Field Trip with Annie.

One afternoon while Annie was in town, we decided to take a little field trip to the fire station around the corner from our house.

Someone was so excited that he ran almost the whole way there.

Our sweet little friend, Braden, came with us even though (he informed us) he had just seen a fire truck at Disney World. He is 4, by the way. Luke is 2.

Keep this in mind when you see them standing side by side in a minute.

Luke is a beast.

Anyway, just a few short minutes and 3 gallons of sweat later, we had arrived and Luke knew exactly where he wanted to go first.

The firemen at our fire station are always super nice to the Stinker. This friendly one (Jeff?) was kind enough to give Luke some pointers on driving the big rig.

Apparently he was a very good teacher because Luke had no problem pulling the fire truck out of the garage...

"Seriously, Mom. Get off my bumper. I got this."

Thank goodness for Annie who hopped up and distracted my self proclaimed "good driver".

Cute Braden was a happy passenger and not at all concerned that Luke was in the driver's seat.

And he was super pumped to get to wear a real fireman's jacket! 

I kid you not, that jacket weighed more than he did.

Luke wanted nothing to do with the jacket, but was all about the boots.

Another nice fire man pulled out one of the many hoses and gave the boys a lesson in how to put out fires.

Then it was time to get back in the truck again. This time the Big Man took a turn in the cab.

Annie was just as excited to get a chance to ride in the cab too.

Both boys had to have one more turn in the driver's seat, but thankfully were content to share the wheel.

When it was time to go, the firemen gave both Luke and Braden coloring books to take home. With promises of coloring and popsicles when we got home, we managed to leave without any meltdowns. That is what I call success.

The little guys raced home to get their popsicles and this is where Braden's 2 year advantage and much lighter frame came into play.

Luckily the Big Man didn't seem to mind. 

I guess he knew he could slaughter Braden in a popsicle eating contest when he got home.

Annie's Visit: A Retrospective.

A while back Annie came to visit and I never got a chance to post the pictures. She came in for the weekend and the minute she left, we went into crazy mode hosting Globalscope Celebration and then ran off to Georgia in a whirlwind right after that. Sooooo... without further ado, here are some cute pictures of Annie's visit.

Luke LOVES Annie and was so excited to see her. 

Obviously he opted for his tough guy look over his giddy grin in this picture, though.

Annie came bearing gifts--sidewalk chalk!

Mommy had tried playing with sidewalk chalk before with Luke, but he was never interested until Annie brought him his very own chalk and colored with him. Everything is better with Annie!

Annie's gift really brought out his inner artist. 

He sketched out this airplane in a matter of seconds.

Before long we had the prettiest driveway in the neighborhood.

Then it was time for some golf. Luke is really into golf these days and wanted to show Annie his skills.

Unfortunately, though, he much prefers hitting the ball into the bushes and/or the street. He would do it every time if we would let him.

Once dinner time rolled around, Luke chose to eat dinner on the porch--one of his favorite things to do.

Yum!

And of course he chose Annie to read with him before bed time. 

He had to show her how good he is at his I Spy books.

I think they had a good time. 

I love this sweet picture and those chubby feet!

We also took a fun little field trip when Annie was here, so stay tuned for those pictures in the next post!