The Zoo

The Saturday that I was traveling back from Colorado Sarah took Abigail to the St. Louis Zoo. It's a pretty good zoo with quite a few animals. You can't complain when it's free! You do have to pay a small fee if you want to go into the petting area or park in the zoo's parking lot but it still makes for a pretty cheap day out. Abby loved seeing all of the animals and told me all about them when they got home. She was disappointed that the monkeys weren't in their cages but really enjoyed seeing the alligator and hippo.

Here are a few of the pictures from their adventure:

Motorcycle Momma!

While Sarah was taking her motorcycle safety course, Abigail and I spent some good quality time together. We clocked quite a few hours on the riding lawn mower taking care of a few chores, watched a little tv, and spent a lot of time outdoors. Toby and Daryl enjoyed the added attention too. On the two riding days of the course, I brought the motorcycle on post so that meant early days for Abby. To reward her we spent some time on the cool playgrounds that are on post. We had our pick of over a dozen but we chose the one close to where Sarah was riding in order to spy on her. Here are some pics;

Of course Abigail was all excited when we saw a squirrel running around next to the playground. They get HUGE here on post where food is plentiful and shooting them is frowned upon. You can't really blame them. Would you want a bunch of redneck soldiers running around post with .22's, capping squirrels?


It was all fun and games until we saw a bug on the handrail. Daddy had to squish it before play could resume.

Of course baby had to enjoy the playground too. I didn't feel the need to share pictures of Abby tossing her baby in the air like I do to her. I thought that it might scare some people. Needless to say, Abigail needs to practice her catching and she's going to be supervised at all times when we get a new 'little one'.

Yay! We made it to the bottom! I kept having to explain to her that Daddy is too fat to get on the playground with her. It was probably her way of determining if the equipment was safe or not. If fat Daddy could play on it, then she would be all set.

Climbing around. She loved the monkey bars and the sliding hanging thing-a-ma-jig that was there too. Those I did play on and tried to teach her a few climbing techniques like heel hooking. We're still practicing but watch out here in a few years, (maybe 8), we'll get her to some rock climbing competitions.

I was forbidden to hang out at the motorcycle range and take pictures of Sarah while she was riding. She thought that I would make her more nervous. Abby and I had to use some of my Army training and sneak some pictures of her riding. (She's the middle motorcycle.) I learned a few things while doing this. One, groundskeepers are very nosy, especially when you're hiding in a shrub. Two, two year olds aren't very good at being sneaky. Three, if I'm going to go into the spying business full time I'm going to have to buy a better camera.

Here she is again! (Middle motorcycle.)

If she hasn't called you, or if you didn't catch it on Facebook, Sarah passed! Watch out world! We still have some practicing to do but she learned a lot from the course. The instructors were very impressed and she out did a few of the guys too. When she gets back from Texas she goes for her license and we start taking little trips up and down the roads. Don't worry, we'll be safe. The big town of Dixon where we live is very biker friendly (population 1,500 people).

Yes, Another Motorcycle

Some of you might have already heard the rumors that we have another addition to the family. Yes, it's true. I've picked up another motorcycle. Some might call it an addiction but I call it... hmmmm, well, I don't know what to call it. I just figured that we needed a motorcycle so we could put a sidecar on it for Abigail and this one showed up on craigslist for a good price. Now to browse for a sidecar.


I was taking the carseat out of the truck and Abby wanted to get in. I let her climb in and went to put the carseat in the van. When I returned to the truck here she was behind the wheel.

She promptly told me to buckle up and then asked me for the keys. When I asked her where we were going she informed me "Sesame Street!". Needlessly to say, I decided against letting her drive and took her for a ride on the motorcycle instead.

It's Spring!

It's official! Spring is here. The weather is beautiful, the grass is green, the birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and I mowed the lawn today. I've seen Facebook updates of people receiving some springtime snow fall and all I can say is "Glad it's you and not me!" I've enjoyed taking the motorcycle to work and not have to put on five layers to stay warm. Here are a few pictures of our adorable daughter.

We told her to go put her pajamas on:


Since we were outside, Abigail had to get in her swing:

We're glad that the warmer weather is here. We'll see what happens when the rain starts up.

Visting with the Towne's

The past couple of weeks we have been in Kanas. We all had a great time with the Towne family. While Josiah was in Class Abby and I went to the Zoo. Abby loves the animals, just not too sure about feeding them.
Abby's favorite part was the monkeys. The picture below he was very active into everything. He even started break danceing at one point :)

All the rugrats!

They kept a good eye on Abby, we all had a great day.

Josiah was able to join us all the times we went swimming. Even with the pool freezing Abby still didn't want to get out. Thank you soo much for a great couple of weeks. Can't wait to do it again :)

Updated at Last!

Finally an update! We're (I'm) really sorry for not posting for awhile. It's been a busy month. I've been taking a chemistry class (finals were last week, I got an 'A' in the class), we're in Kansas for military training, and we've been working on paperwork for adopting another child. Here's some pictures of what's been going on;

How many headbands are needed to calm Abigail's wild hair?


Showing off her pretty smile:

Chilling on the computer (Abby taking the picture):

Some of the snow that use to be in our yard:

Trying on some of daddy's clothes:

Being cute as usual:

We'll have some more pictures to post when we get back to Missouri in a few days.

Bird Houses

During my two weeks of leave, Abigail and I decided to build a bird house. She was a great little helper. She sanded the pieces after I cut them and then helped me screw them together. We put down some paper on Sarah's craft table down cellar and got to painting. Here are some pics of our event:

Here's our finished project:

Not too bad for our first bird house, especially with minimal tools. We probably shouldn't open a craft store quite yet but some relatives might find them in their mailboxes as gifts this spring/summer.