Birthday Cake

I had such a great 30th birthday.  I was so busy having fun, I barely had time to dwell on the fact that I am no longer in my twenties.  My very thoughtful friends baked a cake and brought it to me.   

It has a frosting brain on top  :)

The bakers- Melissa and Cat

New wheels

Watching Collin ride this bike puts such a smile on my face.  It has only been three days and he is already getting really good at it.  We are so grateful to his therapists for getting it for us.  Physical therapy and fun rolled into one, you cant beat that.

Messes

It was a very windy day and a big gust came through and slammed this door.  There was glass everywhere.  It was quite a process clearing away all the glass while keeping two curious kids away.

As soon as I heard the crashing sound from the other room, I knew just what had happened. So, I figured I might as well grab my camera and preserve the moment before I started cleaning up.

Cancun

At the end of June, Johnny and a fairly large herd of mathematicians descended upon Cancun, Mexico for the annual ILAS (International Linear Algebra Society) conference.  He was gone for a week and we missed him soooo much!   Then he returned and I saw the photos of the hotel and the beach.  I was still happy to see him, but also very jealous.  

Hotel on the beach

Visit to Mayan ruins

Daddy is Home!

Just a few pics from one of those exciting  "daddy is home from work" moments.

Efteling

My mom says that my blog makes it look like all we ever do is go to amusement parks.  Well, that is not totally accurate, but here are some photos from an amusement park here in The Netherlands.  It was very picturesque for a theme park.  It had way more trees and flowers then I have ever seen at this type of place.  We had a really fun and exhausting day.

I didn't realize it at first, but this was actually a garbage can.

Ethan in the fairy tale forest

Collin and Grandpa in a mushroom

A dedicated mom risking motion sickness to take her toddler on some sort of spinning butterfly contraption.

Lunch break

Collin and Grandpa going for a drive.

Snack break

Collin and Grandpa about to get wet on the river rapids ride.

The best part about this park was all the rides that Collin got to go on.  I think the safety standards in Europe are bit less stringent than in America, because I couldn't believe some of the rides they let a 3 year old go on.  The following 2 photos are just a couple of the things he went on.  There were a few other really fast coasters that he was able to go on.  He begged to go on every one (multiple times) and he loved every minute of it.

Spain Day Four

For our last day we decided to take an open top bus tour of Valencia.  It was a really good way to see a lot of sights, and a lot less tiring than pushing a stroller all over the city.

Waiting at a museum for the tour bus to pick us up

On the bus

Another good cuddle with Ethan

Valencia bull ring

We took a break from the bus tour and took the kids to the Gulliver park.  It is a big sculpture based on the story Gulliver's Travels, with lots of slides and places for kids to climb.

It was hot at the park.  Collin was really tired out after that.

Our next stop on the tour was the Plaza de la Reina.  It was right in the heart of the oldest part of Valencia.  It was a great atmosphere.  We loved looking at all the beautiful old buildings.  The kids were not loving the buildings so much, but we had enough snacks to keep them happy for a while.

After spending a few hours at the Plaza it was time to head back to the hotel.

This is the hotel we stayed at.  They were in the process of painting the outside

The hotel had a pool on top of the roof

Views from the roof