Neibaurs, Y'All

We have had a wonderful week, and I am sad to seeing it coming to a close and the beginning of the next stretch of busy weeks! Last Friday, Brigg took off from his clinic duties, and we left on what will probably be our last road trip from Cleveland. I had decided that I wanted to see one more place out here, since chances are it will be a long time before we are back East again. We drove to Columbus and spent the night so that we would both have a chance to go to the temple. The next day, we went to the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus where they were having a special Dale Chihuly exhibit where he had come and incorporated his glasswork into the botanical displays. It was amazing. I loved the colors. They also had a glass-blowing demonstration going on that was fascinating. If I wasn't 100% certain that I would seriously burn myself, I would be very tempted to take a class and give it a try. It is certainly unlike anything else I've ever seen.

Late that afternoon, we finished our drive to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. I have been wanting to visit ever since I read an article about the cave last year, and we thought it would be a good fit for our boys who are not always the most conscientious cultural participants. History just doesn't hold the same appeal for them. The next morning, Brigg left on a six and half hour tour through the cave off any of the lighted or developed paths with a small group and guide. The cave is over 367 miles long, so he clearly didn't see all of it, but he had a great time climbing through the dirt and tiny passages with his helmet and headlamp. I took both boys on a shorter tour of the area of the cave with the most formations, including the Frozen Niagara. It was beautiful, but Stratton was in a state of borderline panic for most of it, and when they turned off all the lights to illustrate how dark a cave really is, I thought he might make a break for it. Of course, once we walked out, he kept talking about what a big kid he was and how he was going to go back in with Daddy. I had to a make a run to the grocery store with the boys to restock our on the road snacks and food for Dashell, as well as get Stratton a little $1.00 flashlight that would give him the courage to go back to the cave. I think that little trip to the store was almost as much fun as the other things we did on our trip. Kentucky was my first time in any remotely Southern state. I have always been one to take regional stereotypes skeptically, but rural Kentucky holds true. I have never seen so much camo, or so many mullets and cut off t-shirts. Even at dinner, in a relatively nice restaurant, there was no shortage of all three redneck hallmarks. I should have know when we crossed the border and the first Kentucky water tower said "Florence, Y'all" on the side. Classy. I did love the drawl, and the people were very friendly. Just a different style than most places I've been. Brigg finally came out of the cave, dusty and tired and we had a fun evening together. The next day, we all went on a tour of some of the more historical areas of the cave. I thought it was fascinating, and the boys really did well. I don't think we'll ever see anywhere else quite like Mammoth Caves.

That afternoon, we drove up to Cincinnati, and the next day we went to the Newport Aquarium there. We were so pleasantly surprised by Cincinnati. The more we have been through Columbus, the more we have felt like it is almost exactly like Cleveland. But we really liked Cincinnati. It was beautiful with all the bridges crossing the river and the steep hills through town. I thought that it seemed like a great city.

We really enjoyed the aquarium. Stratton was so excited to touch a shark and walk through the tubes that the sharks could swim over and around him, and he loved the jellyfish exhibit where he could make the jellyfish change colors by turning a dial that controlled the light on the tank. We were not ready to come home to reality and responsibility, but that's what being a grown up is about, right? We had a lovely Thanksgiving with my sister and her family, and today we went up and took a nice long, chilly walk around the Holden Arboretum. I think that now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, winter has decided it is time to get started on Cleveland. Brigg's comment when the first real gust of wind hit us this morning was, " Now I remember why I don't like winter here." That wind is freezing! But it can hardly be the beginning of the Christmas season without a bite to the air!

