Happy 2nd Birthday Oliver!!

So yesterday our "baby" turned two - now the fun really starts right??!! We had a busy, busy day right from the start. In the morning we spoke to Nanna Pan in England before opening some presents. Then we went off to the aquarium at the Mall of America. Oliver seemed to really enjoy it - especially the moving walkway and going through the tunnel where the fish swim above you! After that we headed to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. Oliver didn't actually eat much lunch as I think he was a bit tired by then but it was a fun place anyway. He fell asleep in the car for 10 minutes on the way home and consequently would not take a nap when we got back. He obviously knew there were more presents to open and more fun to be had :)) We took Scoop out for a rainy walk in the afternoon - the weather was a total contrast to the sweltering day we had on Oliver's birthday last year - before finishing the present opening afterwards. Later in the afternoon Grandpa Ray and Grandma Sandy came over as well as Jennifer, Matt and Mikayla and we had pizza and birthday cake for dinner - and, yes, more presents to open!! Oliver was very lucky and got lots of wonderful gifts - definitely a theme of cars, trains and diggers - the things he absolutely LOVES!! He didn't get to bed until 8:45pm last night which was amazing bearing in mind the short nap. An early night tonight I think (for the exhausted parents as well!!).

Anyway, I have a ton of pictures on here of the big day as well as a few of playdates. It was very hard to get a facial shot of Oliver as he was forever crouching down playing with cars etc etc but we did our best :)

After this play date Oliver's shorts and nappy were full of sand :)

There are so many Cozy Coupe tantrums at play dates it's a wonder anyone stills buys them - so much fun :)

Let the present opening begin!!





Thomas Lego - cool :))



Yey - some new books to read (that's what Mum and Dad said anyway......)



Oliver's HUGE Thomas balloon!



Lightening McQueen - car, car, car, car.......

Scoop wondering what action she is missing out on.....











Various aquarium pics

The biggest present of them all......

.....a Lightening McQueen trike!



DIGGER!!!

And another DIGGER!!!

Awwww, the best pic I got all day I think!

Mikayla enjoying the party

Birthday cake time - check out that silly dog :)

I wish I could say I made it myself - but thanks Target ;)

It's never to early to start saving right??

And Oliver got the hang of it straight away - after raiding Grandpa's pockets for change :))

DIGGER cutlery - awesome!!!

Tennessee Toddlers!

We got back from Tennessee safe and sound on Saturday afternoon after a great week hanging out with the family. Mikayla and Oliver had lots of time to play together and it was great to watch them together. Both of them did really well with the long car ride although Oliver struggled to get to sleep particularly on the way there. And it looks like Oliver has pretty much grown out of travel cots! The one we had there was probably one of the smaller ones you can get but his head touched the top and toes touched the bottom!! He slept well initially but on the Wednesday night he woke at 3am inconsolable :( I ended up spending the rest of the night in the car with him. He slept through until 6am the following night but he was still pretty unhappy. Anyway, the good news is that he's been fine since he got home so maybe he was just missing his bed!

While we were there we took the kids swimming a few times and Oliver used his armbands for the first time. They helped keep him somewhat afloat but we didn't let go for long! At least when he jumped in from the side it was less scary for us :) Mikayla enjoyed swimming with her Uncle Jon one day - only he would do apparently!! On the Thursday morning we were up early and took a drive around the motor scenic trail to look for bears. We saw a couple very early on but that was it. Still pretty cool to see though. Later on the journey we stopped and decided to hike 1.4 miles to see some waterfalls. Trouble was that Oliver had just fallen asleep so he wasn't really up for it. He still managed to get a long way up the trail (mostly carried by Jon) before he said "car" and just wanted to go back!! The others carried on and got some pics while we waited in the car.

The kids got to spend some time with the relatives while we went white water rafting. I wasn't so sure about this after the jet ski-ing last year but I gave it a go anyway and actually really enjoyed it. It helped a lot that my lovely husband fell out of the raft rather than me :))

Oliver and Mikayla came home with matching tiger beany babies! Mikayla got hers first and as soon as Oliver saw it he loved it! So we went and got him one a couple of days later and it has barely left his side since - it even has to go to bed with him so is almost on a par with bear blankie :))

Life is almost back to normal now. Play dates will resume tomorrow and now the countdown is on to the big second birthday :)


Oliver crawling under a chair.....

....and teaching his cousin to do the same

Happily playing together in the cabin

Oliver's favourite thing to do in the pool was get out and jump back in - he did this countless times!

Meanwhile Mikayla was more content to walk between the kids pool and the big pool :)

Showing off the funky shorts Nanna Pan sent for holiday

I thought this was a super cute photo of Mikayla :)

One of the few occasions when both the kids looked at the camera!


