Lafayette Trip

We decided to go to Lafayette for the weekend to do an early celebration of my birthday. It had been a few years since we had visited and Dave and I were both missing it and thought it would be fun to show it to the kids. I emailed an old friend of mine who still lives in Lafayette and asked for some recommendations on fun things to do with the kids. She responded back that they had some plans fall threw and invited us to stay with them and hang out. We decided to take them up on the offer and ended up having a fabulous visit! The night before we left, the kids received a package from Grandma that included matching outfits for Collin and Benjamin. Dave said that as soon as Benjamin came downstairs the next morning he asked if they could wear them and before Dave could answer he had half the outfit on. Then when I came down, the first thing he did was hand me Collin's clothes and ask if he could please wear it. Later that morning they were playing with one another and I went to pick Collin up, when Benjamin asked "Aren't you going to take our picture with our matching clothes?" I of course obliged!


Our friends have two children, a four year old named Ruby and a very special little one year old named Burke. Kids amaze me how they can become such fast friends and have so much fun with one another!

Here's our combined kiddos before our full day of fun!

Benjamin's grandparents got him a "Purdue Pete Finds His Hammer" book a few years ago that we have read so many times he has it memorized and several of the tabs have been repaired. Dave had the great idea to bring it with us and we visited the different things in the book. We drove past Mackey and the football stadium and then some of the things on campus. Here is Benjamin, thrilled to be at the Sweet Shop. (He was really excited to be at Purdue!!)

The Bell Tower....

and the fountain that Purdue made!!!

My kids LOVE fountains! They love to drive past them and even more to play in them. So they were overjoyed to get to play in the fountains at Purdue. Here are Ruby and Benjamin enjoying running up to the fountain and then running away....

Anna and Burke were a little on the fearful side in regards to the fountain....

but before long, Anna was just as wild as the rest of them!

Our family....

I bet the last time Dave was hanging out by this fountain that he didn't imagine being back here with this kind of crew! :)

Benjamin and Ruby were sweet enough to pose for pictures for me!

Benjamin was sitting with me while I was going through these pictures. When he saw this one he said, "Cheese time!" :)

Dave enjoyed lots of Collin time during our trip!

We took them over to another fun fountain! Isn't she pretty?

I LOVE when they look at each other like this!

More Daddy/Collin snuggles!

More fountain fun for the big kids!

Dave and Mike (my friend Lindsay's husband) were roommates one year in college. Lindsay and I really enjoyed watching them push their DOUBLE strollers across campus! :)

Benjamin was really happy when I surprised him with a new Purdue hat! He really loved it here!

Then we headed to the little zoo in town. Dave and I used to love visiting here during our newlywed days (its free!!!). They closed it down while we were still living in Lafayette to do remodeling and they did a fantastic job! It is such an awesome (free) zoo! :) You get to walk through an enclosure with wallabies right next to you!!!!

My favorite animals at any zoo/aquarium are otters. They are so fun and yet peaceful to me to watch swim and play. They had some cute guys here and this neat tunnel the kids could crawl through that went in the otters' swimming water.

Right next to the zoo is a little water park. I didn't bring my camera in, but Lindsay took this cute picture of the big kids. They had a lot of fun playing in the water and traveling on the lazy river!

It was really hot out, but the water was still a bit chilly. After some fun times were had at the water park, Benjamin declared that he wanted to go back to the zoo. (We had cut that short so we'd have enough time at the water park before naps and it was really hot out.) We all enjoyed finishing our zoo visit now that we were cooled off from the water park! Benjamin had a lot of fun playing with this elephant water fountain.....

It really is a COOL zoo!

Benjamin never passes up a chance to milk a fake cow! :)

Benjamin really loves eagles these days. The zoo had TWO eagles and Benjamin was very pleased! I was pleased when I requested all the kids get in the eagles nest for a picture and they blessed me with cooperation and smiles!

Before leaving the zoo (WAY past nap time) we visited the monkeys. We all got super excited when we found this sweet guy right up on the window. We've never been so close to a monkey before! He had those really sweet eyes that some monkeys have and Benjamin kept asking me why he was sad. It was quite a challenge to explain to him that he wasn't making a sad expression, that was just they way God made his face.

We had SUCH a great time and are so thankful our friends opened their home to us and spent time reconnecting! We can't wait to get together again! Benjamin asked me yesterday, "Can we go back again soon?" When Anna saw these pictures she declared "There's Ruby!!!!" After I asked her if she liked becoming friends with Ruby, she said in the sweetest little voice, "Yes. She's my favorite!"


The next day was my birthday. We went to church, then lunch at home, huge naps (b/c the kids were crazy tired from our trip and their unwillingness to sleep nicely in the same room), then we went out to dinner, bought me a swing for our porch (what I chose to spend my birthday money on), and came home for super yummy chocolate ice cream cake! It was a relaxed, but super sweet birthday. The big kids gave me multiple hugs/kisses and sang to me all day long. They each would tell me Happy Birthday randomly on their own. It was very sweet! Here are me and my babies after church....

I enjoyed celebrating my first birthday with my monkey!

My beautiful, wonderful, extremely blessed family!!!!!

PS Collin has kept us up crazy late tonight. Since it is past 1 AM, I am not responsible for errors/poor language skills. :)