Dutch Wonderland Part 2

The last time we went to Dutch Wonderland it rained in the afternoon.  And DW is awesome and gives free tickets to come back if it rains for longer than 2 hours during the course of your stay.  So we had free DW tickets to use before the end of the season.  Today was bright and sunny and 70 degrees - perfect day for DW.

Dex was talking about what rides he wanted to go on, and he decided he wanted to start with the cranky cars.  And, perhaps, never leave them.  Knowing the boy as well as I do, I figured I'd get a little outlet shopping in while he rode the cranky cars for a couple hours, so Erin and I happily arrived at DW at 11:15.  After Dexter had ridden the cranky cars for 19 consecutive times.  I dunno how he had any arms left.

After that hour of excitement, things got better and better.  Here's some photos from our very fantastic day.

Sky ride.  Dex looks thrilled

We rode the train twice.  Erin cried when we made her get off.

We rode the carousel twice, too.

Again, this time at DW, Dex said his favorite ride was the Turnpike.  He likes driving.

Baby Cakes here took a little nap while Dex carried on having fun.  She was a trooper.  It was a long day for her.

Watching Dex go down the big slide

He likes the big slide, but the line is long and slow.

I came back from feeding Erin to find the boys on the swings.  No, I didn't have to go on them this time.  Dex is in the back, pink shirt.

Happily watching swings

I was shocked.  SHOCKED.  When Dex wanted to go on the whirling turtle ride.  Cuz it spins wicked fast.  It was super fun, and he loved it.  Many, many times he loved it.

A couple months ago while driving down State Rd I convinced Dex that driving down the road was exactly like riding the roller coaster at DW.  He, remarkably, believed me.  And made me go on the coaster with him first.  He loved it.  More than my driving, I think.

I was, however, surprised to see him on the front of the roller coaster all by himself.  Because 1) he WANTED to go by himself?  And 2)  John LET him go by himself?  He decided that since he was tall enough to ride all by himself, he damn well WOULD.  He waved as he flew past.

Erin likes watching stuff at DW.  Here she is watching bumper cars.

Here's the boys driving

How Dex looks when he's forced to wave at the camera...

Thanks, DW, for a perfectly fantastic, FREE day at the park.  We are now officially exhausted.

Why I Love Fall

I love it when fall starts peeking its little head around the corner.  Summer hasn't quite given up yet - we're still wearing short sleeve shirts and Erin was outside with no shoes.  But it's no longer so hot in the back yard, so we can enjoy our little flower garden which is still lovely.  Shocking, considering I have done almost nothing to it all summer long, save pulling out the sweet potato vine that was threatening to overtake the universe.  Note to self - don't plant sweet potato vine next year.  Or anything, really, with the word "vine" in it.

The marigolds still look nice.  Sure, they need some dead heads plucked off.  Sure, I'm not gonna do that.  I hate the smell of marigold.  Good thing they look far better than they smell.

I do very much like whatever this very tall grass stuff is.

Still have a dahlia or two surviving the benign neglect.

Can't remember what these cute little flowers are, besides cute.

This time of year the pine cones get fuzzy

The weather was lovely today for the fist day of fall, and the boys were at Oktoberfest eating hot dogs and playing on the playground.  Yeah, I'm not sure why we paid 8 bucks for Dex to play on a playground.  The intent was for him to ride some of the rides there.  But no dice.  He said they were all too scary.  My guess if he could just be tossed on to a ride, he might start out crying but then realize he loved it.  But it would take a bit of this, and that might raise a few eyebrows:

So anyway, Erin and Buddy and I hung out in the back yard for a while.  I threw my favorite lens on my camera, plopped the baby down by the flowers, backed up to take a picture, aaaand... watched her crawl away.  So we improvised.

See her two little tiny teeth?  And the snot pouring out of her nose?

Buddy did a little playing, with sticks,

and horses,

and babies.

John was draining the pool today to get it ready to be put away for the winter.  Dex played in the drain hose for half an hour or so this morning.  And Erin thought it was fantastic that she could look over the edge of the pool and splash in the water.  She also took refuge on the pool tarp because grass = dislike.

I love her little tippie-toes here

Finally, guess who climbed the stairs today?

WHO, Mama?

Oh, that's right.  ME!  And when I cried and cried when you saved my life when I tried to go back down the stairs face first?  What I really was saying was "thanks."

Eleven Months

Erin is eleven months old today.  In a month she will be ONE YEAR OLD.  Which is ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous, Erin was ridiculously grumpy today.  She's got one bottom tooth that has broken through, but still isn't really visible.  She's got another bottom tooth that is JUST BARELY trying to come through.  And man does that ever make her grumpy.  I'd love for all her teeth to just come in right now, so we can get the grumpies over and done with.

Erin can easily pull herself up to a standing position almost anywhere.  She's a wicked fast crawler, and her unusual crawling position means that she can pretty easily carry something in her hand while she crawls.  She's not walking at all when she's is standing up.  If she's standing and sees something she wants, she crawls over, stands up and gets it.

Erin loves books with photographs in them (she especially seems to love pictures of cats.  Which, sorry kiddo, isn't going to happen).  She babbles away all day long saying who knows what.  She has a reliable "milk" sign, and "all done."  That's about all you can count on for signs - the rest are just wavey flappy hands and arms, which could really mean anything.

She loves her brother, and she loves her dog, and she very much enjoys a good game of "crash baby down" on my bed, or bouncing on Dexter's bed, or bouncing on the trampoline in the basement.  She giggles when you chase her, and she loves a good game of peek-a-boo.

Here's some pictures, and a video (click for link) from today:

She's moved her drawer pilfering to the next one higher

Still trying to pull that front off the drawer.  Again.

And here's some photos from the past month or so:

Not Erin, but a cute moon and the leftover of the sunset.

She reminds me of her cousin Gordon in this one

She stands up to greet me after every nap

This reminded me of one of my favorite Dexter photos.

Erin's burrito face