Ramba Zamba!

Aug 8

Have I mentioned how spoiled I've been this summer? With Andrew being 2 1/2 and VERY capable of navigating even complicated play structures (this kid is resourceful!), I've been free to sit back quite a bit more at playgrounds for the first time in 5 1/2 years. My kids are all little Mr. Independent and are happy to roam off and explore, as long as they know where to find me. It's been fabulous... for all of us.

Aunt Tamar came out to visit us (yay!) and our first motion of business was to make good on a promise to take the boys to one of the fabulous indoor play parks here. Tamar was a hero, and happily went along with this scheme, and was only mildly traumatized (as we all were... *shudder*) by a very unfortunately designed caterpillar... which will remain un-pictured, for the sake of all mankind. 

 This part of the play structure is where you shoot foam balls into a inclosure below. It's fabulous. I will miss this place when we leave Germany!

 Conquering the inflatable pyramid! I can't tell you what a challenge this was, especially for someone in socks!

The man-eating alligator slide... haha. Tamar and William holding on for dear life as the alligator tries to swallow them. ;) William was *terrified* of this slide a year ago.  

 Inside the chompers.

50-cent go-carts. Bargain! Andrew would have stayed on all day!

 Inside the unfortunate catipillar. Tamar is one up on me, I couldn't get in the dang thing... Seriously. I was too afraid that if I managed to get in, I wouldn't' be able to get OUT.

 *love*

 Manning the guns!

 Woohoo all 3 boys in one picture! Building a giant-lego house.

 "Jumping Jacks" William style. 

 "Crack the egg"... not hard with Cameron. ;)

Thingstätte, Heidelberg.

July 28

 We visited this place last fall HERE, but we wanted to show it off to a friend, and needed an outting for this weekend.  I was impressed how different it looked without a carpet of leaves. :) 

 These guys are such posers! 

 I have a dozen more shots in this same location-- each a different pose!-- but I thought I'd just show you my favorite. haha!

 "fun-size" entrance.... right C?

 puddle stomper

 beautiful light! 

Hmm.. this looks like a bad idea... don't worry! it didn't get stuck.

 I was there too!

 What grace!

I love his face. :) 

Starting to get grumpy... time for dinner!

 C has style... no question about it. 

*love*

sick day photoshoot... ;)

July 13

 So -- yes.. all three boys were feeling sick and awful and we were all hanging out in jammies, but... Momma got a new lens. So! make-up or no make-up, fevers or no fevers, out came the camera. :) Self-portraits with a 50mm lens on a crop-sensor camera is no easy feat (but the goal was to keep most of myself out of the shot anyway... ). They're not fabulous, but I *adore* these pics, of my favorite little guys nestled up right into my neck, as usual. *love*

  

My beautiful boys.. I'm such a lucky Momma! 

silhouette

july 19

 I had a little project to take a silhouette of a child with a balloon. My sweet Cameron was a very enthusiastic helper!

Sick

July 12

 Our three boys very artistically shared a little virus in July. First Andrew, then W, then C, then back to A and then again to C. Can I tell you how tired I was of cleaning sheets/blankets/towels?

Aww, but they do look so sweet when they're feeling wretched. W ONLY naps on the couch (or anywhere) if he's sick.  

Sleepin on the LoveSac. Aunt Abby would be proud (as long as he doesn't throw-up on it, in which case I would fly her out to clean that beast!). 

Frankenstein Castle

June 30

 This castle is not particularly amazing, and it was disappointing to find that the two towers were reconstructed, but still-- it's so close, and it's fun to explore. Plus, it's called Frankenstein. Does it take anything more than that to make it cool? 

 Busy Boy!

 See all of their CamelBak backpacks? My mom sent us those for the boys birthdays this year, and they have been *fabulous*. I later added a carabener (sp?) on Andrew's to make the fit tighter, but it has been so great... The boys get enough to drink, and mom & dad don't have to haul it around for them.  I also later added to Andrew's pack the "tail" to the monkey leash backpack that we have. haha!

 N threw his baby boy down a well! ... well... a ghetto fake well anyway. 

C and W were thrilled that there were some nerds authentic-wanna-be medieval dudes there working on their skills.