Our Little Monkey

Alex had a Harvest Party at school today and got to wear his monkey costume for the very first time. He really liked it and had a lot of fun. They even painted his face to go with the costume.

Go Hawks!

We had a great trip to Iowa. Lots of fun with friends and family, even though we sadly failed to get pictures with some of them. Alex enjoyed seeing his friend Olivia again and meeting her new siblings, Henry and Audrey. He got to see the Iowa Homecoming parade and had plenty of opportunities to say "Go Hawks!" (which he says pretty much everytime he sees the Hawkeye symbol).

He loved playing with his cousins and having them read to him. He also got stories from Grandpa and the (now) annual trip to the apple orchard with Grandma.

We even saw our first snow of the season!

Playing in Iowa City. Whee, slide!



Watching the parade with Daddy.



Bedtime stories from Grandpa.



Feeding goats from a bucket.



It's very high up there.



Posing with Grandma.



Fun with pumpkins!

Three Sisters (not by Chekov)

Both of my sisters were over yesterday, and Alex had a great time with his Aunties. He was a little squirmy for the pictures, but we managed to get a few smiles.

Wanna Shoot Some Hoops?

Alex's cousins got him a basketball hoop for his birthday. As you can see, he loves it! We could barely get him away from it to eat lunch. Our visit to the doctor's office this week would indicate that he's not likely to be an NBA star (his predicted adult height is 5' 8" based on his 2 year old height of 34"), but it's still fun to play.

Look Who's Two!

Happy birthday Alex!

Farm in the Zoo Open House

We had a fun time today at the Farm in the Zoo Open House. There were all sorts of special activities and opportunities to see the animals even more closely than usual. Although all Alex could talk about as we walked to the Farm was getting to touch the animals, once he had the chance he got a bit shy. We walked around in the goat yard, but only Mommy and Daddy petted the goats. We saw the ponies "lunging," which really was just touching a ball on a stick and following other commands, and we got to see the new piglets (not even two months old) playing. We learned about worms and composting, but Alex only wanted Daddy to hold the worms rather than trying it himself. We walked through a large garden with all sorts of vegetables. But Alex's favorite parts of the adventure were getting to "drive" a tractor and feeding the cows. He liked the cow feeding so much we went through the line three times!

Worms!

Alex really liked driving the tractor, but the first thing he asked when he got in the cab was to turn on the radio!

This was right before the cow grabbed the bundle of hay out of his hand. If you look closely, you can see the cow's tounge starting to wrap around the hay.

Riding Around the Neighborhood

The video quality isn't the best because it was off of the phone, but it's worth it for the ending. We took Alex out for a ride on his Scoot About today, and it was a lot of fun for all of us. We went around the entire block (with a couple of pit stops to play with some neighborhood kids and then in a sprinkler). He did great with the turns and even figured out how to navigate big bumps in the sidewalk.