I spent Sunday afternoon down at Williamstown Lake. Kim’s uncle Joe has a cabin on the shores of the lake that we visit frequently in the warmer months. The lake is only an hour from home, so we can easily cruise down for an afternoon. We don’t always get to take the pontoon boat out on the lake, but we did on this visit!

Kids In Charge

Trey wasn’t a fan of the  life-jacket  at first, but once Nick and Connor put theirs on he seemed to be a little more tolerant. We all packed together on the pontoon and headed off to a deeper cove for some swimming. The water near Joe’s is too shallow for swimming, in fact we later watched a speed boat get stuck in the mud just past his dock.

Swimming

The lake was a swirling mix of warm and cool waters. Most of us enjoyed floating around for an hour or so. Trey only lasted fifteen minutes or so before he wanted back in the boat. Hopefully as the water warms he will enjoy it more. Joe said this was the earliest he can remember swimming in the lake in the spring. Thanks to all the warm weather recently.

A couple of Saturdays ago, I took Trey to the Newport Aquarium with my parents. I’ve been to the aquarium before but it has been a number of years since my last visit. I don’t recall ever seeing the Rainforest exhibit, which appears to have been opened on May 24, 2004. So I’m guessing that my last visit was in 2003. Since then they have also added the Frog Bog along with a 14 foot, 800 pound alligator named Mighty Mike.

Throughout the 70 exhibits and 14 galleries, there are plenty of opportunities for interaction. There was no stopping Trey in the hands on tanks where he could pet horseshoe crabs, starfish, or even small sharks. There is also a play area with tubes and slides in the previously mentioned Frog Bog.

The real stars of the aquarium are the five seamless acrylic tunnels through some of the larger tanks, as well as a huge viewing window in the theater where you can sit and watch sharks for as long as you’d like. Also the penguin exhibit is always a huge hit with both kids and adults.

The aquarium continues to be a great place to spend a few hours, especially during one of those rainy days of spring.

This Easter was filled with Easter Egg hunts. They had one after mass at St. Francis Seraph, but Trey was much more interested in the four huge dogs than he was in collecting eggs. Then he slept through the hunt at my in-laws house, though when he did wake up we hid some eggs for him to find.

When we headed to my grandparents house after dinner, we found that my two youngest cousins had hid more eggs for Trey to find.

Today is Trey’s first birthday, as  unbelievable  as that might sound. I know that it is definitely hard for me to believe that an entire year has already passed with him in our lives. It seems like just yesterday we were heading to the hospital, not really sure how great this new adventure was going to be. I often hear parents say that they wish their kids would stop growing up so fast, and as much as I can relate to that, I think future years are going to be even more amazing than the last has been.

Give Me Cake

Over on kimandedjr.com  I posted a slideshow of photos that my mom took of our celebration party at our house on Saturday,  so be sure to check those out. She also posted some videos along with the photos on her flickr page. It was a great party and we, along with Trey, are lucky to have so many caring and helpful people surrounding us.

I Need A Bath

Check out my little tiger.

After an  unsuccessful  closing on Wednesday night, we finally closed on our new house last night! Kim is at the house now as the movers are taking all of our stuff inside. I cannot wait to get settled in.

Below is a photo that Kim took during our final  walk-through  of the house.

Additional photos from the listing website can be viewed below. I will try to update my blog as we finish furnishing the rooms with our own stuff.

Trey and I had a great first father’s day! We started off the morning with Kim and my parents at their house. We all (including my brother) got my dad a new Belgian waffle maker for his 31st father’s day. After receiving the gift my dad got busy in the kitchen making breakfast for us, score! After a delicious breakfast we spent a few hours hanging out, splitting time between movies and golf on TV.

Later in the afternoon I traveled to my grandparents house with my mom and Trey. We spent a few hours visiting with family there before Trey and I met back up with Kim and her family to head down to the Florence Freedom game I wrote about yesterday. To wrap up the night I opened a gift from Trey, a new bike pump! With all of the biking we have done and will continue to do in the future, it will come in great use. Thanks buddy!

My in-laws sure are a  fun-loving  bunch. Just take a look at how we spent part of our afternoon Monday.

Yes, that is a 100 foot long slip ‘n slide.  Apparently  someone thought this thick plastic was better suited for plunging down the hill than for a vapor barrier in the upcoming drywall project at Uncle Joe’s cabin. Now that I’m a father I thought that I better sit out from the sliding, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying watching others fly down the hill and into the lake below.

Wow, two zoo entries in the last two months. We took Trey out to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden this past Saturday. My mom, brother, and his girlfriend all came along for the fun. The month of May is the 25th annual Zoo Babies celebration at the zoo, which highlights all the latest babies in the zoo’s collection of animals.

Giraffes with new baby.

The biggest draw at the zoo right now is a baby Maasai Giraffe, Zuri, that was just born April 2, 2011. We headed directly to the giraffe ridge upon entry so we could catch the scheduled feeding. Though they did not feed the baby, I’m assuming it is still nursing, zoo visitors were able to feed both parents a cracker for $1 each.

Trey loves the zoo.

From there we spent the next four to five hours exploring all the different areas of the zoo. Though it did take some time, the zoo actually seemed much smaller than I remembered it to be growing up. Even so, my legs really felt it at the end of the day. Besides all the animals on display, some of which were more active than I have ever seen (gibbons and colobus monkeys especially), my favorite part of the zoo has to be the beer that is available for purchase. Not only beer, but craft beer! And to top it all off you can take the beer with you on your walk through the zoo.

Enjoying a beer.

What a great idea! Check out the rest of my mom’s pictures.

I just posted more pictures from our big drive on kimandedjr.com. Be sure to check those out. It’s been a crazy week for us as we adjust into a new routine and we juggle trying to close on both our old house in Denver and our new house in Cincinnati. We are really looking forward to a weekend to unwind with family and friends.