Trying out a new park

The weather has been glorious so the kids and I have been exploring new and different parks in our area.  I forgot the camera a couple times but am sure we will head back sometime soon.  Here we are exploring one in a neighboring town.  The kids had a great time and met some new friends.

Jaydon climbing the big slide.

Lucy going up the little kid slide

Climbing the steps

Jaydon does a great job helping Lucy

Lucy loves slides

Swimming

We had been trying to get the kids to the pool for a little swim practice and it just so happened we had a glorious rainy stormy weekend day and headed to the pool!  Lucy is a total fish and likes to put her head under and really just explore all over in the water.  Jaydon loves playing with the balls and shooting hoops but he is not a big fan of getting his face wet. 

We had a good time and it was great to be able to go out to lunch after at a restaurant and not worry about food intolerances!  Yeah!

My B-day weekend

Nana Diane came up to help me celebrate my birthday weekend.  We had a great time going shopping, just the two of us, and then meeting the family at Red Robin for dinner.  It was great but I neglected to take any pics of the weekend.  We did get this one photo right before she left with the new sweater she bought me.  Thanks Nana (and we missed you grandpa).

Ed's Funeral

After a wonderful evening celebrating Ed with our family we also enjoyed going to his funeral and celebrating his life with others who he touched.

Here are some not great photos of the hand out that included some great stories

Ed's favorite song was Home on the Range.  So during the funeral I couldn't help but get this video of the crowd singing the song while we all put a couple of Legos together and then passed them to the next person and then it continued until Mary, Jim, Jack and Phil looked to put the whole thing together. It was buried with Ed and was quite a special way to remember him.  I will say it was funny because my sister and I without knowing it had both grabbed a Lego tree to add to the structure because we loved building houses with trees with Ed.

Jaydon did a great job sitting quietly and patiently through the whole hour and a half, Lucy was good but I had to entertain her in the back area most of the time.  With about 5 minutes left of the service Jaydon finally tired out and fell asleep in his dad's arms. 

Ed Baker Memorial

Ed Baker was one of the most wonderful, caring, compassionate men I have ever known. When I talked about my big family Ed's name was sure to come up and people would always ask who was Ed.  It was sometimes a bit of a difficult question because Ed was just Ed, as my cousin mentioned at Ed's funeral, it was almost as if every family was just supposed to have an Ed.  Ed was a man who had some mental limitations and my aunt and uncle became his caretakers over 35 years ago.  So for as long as I have been in the family, Ed has been in the family.  Ed has always been around playing Legeos or the harmonica and kindly warming the heart of every member of our family by loving us and being an adult kid who we could play Legos with all the time! I am very blessed to have seen my kids play Legos with Ed as I did and there will definitely be a big void at family gatherings, I think we will probably have to have the Lego table out still just as a remembrance.

So after 103 years of being on this earth Ed got to fall asleep and rest peacefully.  It was a wonderful way for him to go because he was fearful of death (as any child of 5-6 is) and this way he didn't have to worry or be afraid and I can hope he was having great dreams of playing Legos with his family!

We gathered at Ed's house for a memorial Saturday night and had a fun time telling stories and playing with Legos and eating his favorite meal - Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Lucy thought it was tasty!

Britt, my cousin who grew up every day with Ed is teaching in Korea and had to join us through skype but she managed to snag some KFC even over there and enjoy it with us.  

The Feast

Jaydon met a new friend

Playing with Legos in honor of Ed

We built a Lego structure where everyone added a couple pieces!

Jaydon and dad playing with the Lego train

Telling some stories and sharing our memories

Lucy and Grandma playing with Legos

Aunt Mary and Phil

Jim and Jaydon

Jenny and L

At the end of the night while we were all talking I peeked into the other room and found Jaydon like this.  He glanced back a little nervous that he might get in trouble for being up on the table but in reality it was just such a wonderful way to see him taking part in what Ed loved! 

Jaydon and Lucy

A few photos of the kids!

We have had some spring like weather but have also had a lot of cool temps and rain so occupying ourselves  in the house is sometimes a challenge - this day Jaydon found a new canvas!  Uh-oh his sister didn't mind a

                       bit but mom wasn't too pleased he forgot the 'we color on paper' rule!

Lucy starting to color

Jaydon loves to go in and 'help' get Lucy up from her naps.  The squeals of delight make it hard for me to get upset about the extra child in the crib.  

Having some fun with the water squirter!

Jaydon pushing Lucy on the swing at Grandma's

Visiting the Park

We enjoyed a little outside time at our local farm park.  

It is fun to see Lucy just running around everywhere!

Jaydon and dad going to check out the rabbits.  All the other animals were gone which was a bit strange.

I wanted a photo of the HUGE barn built over 100 years ago - crazy!  

Seeing the bunnies

Cool new playground equipment

We made it to the top of the tower, Jaydon was a bit nervous but he did it!

The only bummer about the new playground for my kids is that it only has this tire swing and no other swings, but the kids enjoyed the tire swing for awhile.

We had a great time!