Arboretum

We met up with some friends to play at the arboretum the other day.  Or as Sam puts it, the "ah-bo-dee-pum".  Poor kid, I kept asking him to repeat the word over and over because it made me giggle listening to him sounding it out, pausing, thinking about the next syllable, trying to come up with the right combo and then coming up with a different word every time.  And I mean giggle as in 'you're so cute sounding out those words' not 'gosh, kid...get it right already'.  Now that I'm typing that, I hope he realized the difference.  We're saving up for his therapy.  Here are some good ones, though:
"aro-bee-tum"
"ra-mo-tee-tum"
"ar-bo-pee-num"
"ah-no-mee-sum" (what? how did you even come up with that one?)
"ar-bo-ree-tum!"  There you go, Sam!

Lessons learned:
Lesson #1:
My child is not interested in flowers unless he can
a) pull the petals off or stomp on them
    and
b) unless there are butterflies fluttering around them.  At which point he yells "BUTTERFLY COME HERE!  COME HERE RIGHT NOW!  I NEED TO HOLD YOU!"

Lesson #2:
Life size mazes are not fun for parents of pint-sized humans 

Lesson #3:
I need to go shopping for cooler maternity clothes.  And by cooler, I mean clothes that don't make me sweat.  I'm totally over the "cool and cute pregnant mom" look.  Because if there's one thing Sam has taught me, it's that I am no longer cool or cute.  Is it just me, or is the second pregnancy a rough one?  Not rough as in uncomfortable, but rough as in I'm looking really rough every day.  Or to steal some vernacular from the teenage set...I am toe up.

And to be sure that I actually spelled the slang phrase "toe up" correctly (and to further prove that I am most definitely in my 30s), I looked up the spelling and definition on www.onlineslangdictionary.com:

Toe up
toe-up means ugly from head-to-toe. an absolute, full-on assault to the eyes which makes you wanna be sick when you look at the person.

In a sentence: That 31 year old pregnant mom is so toe-up.

Okay.  I'm not looking that bad, but I'm not looking that good, either.  But I digress.  The point I'm making here is that I was ROASTING at the ar-bo-pee-num and I need some summer maternity clothes.

Anyway.  Let's just get to the pictures, shall we?  And I promise, our ar-po-nee-mum is absolutely gorgeous with ponds, beautiful flowers, lush vegetation, babbling streams, waterfalls, shady trees, statues, restful gazebos, etc.  I only managed to get pictures of dirt, rocks and tall, brown grass.  This is why I don't moonlight as a photographer.

Group shot...

Two confused boys...

Checking out the fishies (thanks miss linds for keeping my child from a splash down)

Tall grass maze...where is my child?

Duck Duck Goose with the big kids

Not quite understanding the process

I'm out

Running down the path...so excited to have found...

Heaven on earth for little boys

Zeroing in on the butterflies 

"BUTTERFLIES!  COME HERE!  I WANT TO HOLD YOU!"

"Oh, Sammy!  Don't touch, buddy!"

Tuckered out

And rosy cheeks for hours afterward.  Despite all the sunscreen.  Despite all the water.  Sorry son...you have inherited your mommy's pigmentation.  You will forever be pale.