Tristan's Birthday

Tristan is somewhat of a celebrity to Joachim. This morning when we asked Joachim his name he kept answering "Tristan". I think it was because Tristan's party was the first place Joachim had "happy cake" which made Tristan famous.Here Tristan gets plenty of enthusiastic help opening presents.Joachim and Auntie BeckahThe new chicks. Tragically a dog got the chickens a couple months ago, but life begins again.

'mokey bear

We went to Delta's Logging festival, which was a bit pathetic, but Smokey Bear was there and that was thrilling enough for Joachim. He talked about 'mokey bear for days after meeting him so I called our friends in the US Forest Service and they sent all sorts of cool paraphenalia. His favorite are the Smokey Bear tattoos. He often has one on his belly and I love how he pulls up hhis shirt, pushes out his belly and proudly announces to the viewer, "'mokey bear tattoo". Any time Joachim is outside by himself he can be found either in the sandbox or driving the tractor or the lawnmower, here he is on the tractor, notice how he follows grandma's example wearing the ear muffs.

Joachim + Joshua

So, we went to the Springs to see the lovely Amelia and Constantin married and I don't have a single picture of the wedding, but I have a great series of Joachim and Joshua riding home together.  Ben drove home a day earlier and Joachim and I rode with Eugenia.  

We were nervous because neither of the boys have a good track record in the car or with each other.  But they surprised us both and not only got along with, but they even entertained one another.  Still, it was a long 5 hour drive and we were all glad to be home. 

s next to each other.

Colorado Springs zoo

While in CS we visited the zoo for Joachim's sake. The highlights for him were feeding the giraffes and him pushing the stroller. It seemed like a good idea to see the animals, but we found the animals were not much interested in being seen.  

If you ask Joachim about the zoo he'll tell you he fed the giraffes crackers and add on, "blue tongue" or "green tongue" depending on what color is on his mind (really it's a purple-black tongue, but who's keeping track?).

The zoo does have a lovely view of the city, and we noticed Joachim has developed a great camera smile.

Ok, the Peacock was very interested in showing off.

bluegrass in the morning

We went back to our good ole black forest coffee shop near my parents house and we were entertained by this father/son trip Saturday morning.  It was really very quaint and such a different world from the rest of the Springs.

kite

This too is from Easter Sunday, it was such a fully beautiful day.  Joachim gets the idea to run with the kite, he doesn't understand you run against the wind, other than that he really is an expert kite flyer.