Videos from Tonight

Ian had dance, dance, dance at preschool today. We decided to extend it to home, too:



Annaliese doesn't always know what's inside, but any time she sees a 9x13 pan, we get this reaction:

The Weekend Lens

Warning: This post has LOTS of pictures. 

We went home this weekend to celebrate Oliver's first birthday.  Such a major milestone for a guy who spent his first weeks in the NICU.   It didn't take him long to find the frosting, and by the time he was done, he had frosting all over and needed to get a bath in the sink.





Ian has become a little photographer. He asks quite often at home now if he can use the camera. We don't have a small camera, and I'm surprised at how well he does handling the weight and the proportions of it. So in the car on the way home, I wasn't surprised when he asked for the camera. Here's the view of our ride home from his perspective.















We haven't been able to take the normal way to/from home lately because Interstate 680 south to Omaha has been closed due to flooding. The Missouri has been flooding since the end of May/early June and has just now started to recede. We've been taking I-80 around, but after it took an hour this weekend to get out of Omaha thanks to an accident on the interstate, we thought it might be good to look for an alternate route. We headed home this time by taking 680, then veering north to Mo. Valley and crossing the border on Hwy. 30. It took a bit longer, but I'm glad we went that way.

For those familiar with 680, this is as you crest the hill right before the north/south split.  The rest stop with the lookout tower is just off to the right.  It was so strange to crest the hill and see water where there normally is absolutely none- not even a view of the river.

This is near the bottom of the hill before the north/south split.   I wonder what it looked like at the highest levels.

This is Hwy 30 west of Mo. Valley near the entrance to the DeSoto Wildlife Refuge.  I believe that the only time this road was closed was when the DOT put up barriers.  I've never been this way before, but I doubt it' supposed to look like this.

A farm near the DeSoto Wildlife refuge. 

The actual Missouri River.  It's had to tell in the picture, but it is quite high (though the river always seems small compared to the Mississippi). 

Little Builder

This past weekend, and for the life of me I can't remember how the conversation started, but Ian convinced Darrin they needed to go out to the garage and build something. The weather was cool enough to work out in the garage and Ian found a suitable project for Darrin to make: a miniature work bench. While Ian said he wanted to work with Darrin, it was mostly Darrin working and Ian riding his bike or playing outside. I think Darrin preferred it that way, too. By all accounts, it was a success. Darrin says he enjoyed himself out there, and Ian DEFINITELY enjoys his bench.

Splash Park

Last Wednesday we went to a splash park with Ian's preschool class. Ian had TONS of fun and Annaliese was a bit overwhelmed by all the people (there were  easily 50 kids running around- three different day cares were there).  We decided to go back yesterday for almost an hour.  They had lots of fun, and I so enjoyed watching them with the other kids.  Annaliese had a boy about  a year older following her around everywhere and Ian had a girl he was hanging out with.  They would both run around like crazy from one feature to the next. And all the while, Darrin and I could sit safely in the shade and watch them play. Now I want to go check out all the splash parks (also called spray parks) around town to see which one is the best!