September 30th, 2017

While the annual trip to the AppleJack Festival didn’t happen this year, it was perhaps even more enjoyable to visit Kimmel Orchard without the mob of people

Des growing and growing

Ella’s hayrack ride face

Desmond was a bit more animated, though uncertain if it was the ride or the sight of the tractor

Like brother, like sister. Initially she wasn’t into it, but after mom took a starter bite to get the juices going, Eleanor clearly saw what the fuss was all about.

Cause who doesn’t double-fist apples?

Every time mom tried to put the apple down for a moment, Eleanor would grasp on and try to pull it back to her mouth

Desmond sitting on a pumpkin. Not sure why. Closer to the pumpkin patch, he runs over saying, “I go sit on pumpkin.” Toddler mysteries.

Waving hello to the pumpkins

Learning to eat his pizza “how Stephen holds it.” 

All worn out after hiking through the orchard, to extent of falling asleep with his cement mixer still in hand

Babies- emptying kleenex boxes in record time since forever

Ok, dad may be tied for most interested in the frogs (whose aliases now switched to Darth Vader and Ice Cream)

Frogs!

Liam, Viv and ma deliver a very special gift- Desmond’s first pet(s), frogs!

More specifically, two African Dwarf frogs

With minimal latency, Desmond proclaimed their names were “Stick” and “T-Rex.” Growth milestone: Des connects favorite things with favorite things, unprompted by explanation how one goes about naming pets.

Yeah, he’s pretty excited

Eleanor equally enthused, though likely more with sticking leaves in her mouth

Discovering what the tiny fork is for at Amsterdam

Unsurprisingly, frog paraphernalia surged in popularity

September 28th, 2017

Bliss (noun): supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment: Eleanor on tricycle. Des being a good big brother and helping push sister.

Eleanor loves a good chase

September 27th, 2017

Eleanor on the long path to learning to practice “nice touches”

Unwavering in her ascent to the top of the slide, this girl pushed and climbed…

…and slid unrelentingly for more than half an hour.

Two independent summits, two more with spots from dad 

September 26th, 2017

Telling Gina “thank you!” for the “No Prob Llama” shirt

September 25th, 2017

Eleanor experiments with bubbles again, although this time from the sidelines

Alpacas!

After driving to Fort Calhoun and walking a half-mile walk from the car, there were alpacas! It was the open house weekend for Alpacas of the Heartland

Saying hello to new creatures

Incredibly soft

Eleanor got in on feeding carrots to the alpacas

Des finds a goofy new friend

Where the alpacas roam

During nap time, it was hard to determine if Des was in bed or not.

…then this one beady eye popped out from under the pile of blankets and stuffed animal

September 23rd, 2017

On an unseasonably hot late September afternoon, everyone trekked to the Crescent Moon for Oktoberfest

But when your toddler’s selfie slowly melts to this-

…you go find a table inside. Ahh, much better! Ella’s first visit to the Moon, Desmond can’t say the same

And when you eat dinner at 5:30pm, you have time for ice cream out at a friend’s new ice cream shop