Meandering Moons

Here are a few random pics from the past month or so....

We were happy to have my parents visit us this fall.  They were especially happy to get to go trick or treating with their favorite ghost. 

This is a bit out of order... but the day before Halloween, we all visited one of the local pumpkin patches....

Bet you can guess why this is Noah's favorite pumpkin patch!

Whoohoo!!!!!!

The boys came home with a basketball the other day to get ready for January when Noah will play in a first and second grade league... hopefully he will pick up some moves from his Daddy.

These are Noah's very attentive students taking part in his doggie Sunday school class :)

This picture sums up pretty good what we've been up to... just trying to enjoy fall and all its goodness.

Back in business... have been minus a data card for my camera for several months. So happy to have everything in working order again. What makes me even happier is this smile I captured on my very first click after putting in the new card.

Family Trip (part 2)

 We visited the Mississippi River Museum while in Dubuque, IA where Noah came face to face with the biggest catfish I've ever seen!  I think Noah was dreaming about catching a biggin' like this some day.

Got one!!!... or maybe it's the other way around :)

He also got to feel what it was like to man the helm of a paddle wheeler.  If it has a steering wheel or handle bars, it is guaranteed that Noah is going to love it.

 Then it was on to Madison, WI where I attended a two day course at the University of WI.  We were treated to this beautiful sunset before watching a fourth of July fireworks show over the lake... 

Next stop was a surprise for Noah... Moline, IA, the official home of John Deere.

Well he certainly enjoyed his surprise!

They have an awesome John Deere museum in Moline, with several antique tractors and a variety of new JD's you can climb up into.

He had the time of his life going from tractor to tractor to tractor to tractor to..... you get the idea. 

 I had a blast getting so many smiley photo ops :)

I think that it was a testament to how wonderful the museum was that it took Noah three hours of being there before he asked if they had a gift shop!

He was thrilled to get a "waterloo boy" of his very own.  He fancies himself an antique tractor model collector now.  

The last night of our trip was actually on the fourth, to celebrate we had our own sparkler show in the parking lot of the super eight we were staying at in Lamoni, IA.  

The great thing about traveling with kids is that everything is new and exciting, seeing things through their eyes makes you see  the ordinary as extraordinary... it's wonderful, as was our trip.

A good evening fishing trip

The male Moon genes have definitely been coming out in Noah lately... he has become quite the fisherman this summer.  He and Phillip have done a lot of it lately and this evening Noah was excited to bring Momma along to show off his skills.  It was a beautiful evening the temperature dropping down to the nineties  and a full moon set to rise.  So we headed out to the local lake...

 Where within about two minutes Noah caught the first fish.  

 Followed soon after by another...

and another.  All in all he caught nine fish and one turtle!  He was so estatic.  I loved seeing him so excited  :)  

Phillip only caught three which is probably a good thing since he stayed busy helping Noah get his fish off the hook.  One of the fish that Phillip caught was just a little thing.  Noah told him in a reassuring voice that it was ok because it sure was a pretty fish :)

Road Trip (part 1)

 Oh, no... you can probably tell by the title that there are lots of pics from our recent road trip.  I am a bit tired tonight, so I will have to split them up.  

I had a conference to go to in Madison, Wiss. over fourth of July weekend and was able to take some extra days off so we could do some vacationing along the way.

Our first stop was in Omaha where we visited the wonderful zoo they have there.  

They have great interactive exhibits, including this sneaky little goat in the petting zoo.

The habitats were very natural and the animals active and more than happy to have their pictures taken.

They had a desert dome with a cool underground swamp exhibit, felt just like you were in the bayou... which my swamp people loving son thought was so cool!  Seriously great zoo, the best I've been to in a long time.

Our next stop was in Dubuque, IA mainly because it was on the way, but also because I found a hotel with great rates that had an indoor waterpark.  Apparently the indoor water park is a midwest phenom... we saw quite a few of them along the way!  

