Jackson and his Skuut

Jackson is really loving his bike. Since the weather has been amazing lately we've been taking Jackson's bike out every afternoon. He is really picking up this whole balance bike thing. I was totally skeptical as first - the idea is that the child learns to scoot and balance before pedaling - thinking this is just one more thing that parents buy into. Fortunately we got our Skuut from a neighbor, free of charge. Sorry about all the video uploads. I have at least 2 more that I wanted to share but thought 5 was already excessive (warning: I might still post them). Video #3 (below) you can see at the end Jackson bites it. Lucky for us it was on the grass and he fell pretty well. No wounds. Jackson said "Whoa! What happened? *chuckled to himself* Can I do it again Mom?" "Sure buddy, get back at it." I wish I would have gotten that but I had to turn off the camera to make sure he was alright. Seemed like the right thing to do. See for yourself, I think Jackson might be riding a 2 wheeler next summer.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure why this photo kept uploaded side-ways but here we are. Will and I snuggle up and watch Jackson in amazement

Disney World Indiana

2 weekends ago we took the boys to the apple orchard. I did a really brief internet search and found an apple orchard roughly 40 minutes southeast of south Chicago (Hobart, IN). It was crazy and not your typical quaint and small "mom and pop" orchard. There were different fees for certain packages for the "orchard" experience. We opted for the middle of the road package, which included a tractor ride and entrance to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch and entrance into the kids area (petting zoo, little corn maze, small sized tractors, etc). It was a lot of fun, and they had the most delicious apple cinnamon and pumpkin doughnuts. The price you paid per pound was steep so we picked a few but understood that the experience was riding on the tractor. The weather was gorgeous so we were perfectly content just being outside among the apple trees, pumpkins and doughnuts! It was crazy in that it was very busy and very huge. They had a huge barn where they sold all sorts of goods. They had another huge barn that was a restaurant. The kids/family zone was large and had a train you could ride along with all the other stuff I just mentioned. That area also had a large shelter where you could get drinks, brats, hamburgers and the like. The county cops were present, directing traffic. Needless to say, Tony with his witty ways quickly called it and said "this isn't an apple orchard, its Disney World Indiana." We had a good laugh because he was so right. 

They must have had 8-9 tractors pulling these trailers. Crazy! Whatever their system was it seemed to work.

"I got it, Mom"

"Just a little higher, Dad"

"Well, hello again ... we can't keep meeting like this blue eyes"

This was sad. Jackson kept saying "here you go goat". But all the animals were over fed and not the least bit interested.

 

This last shot reminds me of Footloose. Remember when Ren was playing chicken with the tractor and his shoe lace got caught and he kept trying to stand up. Jackson was so excited to drive this tractor he kept standing up and yelling.

giddy up

A couple weekends ago Daddy was working at an athletic event on campus, so Mom and the boys visited our local park's fall festival. There were pony rides, pumpkins, and face painting (and much more but face painting took forever ... really it took like 45 minutes of waiting. That's like eternity for toddlers).  

I love this photograph. Jackson loved the pony ride. He kept saying "giddy up horsey, giddy up." 

 

Pumpkins and more pumpkins. It isn't your typical country pumpkin patch but its a 5 minute walk from our house so it works.

 

 

 

"I want a football ... no, I want spiderman"

We had so much fun and stayed for about 2.5 hours. Will did great but I only got this last shot of him before we left. He fell asleep before we arrived, fell asleep in my arms while waiting FOREVER to get our face painted, and then fell asleep again on our way home.

 

friday night lights

Back in mid-September we traveled back to Kaukauna to see uncle Donny play football (he's a junior now at Xavier in Appleton). It was a lot of fun and I'm now just finding these amazing pictures.

 Aunt Molly keeping Will warm.

The guys watching football.

Aunt Lucy and Jackson are always all smiles.

Here is a serious of Donny (number 42) on special teams. He makes a great tackle after the kickoff.

 

 

 

Great grandma Joyce and Will. He was really good and just sat quietly with her during the Packer game.

The rest of the photos are of Jackson and will playing at the end of September. I really like the next photo of Will. "Well, hello there".

Will absolutely loves to watch Jackson play and giggles at him. You can see how much he loves Jackson.