Jon was obviously the king of reading to the kids in bed!

Oliver checking out an old barn on the scenic trail


The first hiking experience - see how happy Oliver looks!!!

Off on our holidays!!

Hi everyone :) We will be off on our holidays on Friday so this will be the last post until we get back. We are taking a road trip to Tennessee with Jennifer, Matt and Mikayla and meeting family down there. Jason has organised a cabin for us all to stay in. We are doing most of the journey overnight so hopefully Oliver and Mikayla will sleep well in the car :)

Oliver has a new favourite word: digger!! For a few reasons I suppose - Nanna Pan bought him a book on diggers, he has a couple of toy diggers and he sees them almost every day when we drive past the road construction on Highway 169. I've never heard digger shouted so loudly!! I tried to get it on video today but he wasn't performing for me but I'm sure there will be ample opportunity!

We've kept busy going to play dates as always! Last Friday we went to Jackson's house - it was his 3rd birthday so Oliver got messy with a cupcake. We were supposed to be going swimming but sadly it decided to rain. On Thursday we met Mary and Rowen at a local play area which we'd never been to before. It was a great place for older and younger kids so we may well go back there. Today we went to Rebecca and Bryce's house and had a great morning playing outside. Of course Oliver was happy just to push a digger round all morning :)

As you can see from the countdown timer we are making a trip back to England at Christmas!! We arrive on 19th Dec and leave on 3rd Jan. We are all so excited to be coming home for a visit - it will be 19 months since we left by then. Hopefully Oliver handles the trip well - he's quite into flying and planes as you will see from the video below!

Anyway, we'll be back in a couple of weeks with some photos from holiday - bye for now!

Oliver can't possible choose between his milk and his digger!

Yes, digging in the sand with diggers.....

Mmmmm - cupcakes :)

Daddy brought this hat home from work and Oliver tries every day to put it on :)

My almost 2 year old eating his lunch!!

Formula 1 Fan :))

Ah yes, Oliver watched some of the German Grand Prix last weekend so I got a couple of videos of him!! When he refers to a ball he actually means the driver's helmet!!

I don't have many pictures or news this time I'm afraid but here are a couple of photos of Oliver enjoying some play time on Thursday. We were supposed to meet a friend for a picnic but we ended up missing each other which was a shame but we stayed and had our picnic anyway. Other than that, we have been to a couple of play dates and tried to stay warm in the chilly weather ;) It's not that bad - just 20 degrees or so cooler than it should be in July! Hopefully it warms up by the end of the week as we have a swimming date planned :)

Here Mummy, want a cracker?!

Oliver is just like a Womble cleaning up after everyone else :)) (The US clan might have to google the Wombles.....)

July 4th weekend and more

Last weekend was the July 4th holiday so Jon got to have Friday off work :) I took Oliver out to a play date in the morning at a park about 20 minutes away. It was a great place with a wading pool but Oliver wasn't really in the mood that day :( In the evening our friends Katherine and Rusty came over - we hadn't seem them in ages so it was nice to have a few drinks, Chinese food, good conversation and play on the Wii!

After pottering around for most of Saturday we went over to Ray and Sandy's for a BBQ. They were having a big fireworks display with the neighbours later in the evening but we got home fairly early to make sure Scoop was OK (she barks like crazy at fireworks!).

On Sunday morning we took Oliver to the splash pad in St Louis Park. It was really quiet when we arrived which was great. It's amazing how much fun Oliver can have with a plastic tub and some water :) He wouldn't dare walk under the water though despite all the other kids running through it without a care!

Monday morning was more play time with friends and on Tuesday we went to a park and then to have some pizza. Oliver just loved the pizza :) I had a rare language barrier problem though when I asked for a bottle of water - after 3 times of trying the English way I eventually had to say "waaader" and the lady understood me - pretty funny :))

Yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary so Grandpa had Oliver for the evening while we went for dinner. We had some fantastic Thai food at a restaurant called Azia that had been recommended to me. After that we went to a friend's house and surprised Katherine who was there celebrating her 40th birthday.

And today Oliver has been spoiled yet again in Target (but in the dollar section!!). They have loads of things that are almost all $1 or $2.50 max and they had lots on clearance with 50% off. So he came home with some more fun stuff to play with - and it's so cheap we don't mind if it breaks, LOL!!

Hey Oliver - what are you doing???



How to sit on a chair the Oliver way - not very conventional but it seems to work!

Maybe the water was cold :))

Wearing my new shorts and t-shirt set from Aunt Pauline and Uncle Keith

We couldn't resist this bargain dinosaur t-shirt in Babies R Us yesterday - Oliver took one look at it and roared :)