Plane ride!

We survived the plane ride to Cape Town!!! Lewis got to watch a couple movies, played with some new toys, told daddy stories of Skeepy the lion, and loved every minute. And, I do mean every single minute...he literally fell asleep as the plane touched down in Joberg. Beau had a couple new toys for the plane, but his favorite thing was trying to put on the earphones and playing with the tv remote. He slept just a little bit more than Lewis, but not much. Thank goodness our happy campers like new adventures.

As I write, it is 2:15am. After putting the boys down at 9:30pm here, we've been up again with them since 11:30. We finally gave up and brought Lewis out to play until he's a little more tired. Tomorrow, we're headed to the pharmacist to find a way to drug these boys!

End of October

The last night that Gogo visited us, she made play-do with Lewis using the same recipe she did for us growing up. It was such a hit! Lewis played for about an hour with her, and then kept playing on his own for another hour.

In the middle of October, we drove up to Rhode Island with Gogo to visit Zeez and Tom. We had a lovely few days spending time together, playing with Ella, and enjoying the fall. We took Lewis on the walk along the sea wall in our old neighborhood. He could have thrown rocks there all day! 

We visited a pumpkin patch together, did a hayride, and painted pumpkins. (Check our Auntie Zeez's cool plastic dress for Lewis since the farm used non-washable paint...whose idea was that?!?) Then, we did a huge corn maze together and rode a cow-train. It was non-stop fun for Lewis, and for the rest of us! We were so happy to see Auntie Zeezee and Uncle Tommy with his new “haircut”! They are so brave and incredible, and thankfully the treatment seems to be responding well so far.

Lewis and Beau are so cute playing together now. They love crawling around together. Lewis loves teaching Beau how things work and what he should and shouldn’t do. Beau thinks it is so funny to crawl up on Lewis while Lewis is pinned down having his diaper changed. Lewis finally was able to push Beau around in his little play stroller; we’ve been waiting for that moment for a long time! And, their favorite new activity is jumping on the guest bed in Beau’s room. So cute!

We had a visit to the Hopewell Firehouse with our local MOMS club. Lewis was very interested and attentive. This was the cutest part for me. At one point during the tour, the kids all ended up ahead of the moms. Lewis was right up at the front, so interested. Then he craned his neck around, anxiously looking for Mommy. When he saw me, he got the biggest smile and waved, “Hi Mommy! I’m over here!”

I just thought I’d include a picture showing how much of a klutz I am. I think I always have been. But, the tendonitis in my wrists means that I can’t grip things very well, and consequently, I drop things ALL THE TIME! So frustrating! This picture was the 3^rd time in two days that I dropped the canister of oatmeal on the floor. Boo! I have now purchased a container with a lid that locks for oatmeal.

The culmination of our October was Halloween! Lewis had been excited for about two months prior when we told him what his costume was and that he’d get to go trick or treating. Mom and Dad spent a couple late nights leading up to the day of the parade finishing “Thomas” and the “Caboose”. It was well worth it! Lewis was in heaven, and Beau thought the whole thing was pretty fun too!

The Friday before Halloween, we went to Princeton for their annual Halloween parade – an annual tradition for our family. It was a beautiful evening and Lewis was very excited. I don’t think we were quite prepared for the reactions to the costume. (Maybe because we had finished the costume about 2 hours before the parade, so this was the debut!) We were stopped for numerous photographs and we made two new friends who declared that we must be cool if we could make such a cool DIY costume. Plus there was a fire truck to escort the parade. Great fun!

After that we had our church trunk or treat. Lewis was too excited to eat much of his dinner because he loved looking at all his friends in costumes. Plus the anticipation of candy...that never helps.

I must mention that over the weekend before Halloween, on October 29^th to be precise, we had a big snowstorm! That’s right...snow! What?!? It pulled down more trees than we’ve ever seen down here, and we lost power for about 30 hours. Crazy! So, Halloween trick-or-treating actually took place in the snow!

On Halloween itself, we had Fogo and Lekka here (Auntie Fiona and her boyfriend Alexis)! It was such a treat to have them visit. True to form, they got everyone in sort of circus train costumes. When the sun had finally set, we headed off to trick or treat in our neighborhood. Lewis had a great time being “flown” up the stairs at each house, saying “trick or treat” and tooting his train whistle, and putting his candy in the smokestack. What an exciting day! Beau did very well too riding along in the caboose. What a great idea for a baby costume...one where they’re supposed to just be riding in the wagon! Beau came back just slightly ahead of Lewis because he was too cold and too tired.

