conclusion to the visit w/ my parents

last saturday, we had a 30th birthday party for richard. since he is old now, we wanted to keep the excitement level down. you know how it is w/ old people and too much going on around them. so we kept it to just family. which, really, can get pretty exciting (as we all learned). anyway - it was our family, my parents, his parents, my cousin & family, and aunt carol. we had a great time.

nathan enjoyed showing his skills on his new-to-him slide.

last monday, we went to mike and chrisi's house (my cousin in killeen - 1 hr away). while we were there, nathan was playing w/ all of their grandson's toys (as usual). he has two favorites, one is a police car version of the "cozy coupe" we all grew up knowing and loving, the other is an inflatable toddler sized ball pit. nathan was at the car and wanted to get to the ball pit - so he walked over to it. yes, walked. not crawled, not - walked over hanging onto something. just plain old, walked over to it. he has not stopped practicing walking since! what a big boy!! (and a proud set of parents!)

on Tuesday we went to the Austin Children's museum. there were lots of fun things to do there.

learning how to play chess:

being a doctor (or PT):

being a construction-man:

we all had such a great time! not pictured, he got to roof a house w/ grandpa, and play on lilly pads w/ grandma. he played marbles and was on t.v. for his very own music video! (he played the fiddle, b/c the guitar was too heavy)

my parents left on thursday. it was very hard to see them go. we really enjoyed having them stay w/ us and look forward to the next time! :)

p.s. i almost forgot, nathan got his first "bug-stomping" lesson at the museum