This was the view from our room... not bad, I thought!  We actually saw quite a bit of the Mississippi River on our trip.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures, but one thing I discovered about indoor water parks is that they are quite steamy.  I had a hard time keeping my lens from fogging up.

The best thing about the whole water park experience were all the smiles from a certain little boy (and a few from a certain big boy, as well).

Pirates vs. Giants

It was a gorgeous evening for a baseball game.  Noah had fun digging in the... er, playing tee ball and the parents had some good laughs.  What more could you ask for on a nice summer evening?

(I love this picture!)

Opps, swung a little low.

He hit this one good, but Momma needs to work on her sports photography skills!

Headed to first for an infield single :)

Can't wait for the next game!

 

CA

Here are the pictures I promised from Noah and my recent trip to visit family back home in CA.

Noah had his sixth birthday while were were there and we celebrated with an entire day of special events...

Noah, Shiela, and my Dad at Noah's favorite park.  

We started his birthday celebration with a trip to "the park on the hill" (as Noah calls it).

Then it was off to lunch at one of our favorite local mexican restaurants where Noah was surprised with this beauty of a sundae.

complete with a candle.

When I was asking Noah what kind of birthday party he wanted, he requested one at my the ranch where my Dad keeps his horse.  They recently installed a BBQ grill, so it worked out great.  Noah got to horse around while the hot dogs were grilling.

Hanging out with Grandma and cousin Rosalie.

I had fun decorating his Flag Day inspired cake.

I think that we succeeded in making his day special... he told me at bedtime that night that it wasn't a great day but an Awesome day!  (Yeah!)

A few days later we had the pleasure of babysitting Rosalie.  She had a fun time crawling after Noah and I had fun watching the two of them.

Someone was pretty proud of himself that he was big enough to man the stroller on our afternoon walk.

We also had a play date with my friend Liz and her son Juan Diego.  I don't have a picture but it was great to meet Liz's two month old, Colin as well.

It was a great trip... hope it is not too long before we can visit again!

Happy Father's Day!

Noah and I just returned from a week visiting my family in CA.  We had a wonderful time... we were able to celebrate Noah's sixth birthday and Father's Day with my Dad (a few days early), and I was finally able to meet my niece who was born less than a week after we moved to KS last year.  I will post more pictures of our trip and Noah's CA birthday party soon, but I wanted to share some photos of the wonderful Dads/Grandfathers/Husbands in my family and wish them all a very happy Father's Day!

This picture was taken on Friday during our CA trip... it is amazing to have a picture of us all together!  The two guys on the left are my brother Adam, who was celebrating his first Father's Day (My sister-in-law Monica is holding his cuter than cute daughter, Rosalie... lucky for her she looks just like her Mom :) ) and my Dad (and Noah's Pop).

Noah and his Gramps (Phillip's Dad) share a love for working in the great outdoors.  

Good thing for Noah that he is the splitting image of his Daddy :)  

Happy Father's Day Adam, Pop, Gramps, Phillip, and all of you Dads out there!

Tee Ball

The weather finally cooperated enough for Noah's tee ball team to have their first game this evening. Not sure who had more fun, the kids or the parents... it was very entertaining either way.  

Here is the highlight reel...

Pre game team photo.

Pre game team photo (silly version).

Noah started off pitching... guess you don't really pitch in tee ball, but he got to stand on the pitcher's mound, which was pretty cool.

Looking like a future golden glover :)

He did great at the plate, too.

Blessed to have some very patient coaches!

Here Noah is telling one of his coaches all about his cleats and how much faster he can run in them than his tennis shoes, how they match his uniform shirt, etc.

Here he is proving his point... surprised it's not blurry :)

Rounding second....

and heading home.

Good game, good game!

Yeah Pirates!!!

 

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Happy Birthday, Nana.  We sure enjoyed your recent visit and hope that you had a wonderful birthday.

We love you!!!