We had a great couple days after that with Fogo, Lekka, Gogo, and Ella the dog who joined us too. Outings to Hopewell, Princeton, and the Bent Spoon – of course! Lewis was so lucky to have lots of people to play with him. In fact, Lekka built the coolest train track ever with two circles going around our coffee table. This was some intense fun! Beau must have been worn out by all the fun too. When we picked Lewis up from school on Tuesday, we stayed to play on the playground, as we often do. Beau went in the swing, and within literally a minute, he was out cold. It was the cutest thing ever!

Fall Adventures

The end of the summer treated us to our first earthquake and hurricane. Very unexpected! We did feel the shaking of the earthquake, and had tons of rain (after the most rainy August ever!) during the hurricane. Thankfully, everything at the Wasden residence was just fine. We didn’t even lose power! Mike had the chance to help out with some clean up efforts that our church organized for people in parts of the state that were hit much harder.

Lewis, Beau, and I enjoyed a “Read & Pick” program at our local Terhune Orchards at the end of August. I didn’t realize you could pick apples in August! But, the galas were ready, and they were delicious. Lewis had a marvelous time!

We continue to drink in all the simple joys with our two adorable boys. Beau loves standing at the stairs and patting away. He gets such a kick out of it...until he falls!

Lewis has discovered that large toy baskets make great reading nooks.

We can’t get enough of our farm! Lewis is great at picking the green beans and holding the bucket for our flowers.

Lewis has also discovered the child-size grocery carts at our local market. He is so cute! He races into the store and runs over to get his cart. Then he pushes it over to the kids’ snack bin where he selects his complementary snack. And then, he’s the best shopping buddy. It’s actually extremely helpful!

We recently got the best little child-size armchair from Didi and Papa John. It’s a keepsake from their kids, and we’re so excited about it! It’s getting lots of great use. Besides the excitement of the new chair, it also happened to come in a very large box. The box actually became Lewis’s favorite toy for about 2 weeks straight. (...until Mommy was so sick of it ending up all over the house that it had to go!)

Our trips to Kunkel Park and afternoons at the sandbox also never get old. And, Beau is discovering what fun the sand is now too, both for playing and eating. Lewis thought he’d try out the taste of sand since Beau seemed to like it so much, but he was a bit shocked by the result!

The big event of September was Lewis starting pre-school! He’s done so well and it’s been a great experience for him so far. I had been talking to him about pre-school and prepping him for it for ages. For a long time, he seemed a bit nervous and he’d sort of think about it and then ask me if Mommy would stay at pre-school too. A week or so before school began, we snuck into the classroom to take a closer look. Lewis discovered they had a Thomas train there and a school bus, and he was sold. He seemed to really understand that this was going to be his classroom and he could play with all the toys there, etc. His teacher came to do a home visit as well the week before school started, and Lewis was so excited. He wanted to show her all of his toys, and he chatted away with her. He’s done great! The first day, he dove for the trains (along with 5 other little boys!), and didn’t even look back to say goodbye. He’s very happy!

We took a day-trip down to Cape May in September. Mike had never been there, and we wanted to check it out. The treat for Lewis was the dolphin cruise we took in the morning. Two hours on a boat with the waves splashing – it was so much fun! Well, truthfully, Mommy had to fight not to be sea sick the whole time, so Daddy ran around the boat with both boys, trying not to let anyone jump off. And, we actually didn’t see any marine life at all...such a bummer. Except that means we now have a free ticket for a future cruise, so we figured that actually worked out fabulously! And, Lewis thinks he saw dolphins because there was a picture on the boat of dolphins jumping. Just seeing how excited he was the whole time made it well worth it! The rest of our day ended up being a bit rainy, but we still enjoyed Cape May, browsed the shops, had some good food, and found a good ice cream shop.

At the end of September, we headed down to DC and Charlottesville for a few days. We stayed with our friends Kyler and Melyn in DC, and it was so great to catch up. Kyler had to be home from work for a few hours on Friday morning waiting for some workers to arrive, so Lewis had a play-mate all morning. I think Kyler is Lewis’s new best friend!

