Family = Fun

This week Tawnie was able to come into town. It was so fun to have family here! I look forward to the day we live closer to enjoy it more often. We went to the zoo, the museum, the caves, and the grocery store. We even got my garden planted. It is silly how much a kiddy pool full of dirt can make me so happy. I love just looking out the window each morning and seeing how much it might have grown. The highlight was Maquoketa Caves. It was the perfect weather and we were the only hikers there. Tate was in love. He would get so easily distracted with rock and stick collecting he would forget to watch his step. We saw 2 snakes (disgusting), a tree with 7 huge hawks in it (don't worry I disclosed the snake locations to them and told them to get to work), 5 deer, and many squirrels. Tate walked over a mile, took only a 20 minute nap in the car on the way home, and only slept in an hour later the next morning. I need to figure out his energy secret. Tawnie taught Tate to say cool cool and loves his new puzzle from his awesome aunt. We miss her already!

His rock was HUGE!

Ready to go bright and early. Notice he found my wallet and keys.

 Tonight we called Talmage to wish him happy birthday. Tate sang happy birthday the rest of the evening as he played with his cars. It is amazing how many words he is picking up daily. He has even improved his jump this week. Now both feet get off of the ground 70% of the time. Such a fun age!