Oktoberfest (Video)

This past weekend Peter and Jen went up into the mountains to visit some cool weather and join in an Oktoberfest celebration.


Peter's friend Abigail and her mom, another Jen offered to drive us up Mt. Lemmon so we piled the kids, car seats and all into their van and headed out. Mt Lemmon is Tucson's big mountain peak and they have a ski resort on top during the winter. It's only about a 25 minute drive up the mountain and is part of the mountain range behind our apartments. It's fun to watch the scenery change as you drive. You start off in cacti but are quickly surrounded by tall pine trees and driving past bear crossing signs.


At the top of the mountain it was going to be in the 60's. We brought our coats but in the sun we didn't really need them. It was nice and cool in our jeans and t-shirts. The ski lodge was open for business selling brats and a crowd was strewn across the hillside listening to live polka music.


It was so beautiful! The trees were all starting to change colors for autumn. Who knew there were fall colors in Tucson!?!? Only took me 4 years to go up the mountain to see it! It was a nice change of pace...like a mini-vacation! (I was so bummed that John was working and couldn't join us! We'll have to go again!)


We sat on the hillside, but it was very steep and rocky. The poor kids kept getting "lessons in gravity", falling down every few minutes. They had a nice level stage for the band on the patio.


We decided to head up to the patio and the kids ran around dancing, going in circles and generally stomping around the dance floor. (There's a cute video on the website!)


We also decided to venture into the woods a little bit. There were so many leaves and colors! Peter had a blast running around and looking at things. He rarely stopped to rest!


There were all kinds of leaves, rocks, and sticks to play with. I didn't need to bring any toys with me! Peter found so many toys all on his own!


Did I say that we loved the colors??


We also went and played on the grassy plains. The grass was taller than Peter in some places! He had fun pushing through it and trying to find where to go. There were also fun grasshoppers to chase.

One of Peter's favorite things in the grass was to play hide and seek. He was like a little tiger waiting for his prey. He'd crouch down then as people passed by him he'd pop out and yell "BOO!!" then let out the biggest giggle! He was so proud of himself!!


After about 2 hours the kids were starting to slow down so we packed up and winded our way back to town. It was such a nice mini-vacation! I can't wait to do it again!

Oh! Here's the video of Peter getting down to the polka music!

Busy Day Highlights

We have has a busy week! Zoo, BBQ's, concerts, park dates, bounce houses...and it continues this weekend with a bunch of festivals. It is finally below 100 degrees. We can wear something other than tank tops and are enjoying our time in the 80's. Now that it is cool there are a bunch of outdoor activities to attend.


Peter has learned what a tree is, sometimes he even says tree. We have a line of trees on the way to our parking lot so every time we head out to the car Peter just walks from tree to tree touching them all. We even got him to give the trees a hug! So cute!


One of the parks we go to has a big log to play in and Peter likes to climb through and peek out the holes in the sides.


Profile picture of Peter in his zoo t-shirt at the zoo. He climbed up on a rock and was king of the mountain.


We bought Peter a lion costume the other day at Costco. It's not his Halloween costume, just something fun to play with. He wore it the entire rest of the shopping trip and was "rawr"-ing at all the other shoppers as we passed.


We had lots of fun at Pump It Up yesterday. Peter went through an obstacle course with some of his buddies. Mommy stopped to rest in one of the tunnels and Peter just decided to climb over!


We also went to play at the racquetball club BBQ Friday night. Only one more and then they are done until next summer! I will miss those BBQ nights! They have live music, lots of food, and we've invited our friends to meet us there so its been a lot of fun. Peter found the playground this time and had fun climbing all over it. He is a good climber these days!


Peter loves gathering up tennis balls and throwing them around an empty tennis court with his friends. Mom was taking lots of photos and Peter was getting a little annoyed with me. He went to pout in the corner. But even that was cute!

John, Super Dad!

John is such a good dad! Because he goes to work early in the morning he is able to be off for a lot of kid events in the afternoon. He has become the go-to guy for other mommies who may need help. At one playdate he manned the grill because another mom's hubby was out of town.


He's always happy to push all the kids on the swing set or chase them around the park.


And he gets his hands full whenever we meet up with some of his favorite kids. Little Aiden even called him "daddy" for a few months. We finally got him to start calling him "Peter's daddy". He runs to John whenever he walks in the door and holds his hand for the entire playdate.


This week one mom asked me how many my husband could watch at once, another asked if we were available for babysitting! John ended up with 3 sets of twins bouncing around him at Pump It Up. He has so much fun playing with all the kids.


Peter is so lucky to be able to play with his fun dad every day!

Peter says "DOH!" (Video)

John and Jen were raised on the show The Simpsons and Jen has picked up the habit of saying "DOH!" whenever she does something stupid. Tonight, she did something stupid and Peter said "DOH!" Super cute so we grabbed the camera.

Here is Peter's impression of Homer Simpson!

Toy Store Storytime

The toy store near our home has a storytime once a week and we joined some friends there for some playtime! It's a little challenging though. They hold the storytime outside in the mall courtyard so it is impossible to get Peter to sit still for a story, there are way too many other things to explore. I have started arriving 15 minutes late so we don't disturb the actual story and just arrive for playtime.


That seems to work pretty well. Peter gets to see his friends, run around a little, chase some bubbles and play with the toys in the toy store. He even climbed on a broken fountain to put his ball on top of the pipe. It fit perfectly.


He also loved going in the little playtents they have set up inside the store. He and a friend, Cam, kept playing peek-a-boo through all the windows and doors.


I stuck my camera in one of the portholes of the tent and got this shot!


Peter's favorite part is visiting the fountains. If he had his choice that would probably be all he did there. He wants to just climb in!

Puddle Stomping (Video)

Last night we had some crazy rain storms come through. When we awoke this morning it was nice and cool, maybe even chilly in the 60's! I opened the windows the air out the house and also to let some of the humidity inside. When Peter woke up he saw the nice weather and wanted to go outside. I put his shoes on and we took a ball to play in the tennis court. When we got there it was covered in big puddles! What fun!


Peter hasn't gotten to experience many puddles so he had lots of fun just running around in them splashing and stomping. Water went everywhere! He even sat down in the middle of the puddle! Ai-ai-ai!


I couldn't resist I had to run inside and grab my camera. I even got a little video, he was having so much fun! We also had a little game of tennis. He would get on his tip-toes and throw his ball over the net to me and I would throw it back. I always threw the ball into the middle of a puddle so he could get some more splashing and giggles!


After sitting in a puddle I thought that Peter needed a bath. We came inside and I decided to spoil him with a nice warm bubble bath.


Peter LOVES bubble baths. He likes to try and eat the bubbles, but usually just ends up looking like he has a white beard like Grandpa Jim. After his bath it was time to put on some comfy clothes then read a few books. This made him sleepy so he went to bed for his morning nap.


It's a lot of work to play in the puddles. Here's a video of Peter's puddle work out!