On Saturday, we drove down to Charlottesville for some recruiting events that Mike was involved in at Darden. The Saturday events were fun, family things, so we all came along. The boys had their first tailgate and football game. We watched the game from one of the VIP boxes, and Lewis thought it was all very, very cool. Sadly, between keeping up with both boys while Mike did his networking for recruiting, I didn’t manage to get my camera out. So, we don’t have a picture to show the whole family in our UVA orange. L But, trust me...we looked really cute!

That evening and the next morning were spent with our dear friends Aidyn and Mike and their daughter Vera. Vera is one, and she and Beau had a great time playing. Lewis also reverted to baby world and spent most of the time crawling around with the little ones. It was very cute! We also went to church with our old ward, and we loved getting to catch up with familiar faces there. We spent an evening with our friend Jason from DC and his recent bride Katie. All of it was fabulous! Lewis and Beau did great, despite sleeping in all sorts of new places and having strange schedules for a few days. That said, we were all a little sleep deprived by the end and ready to be in our own beds. Both boys did amazingly well on the drive home with just mom (dad was off on another business trip). We stopped by the temple and visitor’s center in DC on the way home, which was very special to show Lewis where Mommy and Daddy were married. He processed that for a while and then said, “This is where Mommy and Daddy and Lewis were married. And, Beau was married too!” Sort of!

Beau has had quite a few bumps and bonks this month as he becomes increasingly more mobile, but he’s no worse for the wear, really!

Our October has brought...Gogo!!! Lewis has just been in heaven having his Gogo here. He’s had so much love and attention and active playing. He’s even been cuddling Gogo in the mornings, which is just unheard of!

We’ve had the most perfect weather with Gogo here – crisp fall and Indian summer...heaven! So, we’ve had tons of outings to parks, lovely walks, and trips to the farm. Beau loves the swings now. Lewis loves to swing with his little brother on the infant swings, but he’s looking a bit odd on them now!

Trains remain the focus of most of our days. I managed to find another set of tracks and trains at a yard sale to add to our collection from Didi, and Lewis has been so excited. He literally played with the set from Didi every day. Now that we have additional pieces, it’s pretty much a 24/7 activity, so long as we’re home. It’s so cute! So, Gogo has had lots of train time. In fact, we watched Lewis take his trains over to the dining room the other morning and give them a birthday party under the dining room table – so cute!

We had an outing to Hopewell the other morning that involved lots of train sightings! First we played on the playground by the gazebo. When we heard a train tooting and chugging down the tracks, Lewis looked as though he had died and gone to heaven. “GOGO! A TRAIN!!!!! DO YOU HEAR IT? IT’S A TRAIN!!!!!!” After some play time there and a little walk, we walked over to the Tot Lot playground that’s right by the old train station. A little while later...A TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! So exciting. After we were all done and were heading back to the car, we all of a sudden heard another one coming. Mommy turned the stroller around and ran as fast as she could. We saw...ANOTHER TRAIN!!! Ah...the life of an obsessed two year old!

We also had a visit from Auntie Tippy while Gogo was here. That was a real treat to catch up with her. She is always so fun and active with the kids, so Lewis and Beau had a fabulous time. We went for walks and picked at the farm. And, she taught Lewis how to gallop!

More walks, and a visit to Terhune!

And, the pinnacle of our time with Gogo was an outing up to Flemington. We rode an old steam engine from Flemington to Pumpkin Junction. Oh my goodness! Lewis was literally in 7^th heaven! And, I think Gogo was at least in 6^th heaven just watching him! We did a fabulous corn maze, got pumpkins, saw some animals, and learned how to hula hoop. It was such a treat! As we were nearing the end of the corn maze, we heard the train coming in. Lewis got so excited and so worried that we were going to miss the train. “I really, really want to see the train! I want to go on the train! I want to catch the train!” Daddy had a true super-dad moment as he picked up Lewis (while already carrying Beau in the carrier) and ran him all the way to the end of the maze so that he could see the train pulling in. Lewis was pretty sad to say goodbye to the train at the end of the day; he had just loved every minute. We topped off that most amazingly perfect day with an evening sitting outside at Nomad’s pizza, one of our favorite restaurants. Trains and pizza...does life get any better?!?

Train face!!!