days go by. Right now he just has a bit of a runny nose and slight cough so we are still staying home from our playdates. We did manage to get outside today and ride his cycle around the apartment complex for a little bit. He was in heaven and just beaming from ear to ear. I think he's as tired of being inside as I am!


When we came back inside after about 30 minutes he was exhausted. I turned on "Bob" aka Spongebob for him and he fell fast asleep on the couch snoring away. For some reason he is transfixed by Spongebob Squarepants. I don't watch it, John doesn't watch it, but Peter is IN LOVE with BOB! Oh, and Spiderman has been really big this week. He has brought me the Spiderman movie several times a day and if I don't put it in he will go up and try to put the dvd case into the VCR. Demanding little kid!


I did indulge myself and got some video of his cute snores...I'm sure I'll enjoy looking back on these in a few months.



In other news: John is back to working graveyard shift. BOOOOO!!! I hate him being on an opposite schedule from us. It stinks! And to top it off, his car decided to stop working a few days ago so he has had to take my car the past 3 days. Between a sick kid and no car I am literally stuck at home. :( I'll be glad when everything gets put right again! Pray for sooner rather than later!

Swimming With Dad (video)

Well, since we are spending a lot of time at home this week I think I will try to update the blog. We have done some fun things this past month that I didn't have time to post! April had a lot of days in the 80's and some in the 90's. We started swimming!


Peter LOVES to swim! We put him in an inner tube and just let him go. At one playdate he swam back and forth across the pool all by himself!


He is such a little daredevil! We have to keep a close eye on him because he will jump off the steps or the ledge without even looking to see if we are paying attention. That will be the lesson of the summer: Make sure someone is looking!


Kick, kick, kick! Peter has the legs going! Even when he is in the hot tub at our apartment complex he can fight the bubbles from one side to the other.


We have also been working on laying down and floating. He spends about half his bathtime doing this now and just smiles up at me. It's a little more scary to do it in the big pool, but we usually get a few tries.


Peter loves to go to the pool. Just about every day he will go to his room and pull out a swimsuit from his drawers. If he is really motivated he gets mommy and daddy's swimsuit too and brings them to us. (Oh, hey! This pictures shows John's tattoo that he got in Guam. It's a tribal turtle and has 2 different latte stones in it.)


I even took a little video of the boys swimming in the hot tub. Watch my little fish go!

Doctor Visit

We just got back from the doctor. Apparently Peter has Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. Basically he has sores and blisters in his mouth. There is no medicine. We just have to keep giving him stuff to bring down his fever and he needs to eat smooth, cold stuff for a few days. Doctor said it should clear out in 2-5 days. We have a fresh stash of popsicles and have dug out our Disney movies.

Sick In Bed

Peter has been a sicko over the weekend. Saturday night we were out at a festival and he just got really pale and started shaking. He wouldn't eat any of the food we offered and was feeling a little warm. By the time we got home and checked his temperature it was over 103 degrees! We loaded him up on ibuprofin and woke up with him several times during the night. He just was not a happy boy.


Next day we opted of course to stay home and spend lots of time in bed so he could get some rest and hopefully get better. He seemed to be feeling alright though. Instead of laying down in bed he just wanted to JUMP in it! Mommy laid down in bed to and tried to cuddle with him.


Our dog Gizmo, jumped up and wanted to cuddle too!


Instead he and Peter got into a battle over a giraffe toy.


Even our cat, George, hopped up to join the family in bed.


Peter did go under the covers for a little bit.


But only to try to hide from mom...I ended up finding him with the camera.


Peek-a-boo!


Yup, this is the picture of a sick kid...


Sadly, once again as night approached his temperature started to rise again. Around 10pm it hit 104 degrees! He could not sleep. Mom was up with a cold washcloth and giving him medicine and just rocking him. After a few hours of being unsuccessful at calming him down I finally decided to move to the living room to watch some tv. We took our pillows and blankets to the couches and put in Lion King. Somehow this atleast distracted him from crying and calmed him down. His fever even went down a little.


Mommy didn't get much sleep tonight, but thankfully daddy has today off and when he woke up I was able to go back to bed for a few hours while the boys fell asleep watching Cars. When I finally woke up we called the doctor and will be going in to see him in a few hours. I can't have another night of such high temperatures!