Tonight we had the missionaries for dinner, and Stratton was in fine silly form. When the missionaries asked him who the scriptures were about, he told them "People." A true enough statement, but I don't think it was the answer they were looking for. He is also looking forward to getting a Christmas tree. I had mentioned that I thought we would just do a small one this year, and he keeps saying, " I need a big, big BIG Christmas tree because I am sooo big now." Not the best rationale I've ever heard, but I'm hoping that 4 or 5 feet seems big to him. I'm not quite sure he has the best grasp on 'big' and 'little' anyways. He always tells me that he and Daddy are big, but Dashell and Mommy are small. As much as I would love for that adjective to apply to me, I don't think I am small in comparison to Stratton by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, and Dash is officially eleven months old and has 3 teeth- one on the bottom and two on the top. It is quite the lopsided smile. He learns how to get into more and more trouble every day and loves to tease his brother. Today I finally gained hope that he will give in and go down stairs backwards. He made it down three steps the 'right' way. Up until now, he has attempted to rely on the brute strength of his arms to go down headfirst. He wasn't very motivated to turn around, because he was strong enough to make it down most larger steps using his chubby little arms. But he may have finally given in to convention. Let's hope. We are getting tired of the obstacle course in our house to get from downstairs to upstairs. Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings and are looking forward to this Christmas season as much as we are.

Just a peek....

In September, we had Sarah take our family pictures and they turned out so beautifully! I could put all of them on my walls, but that would look a little vain. Sarah is so talented and even though our boys were a bit of a wrestle, you couldn't even tell in the shots. Sarah's pictures of us are way that I like to pretend we could be...silent, smiling and still, even though we are loud, screaming and running in 5 different directions most of the time! I guess that's what you get with a house full of boys and brothers who always want to be together, even if it means fighting over every toy. I didn't think that would start so early, but I was wrong! Maybe I'll just sit and look at my lovely family pictures for a few more minutes before I go back in to battle...

Sweatpants!

This is an update for any of you that have been following Stratton's recent love of sweatpants. Yesterday we reached a new high...or maybe low, depending on how you look at it. First thing in the morning when he woke me up, he told me, "Mom, last night I slept with my dogs AND my sweatpants." He has been inseparable from his stuffed dog since he was 6 months old, so this is really saying something. Then, we were trying to decide what he should take to preschool for show and tell. Yes, his sweatpants. I can only imagine what he said. I did slide in an octopus for the letter 'O', but I'm not sure it made it out of the bag. But the kicker was when he came yelling up the stairs..."I'm a sweatpants superman! I'm a sweatpants superman!" with his sweatpants tied around his neck. I might be worried if I didn't think it was so funny!

Halloween at our House

Some of us like the fall more than others...Dashell is not as enthusiastic about playing in the leaves as his brother and dog, but he puts up with it. Maybe it's the leaves in the diaper that make him a little hesitant to get right in to it with Stratt. Piper loves it, even putting up with being buried repeatedly by Stratton. She is a great sport about it!

Actually, Piper and the boys have been getting along great the last little bit. Stratton is just coming out of a phase of being a bit rough with her, but I'm hoping that is behind us now. And she is mellowing a bit as her 2nd birthday approaches. She's still a long ways from being a sleep-all-day-in-the-sun kind of a dog, but she isn't constantly whining to go running anymore, either. At least not most days.

Halloween was really fun this year. Stratton was a robot and Dash was a dinosaur. I love his pouty face in this picture. He always lets us know just how he feels about things, and wearing a costume is not at the top of his list. Stratt has begged me to be a robot since the end of August and I tried to talk him out of it for over a month, but he was determined. So, I made a robot costume for him that he was super excited about. Then, last night as we were getting ready to go our trick-or-treating, he announced that he didn't want to be a robot- he wanted to be a lion like last year. Lovely. But, if you can't tell from the pictures, I convinced him to wear the robot costume...there was no way that can of silver spray paint was going to be used in vain. We also had a very scary pumpkin this year- Curious George, or our very own "monkey pumpkin" as Stratton calls it.

Dashell was in a better mood after trick or treating...if enough people tell you that you're cute, you tend to stop pouting, I guess. Stratton loved going to all of our neighbors, but had a tricky time with the stairs...he couldn't see his feet, and even better, he couldn't reach around the front of his costume, so he couldn't put any candy into his bag without help. It was pretty funny to watch him try, though! We have really loved this neighborhood, and I am sure we will miss it next year when fall and Halloween roll around. Now it is on to our last Cleveland winter!