Fun at the Park

I LOVE LOUISVILLE AND ALL MY FRIENDS!!

Truth be told, this is NOT what Ellie was screaming, but it was a great caption, wasn't it? She was upset because she wanted to step off the step and I wanted to take her picture and not help her right away.

This time, for group photos, we bribed the kiddos with cookies (Kevin's great idea!!). They all sat still. HOWEVER, my batteries were dying and I didn't get pix of the entire group. A. is going to send me one so I'll have one for the blog. I did get two of the Kyrgyz girls. They are all so adorable -- and all from Tokmok, amazing!! Since there were TEN kids, be prepared to wade through a LOT of photos!! Somehow, though, I managed to get NO pix of C. and M. today I'm hoping to "blog steal" some of their moms' blogs later in the week.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo. Josh, Ellie and S. in a tube, looking through the holes:

And two of just Ellie looking out the hole. She LOVED playing peek-a-boo with this hole:

Since I didn't get any pix of S. yesterday, I made sure to get some of him today. A. make sure you show both he and M. that I got their pictures!!! LOVE THEM!!

A lady at the zoo yesterday asked A. if these two were twins ... I can see the resemblence but twins? Not exactly. However, the cute factor is so much, she was probably just blinded to their differences. *smile*

Josh had a great time playing with the little ones.

Here he is trying to play peek-a-boo with Ellie:

Another cute one of S.

Braiden, just "hanging out"

And Josh ...

S. -- such a cutie pie. Her family was picking her up when we first signed up for Kyrgyzstan and I remember thinking how beautiful she was. She still is!!

S. and Ellie playing ball ...

Josh helping AP down the pyramid hill.

AP LOVES Ellie!!! They are so cute together!

Little Mr. A. eating some sour straws.

S. and Ellie.

Four Kyrgyz cutes: S., AP, J., and Ellie.

Louisville Slugger Museum

We had a really cool time today touring the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum. The boys were particularly fascinated! It was cool watching them make the bats and knowing that major league baseball players would be using those bats. We all got a complimentary bat at the end of the tour.

Here's the entire group in front of the HUGE baseball bat out front -- less the moms who were busy taking photos (and a few stragglers who just stood in our way):

The beginning of the tour. We weren't allowed to take photos in the actual production area.

Early on in baseball, Josh was compared to Babe Ruth because he was an awesome hitter and a solid little guy when he first started playing. We thought we'd capture some Babe Ruth Memorabilia photos.

This is the "batty" ceiling:

Josh and Derek Jeter:

Ellie and AP "talking" on the phone. AP said her daddy was calling.

After this fun, we headed back home and made it home (quickly and) safely.

Dinner at Cracker Barrel

We had such a good time tonight at dinner with A. and S. and their three sweeties at our favorite place: Cracker Barrel. We are so blessed to count them as friends, and I so hope our girls can grow up as good friends, too. The girls, of course, put on a show all through dinner with Hotdog dancing she was so happy. Ellie was her lively self as well!

Tomorrow we are going to Riverfront Park and the Louisville Slugger Museum. The boys are REALLY excited. We are hopeful that this family can join us tomorrow!

Mr. M. Somehow I didn't get a picture of big brother S. at dinner. I LOVE LOVE these two boys!

Is this girl not UBER-cute??

Kevin was VERY excited that Ellie got her picture made in a Wildcats rocker. There is no better word for this girl, either!

Kevin and all the kids...

Baby swap...

Can you tell Ellie is having some serious fun?

Are they not the cutest little girls???

It's been so nice to get to visit here and we are really looking forward to tomorrow as well!

Zoo Pix

We are on our way out to dinner, but I wanted to post some fun pix from earlier today.

This was our first stop -- at the elephant's abode. The big one in the background came over and Ellie was fascinated with her. She got "up close".

This is Ellie and M. enjoying the water park. Ellie did NOT like the water. I think it was too cold and too loud and too many people for her.

Josh and Ellie. Josh enjoyed the water!

Then the group shots ... we tried and tried, but having experienced this just a few weeks ago, I didn't really have high hopes that we would get a really good one. We didn't. Here are a couple.

After photos and lunch, R., S., and A. left to go back for naps. Hotdog was tired; Ellie was tired (I was tired) and so we walked around looking at the animals until the girls fell out. Ellie LOVED the animals.

And, shortly later, they both passed out -- Ellie face down.

After Hotdog and Ellie finished their naps, it was time to leave. Isn't this a great statue? It's a horse (of course, of course) made of recycled CocaCola products that are spray painted red.

Here are Josh and Braiden at the entrance.

More pix later! Having a blast.