Tyler Turns Three

Tyler turned 3 on October 6th. He helped me bake a chocolate cake for his birthday dinner. As you can see from the video below - he had more fun licking the bowl. Nothing like eating chocolate cake batter while sitting in your PJ's on your birthday!

 The final product - chocolate cake with 3 candles!

 Even better with ice cream!

 Enjoying the new game/toy from Mom & Dad.

 

 To celebrate Tyler's birthday, Adam took the afternoon off of work and we took Tyler to the Iowa 4-H Camp for a creek walk to enjoy the nice weather and give a chance to have some messy birthday fun!

Before our hike - on the Birch Bridge.

 

 Beautiful view from the Birch Inspiration Point - where the trail leads down to the creek below....many many steps below.

 Tyler loved having permission to get his feet wet and his hands dirty - just like every good camper!

 His favorite part was playing in the waterfalls we found.

 Scenery

 Wildlife

 Happy Kid

 Taking the road less traveled (a branch off of the main creek)

 Family Bonding

 My rock climbers

 Tyler could have stayed in the creek all day. He even picked out a rock to take home. Lucky Adam got to haul it all the way back up the steps. We enjoyed a snack and washed our feet before heading home and a tired happy birthday boy fell asleep on the car ride.

Adventures with Cousin Kelsey

 Cousin Kelsey Stephens got to play hooky from day care in Humboldt for a couple of days to visit us and spend the night at Grandma's in Ames. Grandma kept the toddler cousins busy with playing in the sand box, going to the park, and a wagon ride complete with juice boxes and Cars graham crackers for a snack.

After all that the cousins needed a bath and then had fun running around the house in their towels.

The next day My Mom and I took the 3 cousins (Tyler, Kelsey, and Hannah) out to the Iowa 4-H Center for the afternoon.It was a nice warm fall day for a picnic and playing in the camp park.

 Then the cousins played in the new camp Gaga Ball Pit

 Then they gave up the ball game to play ring-around-the-rosie and stretch from all their intense playing!

 

The highlight of the afternoon was the hike to the camp pond. Grandma gave them each an ice cream bucket to gather treasures from our hike. We found several scenic spots to stop and enjoy the Kodak moments.

 

 

 

 

 Thankfully the trail was fairly flat for Hannah's stroller to make the trip.

We finally made it to the pond! The kids had fun throwing things into the pond from the dock, looking for frogs, playing in the water, and (after some hand washing), enjoyed a mid-hike snack!

 

 Even Hannah woke up from her nap to enjoy the pond scenery.

After our hike ended we piled three tired kids into the car and took a driving tour around the rest of the camp. And look who we found just outside of Silver Cabin near Maple Lodge! The trusty camp pig was enjoying a quiet fall nap - that was until Tyler and Kelsey woke him up. They thought he was dirty from sleeping on the ground so they tried to brush him off. They thought it was fun to see their names written on the pig, too. Our last picture of the day is my Mom and her three grand kids sitting by the pig. In case you don't know, our family has a lot of history with the 4-H Camp. My parents met at a winter 4-H camp held here at the Iowa 4-H Center and also spent time there during their honeymoon. Then I worked as the Program Director of the camp for 7 years and lived there for 5. My brother and his wife, Betsy, (Kelsey's parents) met at the camp while they were camp counselors for several years. So, it is a special place for all of us.
My Mom and I enjoyed sharing the camp with 3 young 4-H camp legacies on such a beautiful fall day!

Catch-up Day

Well, I am officially a whole month behind in my blog updates! My Mom decided she has waited long enough to see some new posts, so she is watching the kids for me today so I can try and get caught up on my to-do list.

One month ago, at the end of September, my family (parents and siblings) took a trip to Omaha. Here are some pictures from our family vacation.The first stop Saturday morning was the Durham Museum in Downtown Omaha. John and Tyler could have looked at all of the trains, especially the model trains, all day and wouldn't have missed us if we left them there!

 Trying out one of the beds on the trains in the museum.

 Riding in style

 This museum is in an old train depot. My sister had fun posing with one of the statues they have there as a reminder of the days when the depot was a busy train station.

After checking into our hotel we headed to the Omaha Children's Museum next.

 

 Tyler's Aunt Emily had fun helping Tyler put out the fire with the water hose...

 ...and playing with the lights and music...

 ...and playing with the giant lite-brite! 

My organized child stayed busy for a long time putting all of the same color tubes in straight lines.

 This activity was a big hit too!

Next was dinner in the Old Market.

 

 Tyler got an extra special treat for his 3rd birthday!

 3 scoops of ice cream
3 candles
3 people to blow out the candles

 

 Back at the hotel we went swimming, played cards, had a big breakfast the next morning and then it was off to the Henry Doorly Zoo. We saw a LOT of animals but didn't have the camera out very often.

The penguins were a bit hit. We got there in time to watch them eat fish for breakfast.

 

 The animals were great, but Tyler really loved riding on the train at the zoo, of course!

 

  Cousins

 Family

Grandparents