Goats!

There is this great farmstead in the Kansas City area called Deanna Rose. It has lots of animals for watching and petting and a really great playground. It is such a great place to take kids! When my parents were in town we went there for the first time. The best part of Deanna Rose, in my opinion, are the baby goats. They have a little area just for kids to go in and interact with the kids (because baby goat are called kids...haha)! It was so fun to see Brandon's reaction to these little guys! Here are some pictures:

They have big goats too!

Mimi & Papa's Visit September 2010

My parents came for a visit to Kansas City in September. They don't really like to relax around the house too much, so we had an event filled weekend!

The first big thing we did was go to Fort Osage in Sibley, MO. This fort was built under the direction of William Clark (of Lewis and Clark) after the Louisiana Purchase. My dad has always been particularly interested in Lewis and Clark history because Meriwether Lewis is one of his ancestors.

The Fort location is beautiful - right on the Missouri River.

They were having an event that day where people dressed in clothes from the fort's time period. It seemed that this event would be aimed at educating the public (as they do at similar historical places), but no one really talked to us, and we were one of the only people there not in costume. It was more of a time for people obsessed with history to hang out. They even had an auction where they were selling all of their old stuff to each other, but anyone could buy things. My dad actually bid and won a beer stein that was built the same year in the 30's that his mom built our family's little log cabin. It will be perfect sitting on the mantle at the cabin.

Also that weekend we went to the art fair at Westport. I love walking around this art fair because of the people watching, and the art is always interesting to talk about. There's also a good number of dogs to check out as well, and these in the picture above were the best. I have never seen dogs this big before. This picture just doesn't do it justice. They are Irish Wolf Hounds. They were used in Ireland to control the wolf population. You need to be a big dog to take down some wolves.

Here we are after walking around the Plaza.

My dad loves bubbles. If anyone goes to his office with a child or a dog, out come the bubbles. I think he might carry some in his car as well. Anyway, he's pretty particular about the type of bubbles he likes, so he ordered some of that brand to bring for Brandon. Brandon loved watching them! I love the expression on my dad's face in this picture. It's so fun to see your parents play with your child!

And I love how excited Brandon looks in this picture. He loves being with his Mimi and Papa!

The highlight of their visit was a trip to Deanna Rose, which merits it's own post, so look for that next!

Late Summer Fun

This is the second post in my long list of catch up blog postings from the past few months. These pictures were all taken in late August and early September.

One great thing about Brandon's new mobility is being able to enjoy playgrounds with him! These 2 pictures were taken at the playground in our neighborhood. At this point Brandon is just as happy playing with the mulch and carrying it around as he is actually playing on the equipment. Here he is, all smiles and tongue out with fists full of mulch.

One of our good friends in Kansas City is a bass player in the Kansas City Orchestra. We went to go see him play at an outdoor family friendly concert. Here's Brandon with Ed. Brandon loves Ed, and I'm pretty sure Brandon is one of Ed's favorite little people. Ed has been hanging out with Brandon (and us) since he was 3 months old. Sometimes I think Ed comes over just to hang out with Brandon.

During Labor Day weekend we went to the annual Irish Festival in Kansas City. Brandon loved walking around by himself and gathering comments from spectators about his cuteness.

"One of these things does not belong." Well, 2 things really. I am constantly finding things in the weirdest places around our house. This is a kitchen drawer. If you look at the floor in the picture, those things actually belong in the drawer.

V's 30th Birthday

Most of you know that my birthday is in August, so why, you might ask, am I doing a blog post about it in October? Well, life has been a little busy in the past few months, and I have not made much time for blogging. I have quite a lot of catching up to do, so this is the first in a long list of posts on my to do list. I write these blog posts as much for myself as for our family and friends. It is kind of an online scrapbook to document our life, and I want to make sure I cover all the highlights!

I turned the big 3-0 on August 7th, and it was a great weekend! My mom came in town a few days before my birthday. On Friday she took me, KZ, and Brandon out to dinner. On Saturday (my actual birthday), KZ made me Polish crepes for breakfast, we went to one of my favorite brew pubs for lunch, and then Mom and KZ made me a fabulous dinner at home. (Yes, my birthday usually does revolve around food)

Here I am with my birthday beverage of choice (Veuve Clicquot Champagne) and wearing my amazing and unexpected birthday present in my ears.

Mmmm...Cheesecake Factory cheesecake. Yes, there were 4 pieces and only 3 people (It's probably better that Brandon doesn't know what he's missing). The problem with getting 4 different kinds, is you have to have some of each one...

