Eli Snapping Pics

Here are a few pictures that Eli has taken over the past month. He loves to grab my camera and take pictures of whatever suits him at the moment.... usually Otto or himself or just random pics - most of the pictures he gets of me are with my head cut off (which always reminds me of those Charlie Brown cartoons "mwa mwa mwa"). Enjoy.

Self shot.

Oh wow, I have a head here and it is not a close up of my backside (as many are... delete, delete, delete). I was feeling pretty ill in the pic, but I did my best to smile for the little guy.

The compost pile... ewwww.

What I love about this is that he will take a picture of his mouth and then flip the camera around really fast to try and see the inside of his mouth. It is pretty funny to watch.

mwa mwa mwa mwa mwa

Bubble Wrap

Otto brought me this large piece of bubble wrap and he wanted to wear it like a coat... so we did our best. I think he was pretty happy with it in the end.

He is Growing Up...

Our little bird now has his feathers! We have been trying to visit him every other weekend. He is really a sweet bird that just about anyone can hold and pet. We are excited to bring him home soon. The bird breeder is thinking we can take him home in about a month.

Eli Turns 4!

Birthdays are special times for little boys turning 4! Eli had a fun birthday that began with having a few friends over for play time in his new sprinkler then lunch and cup cakes! Later in the evening we celebrated as a family and had Stephanie and Tim join us for dinner and cake.... a cake with a pink scorpion that is... (Eli's request of course).

Notice the nice sticker collection.... Grandma Debby and Grandpa Gary sent those and they all ended up on Eli's shirt.

Here's the cake. We decided that it was an earthy rustic birthday cake this year - it cracked, but that just made for a place for the scorpion to be crawling out of.

A birthday surprise - we caught a cicada killer!!! We added it to Eli's bug collection.

Tim and Stephanie

Otto found the cup cakes....

Words From Little Otto from capture box on Vimeo.

Cookies! from capture box on Vimeo.

I guess I am the "moth keeper" according to Eli... pretty sure he is just a little excited about these bugs.

Silk Moths! from capture box on Vimeo.

Smoky Mountains

We have had a very very busy few months, so we left the city for a couple days and escaped to the forest in the Smoky Mountains. It was a wonderful refreshing break for us as a family. Here are a few pictures we took while there.

Butterfly hunting here was a favorite for Eli!

Chocolate covered marshmallows!

What's wrong with this picture?

Trying to warm-up after a DOWN POUR of rain. No rain gear, but that just added to our rustic adventurous experience.

Yes, it was chilly water, but the sun was hot and it sure was refreshing!!!

This one is a little out of order, but on our way there we stopped by this rest area and there were large silk moths all over this stone wall. And, well, Otto is playing with the hose (what two year old can resist the call of water play!).

Papa?! and how did he get way over there?

2nd Sunergos Location... the days before and after opening

Brian working on the sign- painting with chalk.

The kids found all sorts of odd things to play with these days in the shop during the construction.

Last cleanings before the opening.

Open!

One tired Papa!!! Relaxing after a few days of very hard work!