Happy Halloween

Cooper the Pit Crew Gearhead

Pumpkins

Today we finally got our pumpkins. We went to the Oregon Electric Railway Museum in Brooks, OR. They have a pumpkin trolley for the Halloween season. The trolley takes you one mile through the museum grounds to a small pumpkin patch where you get to pick out a pumpkin or two. All for $3/ per adult. Because of the rainy day we were the only ones on our trolley trip. It was great and perfect for us. Cooper loves trains and loved seeing all the old trains and tractors at the museum. He picked out a perfect little pumpkin too. We left with 3 pumpkins and Cooper gave the conductor a small tip. We are definitely going back in the spring when all the museums are open.

Socks

Sock 1 of 2 completed.

Favorite

I love catching Cooper in this position.




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Florida Pictures

We are back from Florida.  We had a great trip with a lot of activitiy.  Here are a few of my favorite moments.

Visit with Phyllis and Kate

Over Columbus Day weekend we had a fast and fun visit with my Aunt Phyllis and Cousin Kate from Chicago.  I showed them Mt Tabor on a beautiful day, we did a wine tour in McMinnville and they got to see me play the french horn in the Mt Hood Pops Orchestra.  It was a great visit and I am looking forward to seeing them this spring in Chicago.

Check out more photos at www.flickr.com/weeziebaby

Sick

This morning I woke up not feeling well. I had a hard time sitting upright and thought I was going to hurl most of the day. I had two kids and we watched tv all day. Sharon was able to take a few breaks from work to help me feed the kids. Larkin took a nice nap and Cooper played outside for a few minutes. All in all it was not bad with two kids. Cooper is at the age where he understands that I am not feeling well and wants to give me snuggles and kisses. Larkin is such a happy go lucky kiddo that she was totally fine just hanging in the house.
I am not sure if I have a flu bug or if the travels are catching up to me. I feel better now, I am sitting up but still a bit queasy. I hope the rest of the family doesn't get this illness.

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Swim Class

Cooper started Goldfish swim class last night. He goes in the water by himself and listens to the two instructors.



He did great and really enjoyed the class.



They did the back and front floats and he usually won't let us put him on his back but he let the teachers do it. Here he is getting ready for it.



The class wore him out because he was asleep by 8:30. We go two days a week until the middle of November.

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Orlando

We are having a great time with Nona. We went to the Audubon Society Thursday and then hit a park on the way home. There was a tortoise walking near the highway so Sharon picked it up and moved it to the water. Then she read that tortoises' don't swim so she moved it to the woods, with Cooper and another little boy following. The silly tortoise walked from that spot back to the water and Sharon is convinced he is now dead. Then she read that they are a protected species and she broke a bunch of laws for handling it in the first place. We were just trying to help it not get run over.


Last night we went to The Villages. This place is crazy, it is a huge development for retired persons and most drive golf carts all around. It is huge, we were lost trying to get to the restaurant. Cooper has enjoyed the golf carts in Nona's community so this place was over the top for him. He loved it, there were some that looked like old time cars, jeep ones, ones that looked like cars, and so many more. The streets were packed with them parked all over. They party it up all night, we enjoyed the music while we walked around and did a little shopping. We went to a toy store and found a die cast golf cart and Cooper sweet talked Nona into buying it. He loves it, holds it up when carts pass us and fell asleep with it last night. My mom was concerned he would be bored at this place and was elated that he had so much fun.
Today we went to the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Garden. We all got in for free thanks to reciprocity with the Oregon Zoo. We had a blast, they have a short train ride we took first, then we walked around and saw the animals. We ended our visit with the splash park they. Cooper had a blast with Mama. He got soaking wet, dried off and went for round number 2.






Lunch was awesome at an authentic German restaurant, we walked around the quaint town to the water and then headed home for the night.
Next up a flea market and dinner with friends.
p.s. The weather is perfect! Sunny and warm, 80s during the day; pleasant and cool at night in the 60s.


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Tag

Cooper played his first game of Tag today. He and a little girl were chasing each other at the OMSI cafe and she decided to change the game Tag. She told Cooper how to play and he got it right away. When Mateo was done in the bathroom, he joined in too. It's so fun to watch him play with other kids, they actually play with each other sometimes.


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