Back!

You don't want to hear excuses about school and travel and work and other things that might keep one from being a responsible blogger, do you? I didn't think so. So we'll get right to it. As some have subtly and some not so subtly reminded me, it's been almost two months since the last post on this illustrious blog. A lot has happened in the last couple months, so I'll try to break it down for you in a few paragraphs with some pictures.

I had a great birthday in September, especially since we got to go to the zoo as a family. It sounds so cliche, but with all the traveling we've been doing, all I really wanted on my birthday was to spend it with Susie and Cade. Cade loves the zoo, and we had a great time. After seeing mommy and daddy carry the backpack, Cade wanted his turn with it. He did a pretty good job of lugging/dragging it for a few minutes before gladly handing it back.

Apparently, some bats like milk in sippy cups with red lids.

Cade loves to play with stickers. As you can see, he'll stick them on anything, including (especially) himself.This fall Cade has requested that we go to some football games. Sometimes he's fidgety, and sometimes he really seems zeroed in on the game. Here we are in Bowling Green watching IU play Western Kentucky.At the end of September Owensboro held a Pumpkin Festival. Susie had some work to do for school, so Cade got some daddy time. We had a blast. Here's a picture of Cade on a train ride. For those that didn't know, we live a few blocks from some train tracks, and Cade loves to go watch the trains when they come by. So when he saw a train at the Pumpkin Festival we definitely had to ride it.

The Pumpkin Festival was the first time we had let Cade do some rides on his own. I started him off easy in a truck just so I could see if he'd sit still or try to escape while the ride was in motion. We then graduated to the flying elephants.

I had to talk myself into it, but Cade really wanted to go on the little ferris wheel. It wasn't too tall, so I figured if he got antsy and tried a Houdini I could hop on it and try and get him down. Fortunately, though, he passed this test with flying colors as well. He loved it. This kid has no fear of heights.

My mom came and visited in early October, and we went out to a local farm that weekend. Cade had fun running through a pumpkin maze, riding on a hayride, and.....

.....picking out his own pumpkin!

Owensboro is a town that loves festivals. This last weekend was the Apple Festival, one of the two big festivals of the year (the other is the BBQ Festival in May). The fire department had a display trailer and a couple fire engines out for display and Cade was all over it.

Cade's sat in a fire engine before, but I don't think it's gotten old for him yet.

You'll be happy to know that you are now viewing a picture of the best fifty cents we've ever spent. The local 4H bunny club set up a pen with a bunch of bunnies in it. You could pay fifty cents to go in the pen to pet and hold the bunnies. I don't think it was as fun for the bunnies as it was for the kids. But it looked like they were making a decent haul from it, so I guess the bunnies probably figured it was worth getting picked up by a back leg or getting an ear pulled for one day to ensure enough food for the rest of the year.

We did a few rides at the Apple Festival too. This one made me a little nervous because it didn't have any seat belts. Cade eventually rewarded my nervous thoughts by deciding this ride would be more fun if he rode it standing up. As he went by we'd tell him to sit down and he loved the fact that we couldn't actually make him sit down. Then on one lap the ride operator reached in and plopped him down into his seat. I think it surprised him so much (he was looking at us and smiling) that he stayed seated for the rest of the ride.

Despite his antics (and because of them), Susie and I are so blessed to have Cade as a son. He's growing and learning and becoming more and more interactive. Last week I actually had about a five minute phone conversation with him. I was in awe that he held the phone up to his ear and conversed for that long (he usually pushes the buttons until he hangs up the call). He's becoming more creative and imaginative as well. He'll make up songs and tell us stories of things that either aren't present or aren't possible. It's fun to see his little brain work.

Thanks for being patient with me and my lack of posts. Sometimes I wonder what I'll do with all my extra free time once I'm done with my MBA this December. I definitely intend to be more consistent with this blog, for one. But until then, I'll do my best to do better and post more frequently. Talk to you later!