Friday!

We had a special treat this morning when Jeff brought us to breakfast at the Original House of Pancakes. The boys enjoyed a stack of pancakes each as well as scrambled eggs. Jeff had pancakes with blueberry syrup, some of which landed on his lap. He was wearing white pants. Oops! Thank goodness there was a Rite-Aid next door so he could buy a Tide pen and save himself from some strange looks at work. You know, for the stain, not the white pants.

Jeff claims his pants are stone. I say that's just menswear's version of white.

After dropping Jeff off at work, the boys and I headed over to Lacey Woods park for some early morning playground action. The boys really love the sandbox and zip line there. But their favorite is the big blue tunnel slide. I actually got them to sit still for a split second before they raced down the tandem slide. It's never been easy to get them to stop and smile (normally) for the camera, but it's gotten even more difficult now that they're four and have minds of their own.

Ready, set, GO!

When they tired of the playground, they decided they wanted to go for a walk along the wooded trail nearby. We made it about 10 feet into the trail when Henry decided that he didn't want to run into any bears. It took some convincing but once I reassured him that there were no bears on the trail, we ventured on. While we rested in a picnic pavilion, we noticed a couple of fuzzy caterpillars. Immediately, my dad's voice rang in my head telling me not to touch them. So I told the boys. We took a picture of one, instead, and sent it off to Papalo (my dad) for confirmation. He immediately wrote back,

"It's a young larva of a moth. I don't know the species nor the common name but it's one of those that can cause unbearable itchiness. Hope the kids did not touch this little monster."

No problem. The little bugger looked menacing. Once our hike was over, we decided it was time to go.

Can't touch this

Later in the afternoon, we met up with our good friends, Karen and Howard. Their son, Nate, is one of the boys' favorite playmates, although they seem to play around each other rather than with each other, if that makes sense. They spent most of dinner negotiating toys. Nate would ask Henry or Drew for a toy and they would wait for him to hand over the toy he was holding in exchange. We ate at Clare and Don's (we really love this place). There was in interesting dissection of people on the patio. At the outdoor bar, there was a live band, a crowd of adults and a lot of alcoholic beverages. Adjacent to the bar were tables filled with families with small children, and lots of alcoholic beverages. My kind of place! It also has a Florida theme. So, obviously, I'm a sucker for it.

The boys wait patiently for Nate to arrive

It was such a great Friday. The weather was beautiful and we were busy from sunrise to sunset. I could really get used to this. Now, on to the weekend!