Hello, everyone! It is finally going to get cooler here this week, and we are really looking forward to the fall weather—finally! It won’t be long before all the holidays are upon us & then Dylan’s 1st birthday in January.
Dylan is nearly 9 months now; he’s mastered crawling & is exploring all over the house. He’s constantly pulling himself up to a standing position whenever he can, so I’m sure he’ll be walking by his first birthday. He has seven teeth & more on the way, and he’s starting to babble a lot—discovering his little voice. No words yet though.
Ariel is having more fun interacting with Dylan now that he can crawl, but of course it also creates some possession issues when Dylan goes for her toys. And sometimes she thinks she can ride on his back too, so we constantly have to monitor the two of them!
Ariel’s gotten really great at climbing & throwing/catching a ball, so we will definitely be getting her into some kind of activity this winter—probably gymnastics. We plan to start her in preschool next fall.
And I forgot to post her ‘tree photos’ on the last post, so here they are—she’s getting so big!
David & I are doing well too. We celebrated our sixth year marriage anniversary on September 8. We get each other the traditional gifts every year, and this year the category was “iron,” so David got me a picture frame made out of iron from a cute little gift shop in downtown Cedar Falls, Iowa when we were there. And I got him a stepping stone for the garden with the yin & yang symbol since David always says we are like that—opposites that help to balance each other out. :)
We had a great time on our vacation & it was so nice to see everyone, but we were also very glad to get home because traveling with young children is challenging! We stayed with my Dad & stepmom while we were in Iowa, and we got to do lots of fun things. We visited my dad at his work site where he was building new homes & Ariel got to sit in a huge excavator, as well as see what Grampa Jim does everyday for work.
We went to a park, which was not a great choice since that park had been hit by a flood before (unbeknownst to us). And to make matters worse, when we sat down to have a picnic trying to make the best of the situation, we realized we were under a huge hornet nest! So we quickly exited the area & didn’t try to venture out to anymore parks while we were there! The weather was so humid, so it felt like we were wet all the time when we were outside.
We also went to a petting zoo, which was pretty crazy since they had caution tape nearly everywhere warning of animals that bite! Nevertheless, Ariel loved it & didn’t even realize the absurdity of it all. :)
We spent one afternoon shopping downtown & ate some delicious cupcakes, which of course Ariel enjoyed immensely.
We went to an awesome children’s museum (the Phelps Youth Pavilion) with my sister, Jackie, & her son, Xander.
We also visited the Imaginarium, a science museum, which we all really enjoyed.
And of course we spent time just visiting with family too. Dad made cinnamon rolls & let Ariel help, and she was so thrilled! She really loves baking. And he also made popcorn for us from his garden—Ariel thought that was neat too.
And I couldn’t leave Iowa without visiting my Grama’s grave; it was hard to go because I miss her so much & going to Iowa will never be the same without her there. Ang, I wish you could’ve been with me there. We have some of our best childhood memories with Grama, and those we will never forget.
We rented a car to drive to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for my mom’s side of the family reunion & Granny’s birthday celebration. It was so nice to see everyone again & reconnect. The family had matching shirts made to go to Valleyfair, an amusement park we visited growing up every Labor Day weekend. Our shirts said, “Don’t Mess with Me—I’m with Granny,” as a tribute to Granny for her birthday. Going to Valleyfair as a parent was so different, but it was neat seeing Ariel get to experience the rides. David & I only rode one roller coaster. Hopefully we can go again when the kids are much older so it will be less stressful, but we still made a lot of fun memories.
We also went to the Mall of America while we were in MInnesota since our flight didn’t leave until 10 at night. Moma & Alan went with us, and even though it was a crazy with the kids, we still had fun. We went to the aquarium, which all of us enjoyed, and to the Lego Land store as well as a mirror maze.
We are looking forward to Angie’s birthday, Patrice’s visit, & Halloween this month. We’ll be sure to post more photos then. Love to you all!
Tammy, David, Ariel & Dylan
