52 year old, 550 lb Turtle

I had to do a separate blog about the turtles. We went to a place called the Reptile Gardens and saw these ginormous turtles. "Gentle Giants" as they call them, but I was still not a fan of Nate getting too close. Scott told me to relax.


Nate got right in there and fed the turtle some grass. Yeah. All I kept thinking is how many years can these "Gentle Giants" handle thousands of kids patting them on the head before they snap. Scott told me to relax.

The turtle stuck his head out further to say Hi to Nate. I had to walk away. Scott told me to relax.

South Dakota

Last week, we took a trip to South Dakota to see our good friends Ryan, Audra, and Quinn Pooley. For those of you that don't know, we met the Pooleys on the first day that Scott & Ryan started their Ph.Ds at Vanderbilt and we've been inseparable ever since. Ryan & Audra are originally from Sioux Falls and moved back after graduation. We are so glad that we finally got to visit them in their hometown (I think we have dragged them all over Missouri and Georgia since we met!)

I could probably post a multiple page blog with pictures and stories from our trip, but I'll try to condense.

Mount Rushmore was fabulous. I don't think Nate really got it, but then again, I didn't really expect him too. He will at least be able to say that he has been there!


Audra's family has a cabin in the Black Hills so we had great accomodations. A little backstory about this picture...we rented a van so that all of us could ride to the Black Hills together. On the morning we were leaving, Audra asked Ryan to take out the middle seat so that we would have more room. He tried for about 5 seconds and told her that it was not possible. So we rode with the middle seat for 5 hours. One afternoon while the kids were napping, we decided to sit outside (the weather was fabulous). There were only 2 chairs, so Audra decided to try her hand at taking out the van seats. You can see she was successful and the boys thought they were hilarious.

Nate and Quinn had a great time together. Since they are both 2 years old, we heard alot of "It's my mom...No, it's my mom" and "Me first...No, me first!" But overall, they enjoyed each other and by the end, Nate was calling her "My Quinn."

Here they are playing Ring Around the Rosie. Only one head bonk during the game. They recovered.

These are such special pictures. We walked up to the top of the hill from the cabin and had a spectacular view. There was no one there but us and the sun was just starting to set.

And last but not least, Scott posing beside the Badlands sign. Supposedly there is a Bruce Springsteen song about the Badlands.

We had a wonderful time and Scott & I have a sense of accomplishment that we made it on a LONG car trip with Nate...and we are all still speaking!

Thanks to the Pooleys for being great tour directors. We miss you already!

Update on Nate's "Growing Up"

Nate has been saying the cutest thing lately and I had to blog about it...It all started with our conversation at the library about the "Tales of the Shrunken Heads" DVD. In an earlier post, I reported that he told me that he will watch this when he grows up. Well, since he turned 2, I have been asking him, "Even though you are 2 years old, will you still be my baby forever?" He always answers yes and it has become a joke between us.

With the addition of the conversation about the Shrunken Heads, now Nate has been telling me, "Mom, I am going to grow up, watch the Shrunken Heads, and be your baby forever!" He is so proud of himself when he gets it all out and knows that he is very cute and is sure to use it just when I am about to boil over.

National Geographic

Nate's sweet aunt Lee gave him a subscription to National Geographic for Kids. He gets very excited when the magazine arrives. Last week when it came, he plopped down right where he was and began reading it. And it just happened to be the day that his lovely teachers put a pony tail in his hair. He really does love "ponies." As you can imagine, Scott thinks this is fabulous.

Video Games and Ladders

Nate and Scott got out the V-tech this weekend. For the first time, Nate could really play the games and make all the connections by himself...this makes me...oh so very excited! He was addicted - wanted to play it instead of nap, after nap, before dinner, after dinner, and before school this morning. Yeah.



Scott and Nate also installed a new fan in our living room. Nate's curiousity in climbing things is growing very rapidly. Usually this happens much earlier - thank goodness he is already out of the crib. Yesterday, they were at Lowe's and Scott said he turned around for 2 seconds and Nate was halfway up one of those really big ladders that they use to get stuff off the top shelf. Yeah.

Cheese

I had to post this picture. My mom took it when we were visiting a few weeks ago. Jacqueline Willoughby left her sunglasses and Nate was immediately attracted to them. Thanks Jack-Baby for the great photo op!

Happy 4th of July!

We headed downtown today to watch the VP Parade. The Veiled Prophet is a very old St. Louis tradition and many St. Louisans turn out for the event.

Here we are at the train stop...Nate was very excited to go the parade. He has figured out one of the fundamentals of childhood - that with parades comes candy!




We sat right across from Union Station and I love this street view with the Arch in the background.

A few more pictures from our day.

St Louis at its finest...

Headlamps

My mom stayed with us last night and Nate decided that he needed to wear her headlamp to the dinner table...backwards. My mom and my sister both bring their headlamps when they are visiting us because they say I don't provide them enough light to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It is quite funny when I catch them moving about!

Classic

Nate and I were at the library yesterday picking out books and movies for the week. He picked up a movie called "The Secrets of the Shrunken Heads" and said "Mom, I need this movie." I told him that I thought it was too long and that he probably would not like it (good tactic, huh?) He thought about it for a minute and said "I can watch that when I growed up." I looked at him with a sad smile and said, "Yes, you can." I was reflecting on what he just said, when he said in a louder voice, "Mom, I AM growing up." Whoever taught him to say this, I am looking for you...

I picked some of my favorite pictures of Nate growing up...