Summer Wrap-Up

So we've been back at school for nearly 3 months and I haven't posted anything about what we did with the rest of our summer...so here it is:

For the 4th of July, we spent the afternoon at the pool with Holly, Jason, Harper, and Hollins.  That evening, we grilled out at their house with some of their neighbors. 

A few days later we visited the Knoxville  Zoo.  As many times as we've been to the zoo, this is by far the best trip we've ever had.  The animals were all out of their hiding spots and very close to their fences. The gibbons monkeys were really active and Baylor & Hudson were very entertained by them.

  We even saw one of the gorillas having a fight with one on the other side of the cage. Don't worry--this isn't a real snake Griffin is holding.  It's a stuffed replica of one the zoo had on exhibit last year.  

And after all of that excitement, we checked out the new splash pad at the zoo.  We all agreed that this is a GREAT new addition!

On July 14th, the babies turned 15 months old. They were just starting to be able to climb up on the sofa or ottoman by themselves and it was absolutely their favorite thing to do.  Another big favorite was sitting on the bottom step, usually side-by-side.  It's so fun to watch how they interact with each other...and how they already want to be able to do everything their big brother does.  

On July 25th, Griffin had surgery to move the lateral muscles of his eyes to help with his tracking.  It was a rough couple of days, but he had lots of visitors and all came bearing gifts so that definitely helped.  But he wasn't allowed to go swimming for two weeks after his surgery which meant the rest of our summer break.

We had to take Hudson back to Cincinnati Children's Hospital on July 31 for a follow-up on the lymphedema in his arm (which has been much, much better in the time since our first visit to CCH).  We decided to take everyone with us and make an end-of-summer getaway out of it. Matt and Griffin caught a Reds game, Griffin's first major league game. 

 



The next day, we went across the river to Newport, KY to visit the aquarium. 

Baylor wasn't quite sure what to think of these penguins that were as big as he was.

 

Griffin's favorite part of the aquarium was by far this PlayMotion screen.  He is very artistic and loved that he could create all of these colors and images just by moving and waving his arms. 

 

Griffin had been very excited about the Olympics ever since he saw some of the swimmers in the Olympic trials.  I decided that we should have an Olympics party since he was still going to be limited in his post-surgery activities and needed something to get excited about...not to mention that you only get the opportunity to have an Olympics party once every four years!  A couple of days before the party, he and I tie-dyed some red, white & blue shirts (although they were a little more pink & purple after washing).  We had food from around the world, and Griffin and Harper got to decorate rice krispy treat flags with M&Ms.  It was a fun little party and a good finish to the summer.