On Sunday morning, KZ and I left for a short one night trip, and my mom graciously stayed with Brandon. This was our first night away from Brandon together (and my first night away from him ever). KZ planned a little getaway to the wine country in Augusta, MO (a little west of St. Louis), which is where we had our first date back in September 2002.

We had such a great time!


This was at Sugar Creek Winery.

You are right if you notice that we were not drinking wine. We are not the biggest fans of the wines produced by this winery (but we love the atmosphere and entertainment), so we purchased one of the local microbrews to enjoy outside while we listened to the live music.

This was at Montelle Winery, which is our Favorite of the 3 we visited. They have this great deck with beautiful views and live entertainment on the weekends. We served some of their wines at our rehearsal dinner.

The last place we went was Mount Pleasant Winery.

After the wineries, we went to the local brew pub for some food and to listen to the band they had playing. Then we spent the night at a cute little Bed and Breakfast.

On Monday we had a fabulous breakfast at the inn, and then we went on a bike ride on the Katy Trail, which passes through Augusta.

KZ then headed east for Indiana to work, and I drove back home. It was a great birthday weekend!

Rainbows in Heaven

This is our cute little church in Olathe, which is across the street from our neighborhood. As I was driving out of my driveway today it was pouring. All of the sudden the sun came out, but it continued to rain...perfect rainbow conditions. I looked around, and there it was...right over the church! I stopped in the middle of the road and took this picture with my phone. Luckily no one drove up behind me. This was one of the only rainbows I've ever seen that touched the ground on both sides. It was a perfect arc! I was fortunate enough to be able to watch it for the next 25 minutes of my drive (well...actually I alternated watching the rainbow and watching the road in case you are a little concerned about my son's safety while I drive).

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but whenever I see a rainbow, I have a hard time not looking at it. It's the same thing with waterfalls, mountaintop views, and a perfectly open rose. Some things are so beautiful and so perfect that I am almost afraid to look away - afraid I might not see anything like that again.

Or maybe it's not fear that keeps me staring, but rather a longing. Something inside me longs to live in a place where I can see such captivating beauty everyday. Why can't I live in a place where I look out the window and see mountains, turquoise oceans, and rainbows?

And then I remember that this is not my home.

My true home is in heaven.

I believe God gives us longings when looking at his beautiful creation to remind us of our true home.

I can't stop looking because that rainbow looks like the place where I belong...

my true home

my goal

and the place where I will see the face of the One who is my prize.

"He has also set eternity in the hearts of men." - Ecclesiastes 2:25

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:14

Walking, Clapping, and Climbing

Brandon has been growing and gaining all kinds of new skills!

He is quite the little walker now! He only crawls when he really wants to get somewhere fast because his crawling a still a little bit faster than his walking. But I think he gains speed walking everyday.

For some reason, he prefers to walk around with something in each hand, and after a trip to my bathroom linen closet, it is usually 2 bottles of unopened face wash as you'll see in this video:

That video showed Brandon walking in his big cloth diaper. He's a little faster (and not quite so bow legged and intoxicated looking) when wearing a paper diaper.

The other skill Brandon has recently acquired is clapping! I don't know why it took him so long to learn how to clap! Some babies start clapping around 6 months or so. I guess he wanted to figure out the important stuff like walking before he worried about the small skills! He's very proud of his ability to clap, though. He'll often clap and then look at me for praise, and when I say "yay!" or clap back, he just laughs and get a prideful look about him.

Here's a clapping video for you. He's a little whiny because it's naptime.

Oh, and I guess I should give a disclaimer about his hair in that video. Pretty crazy, huh? I do think it's about time for a first haircut, but it usually doesn't look THAT bad. He just got through running his peanut butter laden hands through his hair before I took the video. How do you keep babies from putting their sticky hands in their hair while they eat?!

One more skill that I'm not particularly excited about is that Brandon can now climb onto our furniture. I often glance over from the kitchen to see this:

Climbing on the chairs is one of his favorite pastimes now. He's actually very good at getting down safely, but I don't like how he stands up and leans against the chair arms like he's doing in this picture. When I say something like "No! Sit down!" he slides down to his bottom (showing understanding), and then he laughs and stands up again. I can only imagine what is in store for me as he gets taller, stronger, faster, more curious, and more defiant...

Brandon's 1 year Pictures

Here are the pictures our talented friend Sarah took of our little guy a few weeks ago:

BRANDON'S ONE YEAR PHOTOS