While daddy was away...

...we played! Thursday morning Brian and his buddies left for the Michigan International Speedway for the NASCAR race. I swear the trip gets a day longer every year. :) Me and the boys had a lot of fun stuff planned for the weekend to make time go fast. Friday morning started off rough but thankfully we were on the road to GR by 9 with my mom. We hit Buy, Buy Baby and Babies R Us for some items for baby #3 and then headed to the Childrens Garden at Frederick Meijer Gardens.
Going through the maze with Grandma Mary Ann.

Trey fell asleep on the way and actually stayed asleep as I put him in the stroller. He isn't quite ready to drop his morning nap yet. He woke up right at the end which worked perfect.
They had a really cool water table (as Carter would say) and it was nice to let the boys cool off as it was HOT out.

Saturday we were hoping to hit the pool but we knew a storm was coming so we headed to Allendale's Boulevard Days instead. At TruValue they had some kids activities. Carter's getting so big and could even do this inflatable without help.
Barreling down the other side.
Trey even got to try out the little one even though he just got tossed around; he loved it!
Carter got to go on a pony ride too. They must have been sensing the storm b/c the one behind him got out of his harness and another was acting up too. Thankfully none of the action scared Carter and he loved it.
Saturday night I got a sitter for the boys and got to enjoy celebrating my friend Sheri's birthday so it was a nice break for me too.


Sunday we went to my parents church and enjoyed lunch with Great Grandma and then after naps we headed to John Ball Zoo. Carter has been asking all summer to go with Grandpa Jim. Petting the goats with Grandpa.
This gorilla cracked me up as he just sat there and bobbed his head like he was listening to music or something.
Grandma pointing out an animal.
This lion came right up to the glass and roared really loud. It was so cool! We had to go find the male lion as Carter didn't think this was a lion b/c it didn't have a mane. :)
Ride 'em cowboy!
Completed the trip with a picture with John Ball with Grandpa and Grandma. Thanks for a fun day!!
Back to Brian....the guys had lot of fun at the race and pre-race activites. They did a lot of golfing on Thursday and Friday along with some road touring. Apparentely the guys turned this trip into a 'work-related' trip as they checked out the local crops. :)

Josh (friend), Bruce (co-worker) and Brian standing in a field of beans. I think this should be in the next ZFS calendar! :) Nerds!
The boys were just a tad excited to have daddy home and were even more excited with their new race cars they got. It was quite humorous how attached they were to Brian on Monday. Trey cried every time he left the room and couldn't get close enough to him.
Staying busy definitely helped time go fast and thankfully after our rough Friday morning the boys were really good all weekend. I try not to think about next year being home alone with 3 kids for 5 days. Oh wait...that will come in December when he goes hunting. Martha...start the plans now! :)