Jake Meets Spiderman at the Zoo

We went to the Kansas City Zoo today because Spiderman was there and we knew Jake would love to hang with Spidey.  Thankfully it was a cool day, hitting only a high of about 92 degrees.  As you can see, Jake wasn't wearing his most appropriate shirt to meet Spidey which caused a bit of friction between Jake and Spidey initially.  Check out the video at the end of this post for the whole interaction.  

 Spidey was asking Jake if he likes Batman or Spidey more.  Jake responded by pointing to his Batman shirt.  Needless to say Spidey was floored (literally, he fell on the floor). You can see how Spidey's head is cocked to the side.  The whole line started to laugh. It really was quite funny.

 In order to get back in Spidey's good graces, Jen suggested that Jake sing the Spiderman song.

As you can see, Spidey was very impressed that Jake knew the whole song and even said that Jake had just made his day!

 Spidey even went so far as to cover up the Batman logo on Jake's shirt when we took their picture.  I don't think Jake has stopped smiling yet.

 Alex took Jake on the carousel.  This is them waiting on line.

This was the first time that Jake rode on his own.  Looks like he is holding on pretty hard to that bar.  Thanks to Alex for taking him on the ride.

The Amazing Spider Man - Sung by Jake Parker Widman

He did this last night and we couldn't resist putting it on the blog.  Thanks to Darci for grabbing Jen's phone to record this.

4th of July at the Lake

Jen, Jake and I went up to my parent's place on Lake Champlain in NY for the 4th of July.  Although we had an unplanned night stay in Chicago courtesy of bad weather, once we finally got to the lake we had a great time.  One of the best parts of the trip was escaping the horrible heat wave that was tormenting the Mid-West that week, with average temperatures about 15 degrees cooler in NY than in KS.  Oh yeah, and we also got to spend some time with Grandma, Pop Pop, Aunt Keri and Gianna.  The last time we saw Gianna she was only about 2 weeks old.  We can't wait to get back up there next year.

                                     

When we finally got to the Lake, Grandma, Pop Pop, Aunt Keri and Gianna all threw Jake a birthday party.  Just like his mother, he was ecstatic to extend his birthday another day. 

Jake had a great time playing with Gianna, his 7 month old cousin.  He helped keep her very entertained over the course of the week.

Jake had a blast playing in the kiddy pool.

Jake and Pop Pop played frisbee almost every day.  I think that Pop Pop is still recovering from the week we spent up there.

On the 4th we went to Essex, NY to watch the parade.  As the parade progressed, Jake realized that if he waved to the people in the parade they would throw him candy.  By the end of the day he had more candy than he did at Halloween! 

The picture of contentment.  A seat, shade and strawberry shortcake.  Life truly is good!  Notice the Spiderman umbrella.

Pop Pop and Jake.  These two were inseparable the whole week.

Gianna seems to be more interested in Jake's hat than smiling for the camera.

Jake waving to the people in the parade.  Man did he get a ton of candy that day.

Batman (Jake) is playing in the Bat Cave, a tent that doubled as my room.
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Thanks to "Uncle Ron" Jake had some really cool toys to play with.  In fact, so did Jen and I as well.

Uncle Ron took us out on his boat for Jake's first boat ride.  We started out on the Bay side of the lake and went over to our beach on the main lake.  Jake and Jen had a blast in the back of the boat.

Jake came up to the front for a while to hang with daddy.

Can you find Jake in this picture?  On the way back to the boat launch the wind picked up and it got really wet on the boat.  Somehow Jake fell asleep under the blanket in pretty high seas.  I can't wait to get him out in my sailboat in a few years!

Grandma and Jake eating Jake's favorite lunch.  Chicken fingers, french fries and chocolate milk.

Gianna is hanging with Jake at the kids table.

I am Batman!

Notice the really cool cape, gloves, Batman undies and utility belt!  This is what he has been walking around the house in for the past few days.  Jen is Spidey-Mommy, I am Robin-Daddy, Bailey is Bailey-Wolverine and we go around the house with Batman and put the bad guys in Jail.  Just look at that face... I guess he is working on his method acting.

Happy Third Birthday Jake

I am not sure how it happened, but Jake turned three this month.  Unfortunately he spiked a really high fever on his birthday.  Before he started feeling sick, we were able to go to see a movie and have some fun.  Thankfully by his party a few days later he was feeling like is usual three year old self.  

Check out the cool Spidey umbrella and goggles Grandmother and Dan got for Jake's third birthday.

 

He was so proud that he could open it all by himself that he literally did it all day long.  It's shocking he hasn't worn out the umbrella yet.  Here's to hoping it rains at some point this summer so he can open it outside in the rain at least once.  If not, we might have to use it in the shower.

We had a party at a local farmstead for Jake and some of his "classmates".  The theme was Batman, but I am sure you didn't need me to tell you that as you will see in the following pictures.

 He got some really cool gifts, most of which were superheroes.  PEFECT!

Jen found some really cool cupcake toppers, but as with most things kids, there was some assembly required.  

 Is it really possible that Jake is three already?  Where has the time gone...

 This brings back memories of his first birthday when he had a cupcake for the first time.  His enthusiasm for cupcakes has not waned at all over the past two years!  He gets that from both his parents. Click here and scroll down to see how he attacked the cupcake two years ago.

 Batman and Batwoman

 He caught his first fish at the pond!  If you look really closely, you can see a fish in the center of the picture.  By the standards of the pond at the farmstead, this is a pretty big fish.  By the end of the day he had caught about five fish in all, with their total weight adding up to probably less than one pound.