We took a trip to the zoo with some friends. It was hot...we almost melted.

I promise he really did like these birds, he just seems terrified in the picture

Noah n Cal with Conner and Collin

Cal really wanted to pet a monkey.

Riding the train! YES RIDING the train! After 2 years of trying to get him on, Noah finally rode the train, twice, and he really enjoyed it!

All smiles (once we pretty much forced him on)

Calvin and I bailed on train ride #2 and found some air conditioning. Hence the smiles

These are my poor attempts to get some pictures on his 11 month birthday.

Cal loves to read! I'm so happy!

Isn't he so cute and big? Can you believe 11 months???? And yes he will get a haircut someday...I'm just not sure when someday will be.

He's a KID...crazy

Before spaghetti....

After!

For Ryan's birthday we took Noah to see his very first movie, Toy Story 3. He had to bring Woody and Buzz with him. These are Ryan's Toy Story toys from back in the day :) Noah was so excited! He did pretty well, too. He got a little restless, but wasn't too noisy or anything. I think he's a fan of going to the movies!

We ate a bite before going to the movie...with Woody and Buzz.

Noah and Ryan (and Woody and Buzz) right before the movie started

And of course, we had to go see the trains since we were at the Great Mall.

Ryan made us a yummy dinner of breakfast on his birthday. I think he was wanting a break from some whiney kids I know.

Wrestlemania 2010

Calvin uses Noah's red chair to climb up onto the loveseat. He spends a lot of time up there then he usually yells for us to come get him down. He has gotten down a few times on his own, once or twice he didn't even land on his face :) Today he crawled down the stairs for the first time. He wanted to get to his ball. He loves to play ball with us. It's fun, he's started doing so many new things now! He meows at pictures of cats and moos at pictures of cows. He can say all kinds of words now, mama, dada, Noah, fish, bye-bye, night-night, ball, nana (banana) and several others, I'm tired and can't think since SOMEONE got me up at 6 this morning. He is starting to try to put things back together and will pick up the phone and hold it to his ear and babble. This is just a really fun time! He is a climber and gets into and onto everything. Noah was so easy, we've got to watch this one a lot closer.

Noah loves to run and jump and is still obsessed with trains. Our house is always filled with the sounds (some very loud!) of train whistles. He chugs all over the place. He loves to watch TV, which we have to limit or he would do nothing but sit in front of the TV all day. He loves movies and to watch train videos on Youtube. He figured out how to work the laptop, he's a smart guy. He's not into snuggling or reading or coloring right now, but I'm hoping it's just a phase. He will be going to a one day a week kid's day out in the fall. I think it will be good for him, but I can't believe he is already big enough to be going to "school." I think I am going to be a mess the first day I drop him off.

The last couple weeks

Calvin thought the phone cord was totally novel...and delicious!

The boys are touching each other more without Noah freaking out. Ryan is teaching them to wrestle, oh goodness.

I think this picture look so much like the pictures I've seen of Ryan as a kid...

Cal and Noah fight over this red chair about every five minutes. Calvin will be getting his own chair (blue!) for his birthday from Jo and Pops....that kind of makes me wish he would hurry up and turn 1 already ;)

Noah and Jo got it in their heads that they needed to bake a red cake with chocolate chips and chocolate icing...so they did and I have to say, the results were delicious!

mmmmmmm

The after :)

LET US OUT!!!!

I went to get Calvin up from his nap last week and he had grabbed everything that he could reach and tossed it in the crib with him...including a box of wipes, and he proceeded to pull out 35 of them

4th of July weekend!!!! This was on Saturday, the only day it didn't rain all day.

Noah loves to watch fireworks!!

and help light them...eek!

I have warm fuzzies for pictures of Noah walking on the dock with Ryan...I'm not sure why, but I have lots of these pictures....I think this is the first one with Noah wearing an inner tube, though.

The wind sock stayed this way about the whole weekend, it was WINDY...and rainy....and not warm. We spent A LOT of time indoors

A pic of the weather...on the 4th of JULY!!! Nuts...

Noah is using his new Lightening McQueen aqua socks to remove copious amounts of hair from Ryan's leg in this picture

Peek-a-boo!

Due to the cabin being rather full, we brought a wee camp chair inside for Noah. It worked very well....except when Cal wanted in, too.

Fireworks!!! Noah got to stay up late and shoot off some fireworks and watch the big display at the lake (in the rain...well drizzle...but it was wet)

This part of the fireworks is where I had to bite my tongue...I'm not a fan of them and I am convinced they blow people's hands off on a fairly regular basis. Perhaps I would see more one handed people if that were true...I still don't like them very much.

This picture makes me laugh because it perfectly captured Ryan's "Noah is in trouble" face

I think Great Grandma Dieker kind of likes Cal :)