Best Buds

Our first big outing as a family since Max was born was about a week ago to Frilandsmuseet for the "Family Escape" hosted by our church. We had eight or so families that attended for a picnic lunch and then an afternoon spent exploring the old buildings. Since I've posted about Frilandsmuseet several times before, I decided not to add any pictures of the buildings--though we did visit a part of the park we'd never seen before with an old water mill and rubber duck run, both of which were big hits with the kids!

When we first got there, we made sure to grab a wagon. Jared was planning to pull Ruby and Carter in it, but then Carter decided that he'd rather just pull Ruby himself! What a muscle man!! In the end they both decided to walk, while Max spent the entire visit snoozing in the stroller.

If you notice in that first picture, Ruby's craning her neck over to look out into the field. There were three little lambs out there with their mamas. One of the lambs somehow "lost" its Mama and was just crying and crying trying to get a response from one of the moms. Ruby was so worried about that lamb (even after it found its Mama) that she spent the rest of the afternoon saying, "Uh-oh...LOST!". After a while I was starting to feel like that old man in the movie, "Hook", "Lost, lost, lost...I've lost my marbles!!". Really, it was pretty sweet. Ruby is very compassionate and worried about the wellfare of others--man or beast! Not a bad quality to have.

As you can see, Ruby and Carter pretty much stuck together like peanut butter and jelly all day long. When they did get separated, it wasn't long before you'd hear Carter yell, "Booo-by! Booo-by!" (he hasn't quite mastered his "R's" yet!). Then, they'd hold hands again and start off to another adventure. I'm so thankful that she has such a sweet friend in Carter. They both think about each other a lot every day and both nearly always pray for the other at meals and bedtime. That sweet, innocent, loving friendship is so precious to see. I pray that Ruby will always be blessed with good friends in her life.

I'll leave you with a picture of Ruby and Max. For those that are wondering, the transition from Only Child to Big Sister has been rough at times, but overall pretty good. Ruby really does love her little brother and he...well, he tolerates her! I can't wait until he starts smiling and interacting with her. I think it will make things a lot more fun for Ru. She is being a wonderful helper though and has really impressed us with how caring she is with her little brother. Now, if we can get both kids healthy again and sleeping at the same time, we'll really be peachy keen!