Late Summer in Review

Hey! So, we're still here, and we still take pictures of our kid! Who is two and a half years old! He is nearly 40" tall, talks and sings all day long, has multiple imaginary friends, and loves trains, dancing, drawing, inventing things out of recycling materials, and is obsessed with jigsaw puzzles, chess games, and 'They Might Be Giants' songs about science. We had a busy end of our summer, and below are pictures with captions. We took a trip to Minneapolis, went on a open van safari trip on the plains of Ohio, spent a 'Day Out With Thomas,' saw the Toldeo Zoo, and took some dance lessons. Part of the reason for our hiatus has been due to a big change in the family--Mary Ann, after a year of a medical science post-bacc, was accepted and started Ohio State University's Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program in the graduate school of nursing. She's been in classes and on hospital rotation since September. Enjoy!

A rare mama and Gus portrait--Mary Ann usually wields the camera and everyone forgets to get their picture.

Gus doing the hokey pokey in dance class.





The above are pictures from our trip to Minneapolis. Gus LOVED the airplane ride, and we got to see Allen and Jenny (we all went to an aquarium), and Uncle Josh. Uncle Josh and Gus had a bachelor's night while Matt, Mary Ann, Allen, and Jenny went out to a fancy UND Theatre Department reunion downtown.


A late summer trip to the zoo (one of many, actually). Family portrait on a zoo boat.



Our trip to Ohio's 'The Wilds' a huge nature preserve where west African animals have a gazillion acres to hide from the open air bus that rides us around. We saw a lot of scenery, glimpses of animal butts, and the very un-shy rhinos.




We had a LOT of fun going to a historical railway station to meet the real Thomas the Train. There were lots of activities, the train ride through town, and the total thrill of watching Gus be "star struck" meeting the real Thomas. Mama so did not have to pull out the Kleenex watching Gus' face when Gus saw Thomas roll down the rails for the first time.



The Toldeo Zoo was super fun--we met up with our friend from Bowling Green. We now think we should visit all the zoos in Ohio. Two down, two to go! The Toldeo zoo reminded us of the Brooklyn Zoo.