We stayed busy in March with things around the apartment, church responsibilities and, of course, finding time to meet up with friends for fun adventures! Ethan loves to play with his cars on his window sill and some mornings in March were cool enough that we opened our window to let the cool air into the apartment. Apparently, on this morning I didn't move stuff out of the way fast enough for him, so he decided to take matters into his own hands!

At the beginning of March we met some friends to go to the zoo. We actually ended up getting a membership, so many more trip to the zoo are in our future, I'm sure! The first stop was the tiger enclosure. I thought it was so cute how they were cuddling!

We made a stop by the aquariums to see, fish, turtles, sting rays, snakes and spiders. Here are the two buddies checking out some fish!
As you can see, he loves the aquariums!

They were both very interested in the leaves floating in the moat at the monkey enclosure!

I truly think the highlight for Ethan this day was running up and down the little hill on a bridge. No animals in sight, just a hill! We managed to make it out alive, even though I had visions of skinned knees and foreheads. He and Drew just kept running up and down, up and down. The things that entertain toddlers!
Last week, we went to Miss Heather's strawberry patch with a group of friends. It's about a 30 minute drive and I thought Ethan would like being outside since he's an outdoors junkie. It turned out to be a little bit of a warmer, humid morning, so we were definitely feeling it while we were out there picking berries!

At the beginning (before he was melting) he was very interested in what all these people were doing. You are allowed to eat while you pick, which is a nice perk! He kept picking one, taking a bite and throwing the rest on the ground. He did it over and over again, so I know it wasn't that he didn't like the flavor--silly boy!

Ethan getting in on the action. Looks like he found a good one!

By the end of the picking he was worn out and hot! Here he is taking a sit-down break with his juice. Poor guy! Sweat was dripping down his cheeks! I tried to go as fast as I could, but it takes a while to pick a half-flat!
After the strawberry picking, we headed over to their play area for some fun. They had lots of playground type toys and these little tractors that my car and truck lover loved to push around. I just wished he would stay in the shade with me for just a minute, but he insisted on playing more!

They had a bunch of the ride-on tractors. He had fun just sitting on them since he couldn't reach the pedals and it was a little too heavy for me to push! Look at that pink face!! I promise I put sunblock on and he didn't get a sunburn...he just gets super flushed when he's hot!

He liked watching the kids on the big trampoline, but when I tried putting him up on it, he wasn't having it! Maybe by pumpkin time!
This was Ethan on the way home from the strawberry patch...wiped out!
Unfortunately, he slept just long enough that he didn't go back down for a nap once we returned home...so our day was very, very long! But the strawberries were so worth it!! Once again, another fun day with friends!

St. Patrick's Day Parade

I've always heard about the St. Patrick's Day parades down here, and I love parades. So this year we decided to take Ethan to his first parade. I was a little worried that he wouldn't like them, but overall he had a great time. It was a beautiful day and we met Jill, Drew and her parents to take in the fun! They found a great spot that was under the shade of a tree, so we had protection from the sun, plus we stayed a little cooler.

Ethan wearing some of his loot

Jill and Drew
Well, at least they are in the same frame...it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get two toddlers to look at the camera at the same time!

Tristan trying to catch some loot from the floats

I think this is the time I got hit in the face with beads, since I was holding the camera and not getting ready for the catch!
Ethan with Jill...He loves Jill. She is his nursery teacher at church, so he spends 2 hours every Sunday with her, not to mention that we see each other a lot on our play dates. He typically warms up to men more than women, but Jill is a rare exception!

Jill's mom and dad were nice enough to let us use one of their bags for all of our loot...you can tell we aren't from here because we came a little unprepared for all of the prizes!

Digging in his bag of catches for something fun

A rare shot of me and Ethan (I'm working on getting more!!)
By the end of the parade, Ethan found a permanent roost on dad's shoulders. He's been into wearing sunglasses lately, but somehow always manages to put them on upside down!
It was a great day and we ended it with a last minute BBQ at the Britt's. I'm glad that Ethan loves parades as much as I do!!