New portraits and website updates

Just letting everyone know that we recently had Eric's 6-month portraits done. There are several samples below. Julie has also updated the main website with a few months worth of pictures so go check it out! Sometime in the near future we'll add a few video clips to the site. We have a really good one of Grandma Ginny and Great Aunt Kathy boxing on the Wii that you won't want to miss.

King's Island

We took Natalie to P&G weekend at King's Island a couple of weeks ago, and this year she's big enough to enjoy quite a few more rides. This was a test day to see if it is worth getting a season pass for next year. We weren't sure if she would enjoy the rides or not, but as you can see below she had a great time. She rode on several rides; even those that she had to ride alone. We went for a few hours in the morning and had such a good time that we went back for a second round after nap time!

We started simple and rode the merry-go-round.



Then we were brave enough to try the roller coaster!


The we relaxed a bit on Azul the train from the Dora show.

Then we found Natalie's favorite ride of all time. Dad has always referred to them as the Swings of Death. I don't know how many times Natalie rode them, but it was a LOT. We had to do some serious negotiating to get her to go try a different ride.


Then Natalie rode on the Blue's Clues ride all by herself. Every time she hit the button she went high into the air, and she loved it.

We ended the evening on the Swiper ride, which was a pretty exciting ride as well. Natalie was all smiles.

The day went very well, and now we have season passes for next year!

Moose shirt

In honor of Great Aunt Kathy coming into town next week, I thought I'd make a quick post about a recent development in the moose shirt department. For those who aren't familiar with the story, Natalie came home from our vacation to Colorado last winter with a new moose shirt and a moose book or two among other things. The problem was that she absolutely refused to read the moose book or wear the moose shirt once we got home. It became a running joke even to Natalie to say "No Moose!" when deciding which book to read.

Recently, Natalie picked out the moose shirt to wear when picking from the many shirts in her closet. We were shocked, but we certainly weren't going to say no. She wore it all day and kept pointing it out to us. So there ya go Aunt Kathy! We'll dig the moose book out and give it another shot as well.

Soccer Lessons

Natalie started her first soccer lessons a few weeks ago. The class is for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 year olds and it's a parent/child class so we get to play along with her. Natalie loves pretty much every part of it and of course, she's the biggest kid in the class :-).

Check out her stylish soccer shirt.

We start out by stretching, running, walking backwards, and playing red light/green light. Natalie absolutely loves red light/green light.


Then Natalie gets to build towers out of cones and kick the soccer ball to knock them down.


Then we try to run around and kick bubbles!

Then after kicking the ball into the nets for a bit, we get to play with the parachute! We get to sit in the middle and spin around. Then we get to bounce the soccer balls around on it. At the end Natalie gets to run under the parachute and back out while pointing at the colors, and finally we all sit underneath the parachute and sing a song.



It's a pretty good work out and we all have fun!

Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend was a busy one, and Grandma and Grandpa came into town to watch the famous Cincinnati fireworks on the river. They basically park two huge barges full of fireworks out on the river in between two of the bridges and put on a big show from both the boats and the bridges. It's great to watch and we have a nice view from the P&G towers downtown. Natalie still talks about the fireworks!

We also had lots of fun playing outside that weekend:

Grandpa and Dad finally finished the sandbox, and Natalie loves it.


Natalie got to have a nice tea party with Grandma Ginny. It had real cookies and everything!


We also just had a good time in general playing outside in the nice weather. The bubbles are still a good source of entertainment, and Natalie is still working on being able to create her own bubbles.

Natalie's out of town overnighter

Natalie sometimes spends the night at Grandma Carol's the night before she stays there for the day during the week, but recently Natalie spent the night at Grandma Ginny's and Grandpa Steve's place. It was the first time she had spent the night so far away from us, but it was definitely more stressful for us than it was for her.

We went back to see the new Colts stadium and attend one of the preseason games, and then came back home while Natalie stayed in Indy. She had a great time! She got to hang out at the pool and visit the Children's Museum, which she really enjoyed. She still talks about some of the things she did there. There are some pictures below of her having fun at the Children's museum. She got to see and do so many new things!

What the heck is that crazy curly thing?!

Since I'm in Indianapolis I guess I should learn what an Indy car is.

There are so many cool things to do here!



Relaxing on the merry-go-round with Aunt Emily.

What's a Dippin' Dot? It sure doesn't look edible... oh... that's YUMMY!


Relaxing by the pool after a hard day of learning

Thanks for letting me stay Grandma and Grandpa. I had a terrific time!

Eric rolls over!

Hi everyone - Just popping in to mention that Eric rolled over for the first time last week! He officially rolled over for the first time on September 18th. You heard it here first!



He's also been working on the whole sitting up concept. Hopefully he'll start sitting up on his own before he outgrows his little training chair!