Precious Moments

About two weekends ago we had the Sugar Creek Arts Festival. It was a hot, sticky day to be out at a festival, but we went anyway in search of ice cream and frozen lemonade (and some art). We were happy to bump into some friends of ours while we were there, and our friend Anthony took some wonderful pictures of Ethan. Here's one of them. I love these pictures because you can see that beautiful smile and twinkle in his eye!

Starved Rock

Several days ago we had some cooler weather (and by that, I mean high of 80) and decided to take advantage of this by going hiking. Starved Rock State Park is about an hour and a half away from us, which made for a nice afternoon trip. It had been a while since we'd been there, but we were particularly eager to check out the hiking paths into the canyons and along the river. I seemed to be plagued with blurry pictures, so sorry for the fuzzy picture.

We took Ethan out of his back carrier for a while to stretch his legs. He walked right into the water! There was a little stream flowing through this canyon and it seemed Ethan was very curious about it. I had to whisk him up quickly before he could get his feet soaked.

It's so much fun now that Ethan can walk around and explore everything. He likes to toddle around and pick up sticks of all sizes. Then he throws them on the ground, only to pick them up all over again. The smallest things delight him.

Reaping the "harvest"

My father would be so ashamed of me! His green thumb I have not!

Yep, you're looking at it. One VERY small tomato plant. Actually, I was able to grow two tomatoes, but at $1.39 for the plant two months ago, these were very expensive tomatoes!

I have to admit, they started out in a pot. I didn't want to have my "garden" too far away from me, so I decided to grow them in a pot on the deck where I could quickly get to them. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, because they hardly grew! And when I decided to try transplanting them, the fruit immediately got ripe, and that was it. Oh well, I'll try again (maybe) next spring.

BUT there is HOPE! A friend of mine gave me an extra grape tomato plant she had, and we planted that in a corner of our yard and it has been doing well. It is tall and I can already see some fruit. Maybe I'll get more than two of them, huh?

Congratulations Sarah and Elijah!

Yes, indeed, another wedding! This was the purpose of our visit to Dallas---David's niece was getting married! It was quite the unconventional bridal party, I would have to say! The theme was rather punky, with lots of red, black and white, and rock music, too. They had one of their favorite bands come and play at the reception. They're called Midnight to 12. You can check 'em out at http://www.m212.com. All of it was great fun! Ethan got to run around on the dance floor and eat crayons!

Ah....relaxation

We finally did make it down to Dallas/Fort Worth despite weather delays. We got down one day later than scheduled, but we were still lucky enough to keep our original itinerary to catch an evening flight down to South Padre Island for two nights. Ethan stayed with grandma and grandpa Snyder while mom and dad took some r&r on the beach. Oh, did we need it after all those travel delays!

It was so strange not having Ethan with us. Our first night, we went out to dinner and saw another family with a boy about Ethan's age. He did all the same things he was doing--banging on the table, grabbing things. I have to admit, I got a bit weepy and missed him so much! The next day was spent lying on a chair underneath a huge umbrella, gazing at the ocean. We were there literally there 10am-5pm (with a lunch break, of course!). It was perfect!

That evening we had a very nice dinner at the hotel next door...the Sheraton, a leisurely stroll along the strip, some Italian gelato, and another walk along the beach. And the next morning, we were off back to Dallas!