Meet Me in St. Louis

Andi, Kacy and Gus standing in front of the St. Louis Arch.

Inside the Arch they had several displays. In this one about the Cardinals, Gus learned how to hold a baseball in order to throw a curve.

I took these from under the Arch.

The sun was starting to set and the Arch was really very pretty.

We went to Grant's Farm, a farm with lots of animals, as well as information about the Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis.

At the zoo, we all got to touch stingrays. Here is Kacy touching one.

Flamingos in the background.

Gus loved the monkeys! The animals kept him very excited and really engaged his growing little mind. He was always pointing, laughing and yelling.

We tried to get a picture of the three kids together, but Gus did not want anything to do with it. Of course, it was at the very end of our visit to the zoo, and he had been a trooper up until that point.

We also went to the St. Louis Children's Museum, called The Magic House. It was so much fun for Gus! They have rooms and rooms full of learning exercises, games and displays created for specific age groups.

Gus crawling through a carpeted tunnel.

In a ball pit, much like what he has at home.

There was a water display that he loved splashing in!

It had a little seat for young ones so that they could really touch the water.

Gus wants to be a fireman!

Or maybe a fisherman...

Andi wants to be a grocery store check-out clerk...

Or maybe Gus could be a construction worker....

Or maybe Kacy could.

When we got back to KC, Gus was crazy hyper. Before his bath, he ran around in circles upstairs, insisting on putting daddy's cap on, which of course, covered his eyes and made him run into walls and doors- which, by the way- he thought was hilarious.


All in all, the trip to St. Louis was a success. We had so much fun, and did so many things- Josh and Steve even got in 18 holes of golf, and Trish and I went for a 4 mile walk. Thanks again for the fun and hospitality. Can't wait to see you in Clear Lake next week!

Soooo Busy!

Oh, I am so busy today! This is my last week of summer classes and I have a ton of papers and speeches to grade... We had a blast in St. Louis and I will post pictures tomorrow afternoon. A TON of pictures, most likely... Thanks so much Trish and Steve for making the weekend so much fun for us!

Off to St. Louis

Gus in his Diego shoes and chair the other night.

It has been a very fast week, as usual. This summer, like most summers, is just flying by. We are off to St. Louis after lunch today to visit the Spratt family for the weekend. Hopefully we'll go to the St. Louis Arch, and maybe some other attractions. Josh will be golfing. I will certainly have lots of pictures to post upon our return on Sunday. Hope you all have a nice weekend!

Gus and his "Baahs"

Ever since we got these "baahs" out of the closet yesterday, a birthday present from Gma Sue that we have been holding back, Gus has been in heaven. Last night we made a makeshift ball pit (we may have to buy a few more bags though).

Earlier today I looked over at Gus and he had crawled into and was sitting inside one of the ottomans (which now contains over 100 balls) and throwing balls out, one by one.

Summer Fun

Friday night, being silly with mom and dad in the basement. We love having the extra space to spread out and play with Gus and his many toys.

Gus and his favorite hat. He has a few of these pails and although he loves to wear them on his head, he does occasionally get his head and arm (I like to call it his chicken wing) stuck. That, he does NOT like- At All; he must be a little claustrophobic.

We gave him a treat on Friday night after supper- a Tootsie Roll. He loved it, although it was a bit chewy- and very messy!

On Saturday we took Gus back to Deanna Rose Farm, since Josh had never been there and Gus can now walk (he couldn't last time we went). We met some friends, the Nords, there. They brought their two little boys as well. Gus loved feeding the Pygmy goats!

After church on Saturday night we took Gus to Legends to listen the free bands they have playing all summer on Saturday evenings. We also decided to eat at the newly remodeled and renamed cowboy restaurant. Gus was so good!

He just laughed and laughed as he ate the waffle fries. We were tearing his food up into pretty small pieces, so when Josh gave Gus a whole waffle fry- he thought it was awesome! He had this crazy chuckle, which he giggled over and over, and had everyone sitting near us laughing with him. He is so funny sometimes!

Listening to the music and playing with the fountains. Gus walked all around this huge fountain in front of the band and would dance, by bouncing his knees to the music. He is such a ham, and tried hard to engage any person he could into watching him and smiling at him. Definitely not a shy baby boy!

Here he is making his fake laugh sound... he squints his eyes and makes this broken fake laugh sound. Just another way he tries to get your attention.

This morning, sitting among his mountain of toys. We got his bag of 100 little balls out and he had so much fun playing with them. A very messy room to pick up afterward, but totally worth it when you see how much fun he has playing with them!

A Fun Surprise

Amanda, Me and Lisa out on the lake on Friday afternoon. The weather was not great but we made the most of it. Thanks for the pic Amanda!

Scott, Brad, Jared and Joshua in the lake enjoying a brew.

July 4, 2008. Gus in his car seat last year before the parade in Clear Lake.

July 4, 2009. Gus in his car seat this year before the parade in Clear Lake.



Before the parade started Kenny was not sure what to think, and when I told her to smile at me, this is what she did. She is so funny!


A little too young for the candy, he did enjoy a ball he got during the parade.

Kennedy with her swag and candy from the parade. She made out pretty good!

Parker seems to have found his tongue. He was sticking it out at us most of the weekend. Such a cutie.

Here's one of the many smiles we got out of little Parker this weekend. Poor little fella had a terrible tummy ache but still smiled and laughed through it all. Linny thinks he may be lactose intolerant and is trying to figure out how to best appease the little guy when she can't nurse him or give him breast milk.

A fun surprise when we pulled into our driveway on Sunday afternoon after a long holiday back in Iowa was a "Yard of the Month" sign posted on our property. It is kind of funny that we won, but hey I am not going to complain: we did get a $25 gift card as a thank you for helping to keep our neighborhood looking nice, as well as get to pick next months winner of the single family home block in our neighborhood.

Josh and I especially like the large electrical and cable boxes behind the sign. Very classy ;)

Sliding Alone

Gus likes to do everything daddy does. You can see even at the end of this clip he copies Dad. He is so funny. This weekend he started saying more words, like 'hot' 'out' and 'car' and he put two words together twice, "Dada No!" and "Hi Dada." And when he plays with his toy car on the floor he makes a "vrooom" sound now. It took him awhile to be interested in talking, but these last few weeks he has really started saying more words than make sense to us. His walking is getting better and better too. He definitely walks more than he crawls.