Call It What You Want...

There are a lot more cute pictures from our trip -- which is quickly fading into the past -- and so here are some animal-related highlights from the trip!

Adam rides the horse at Grandma and Grandpa's. Does the horse have a name? We asked him. He told us its name is Caleb. (That's one of his friends from school.)

We went off to the Bramble Park Zoo (Watertown's own) for a chilly visit. Believe this or not, the tiger was just as close to the small boy at this point as the goats were. (Just the tiger had a rather more substantial barrier.) The animals were all quite active due to the cool weather...no lounging lizards there...

Mark compares his wingspan to that of the large birds of prey. It's a little hard to see the grimace. Raaaaah!

These are not necessarily wild animals, but they did forage for their own food. Here they are with apples they picked themselves off the tree at the Stormos'. Yum!

And, finally, this is Adam having a moment with Jo, the Vrzals' rabbit in Sheboygan. Jo is very friendly, and as long and children stay still, she'll come over and check them out. Mark wasn't so interested, but Adam was. Here, he shares a NASCAR car with her. I'm not sure if she was wholly grateful, but she indulged him by looking. Such a good rabbit.

This concludes Animal Adventures. Join us next time for a jaw-dropping display of "When Sherrill Critters Go Bad..." (Maybe not).

Or: More Proof that We're not British like some of our more dunce-y relatives.

Yep, Adam had his first visit with Dr. Chad. Sorry, all you Dr. Chad-admirers, I forgot to get your train ticket so you could be here for the appointment. Adam was a little nervous, but he laid back and opened his mouth right up for both the hygienist and Dr. Chad. Despite his good start on snaggly teeth (a la his mommy's), his teeth were reported excellent. Dr. Chad raved.

Mark got his checked, too, though the light makes it a little hard to see his mouth opened perfectly for Dr. Chad to check. Mark also got rave reviews for his excellent teeth. Except that his aren't snaggly. :) (Please note that Dr. Chad is cheesing for the camera even though he has his face covered.)

I had to fill out the medical update for Mark -- just to make sure nothing's changed, but, God Bless Them, they did not make me fill out the "whole new information" sheet that I seem to always have to do at the doctor's office. There was a question that asked "How is your child's development?" with the choices advanced, normal, below normal, and delayed (or something like). I laughed out loud at that and told the hygienist, "Doesn't every parent claim their child is advanced?" Then I felt unduly vain to check that for Mark, but, really, I think he probably is a little advanced in several areas that matter. (In the ones that don't so much, like coloring and bike riding, er, not so much.)

Of course both boys had perfect teeth reports and Dr. Chad once again praised their mommy for them having such great teeth. Ah, what can I say? (I said thank you.)

Tim's aunt Estee Stene got married over our vacation, hence our trip. I mean, was there any chance we would pass this up? Estee has always been a fairly well doting aunt as far as I can tell (when Tim's parents didn't necessarily do an allowance, just gave the guys money for what they needed, Estee sent them $20 a month for an allowance) and has always been good to us -- picking us up at 3:30 a.m. at the Minneapolis airport the day before Christmas is not easily overlooked.

It really was a great chance to get together with the family. Tim has very good relatives, and they also have very good friends. Cousin Rachel is now living in Okinawa with her Naval dentist husband, but she was back for the wedding. She has really worked to stay in touch with her, and though I am on-again/off-again with it, I try to write to her as well. Cousin Sarah is a very successful interior designer in Park City, Utah, and I got to meet her husband Wade for the first time -- they've been married for a year. I already mentioned the fun times the kids got to spend together.

Mark may not have had a basket of flowers, but he certainly had something important to carry...

Mark asked Abby to come to his house to play sometime. I think he meant right away. Hopefully we'll get to do it soon. (Aunt Margrethe sent me this photo and a few others... they are adorable because we didn't take very many ourselves; Tim was busy with groomsmen duties, and I was trying to keep Adam sane. Mark, however, attached to Aunt Margrethe for a while and played with her. Hence some cute pictures.)

Mark checks out the flowers.

The floral arrangements were made by Estee's best friend Chris, about whom I have heard forever but had never met until now. He was even funnier than I imagined. He showed up for photos in an atrocious outfit, but changed for the actual ceremony into normal clothes. He is a retired English teacher and now has a florist business. After the ceremony, he leaned forward to me and said, "Not to sound too vain, but those flowers really do look stunning, don't they?" They realllllly did. See?

Could there be a more mournful 4-year-old? I think not. Someone didn't want to participate in the family picture-taking. Eh. It's good for you.

So. Those are some pretty pictures. You'll get more stories of the vacation before it gets too cold in my memory, but I thought you ought to have a few to enjoy.

Since Mark spent the whole week last week in beds with real bedspreads (he's been sleeping with a (small) fuzzy blanket, but hey, dude, winter's coming), I decided it was time to get him a real bedspread.

I previously bought the sheets from the Hit the Road! bedding set from Target, and I like them (they're good quality and CUTE CUTE CUTE) so today while the boys were in school, I bought the comforter that goes with it.

HOW CUTE IS THIS?!?!!?

So. We came home. I told Mark I'd gotten him a new bedspread. While I was taking off Adam's shoes and jacket, Mark had already run upstairs. He went potty (by himself) and then I heard him shrieking in his room. He was throwing his animals up onto his bed (with the new bedspread on it) and jumping around shouting.

I think he likes it. :)

Added moments later:

I went up to tuck him in for his nap -- he gets a few minutes to play first -- and he actually decided on his own that he wanted to use the "new" pillow rather than his old construction pillowcase (that I made and that he's used, eschewing the matching white pillowcase that goes with the sheets), so I tucked him in and got a quick picture before bed.

Good night, sleep tight!

Yesterday when I picked him up from school, Adam was wearing the cutest little puppy ears, which he'd made at school. After naptime, I wanted him to wear them again so I could get a picture.

"I want to see your puppy ears," I told him.

He showed me his ears.

Then he flat-out refused to wear the puppy ears, throwing them on the floor, etc. Fine, I told him. I won't take the picture. I just wanted a cute picture of you in your puppy ears.

Turned around.

Yeah. Has to do it in his time. He put them on himself and showed me.

HOW CUTE IS THAT?!?!!