A visit with the Herbsts & to the zoo

Black bear having a snack

The friendly sea otter

Getting a drink

Lion

Feeding the "doats"

"Nonny"

Riding the carousel

climbing through the tunnel

A visit with Grandpay Herbst

Ky with Grandma Herbst's piano

The couch Grandma had redone

Grandma Needlepointed her whole dining room chair set

The bar they had made

Their favorite place to entertain, on grandma's angel couches with grandpa's picture of the dam in the background.

The mud room they had added on to the house

The front of the house

ice cream cake that Aunt Janice made

From the side

A pretty slice!

Aunt Linda & Ky cheesing for the camera

and now snoozing...

Laughing with Aunt Janice

Eating with Aunt Janice

For our first August weekend, we went to the zoo and then for a visit with Aunt Linda & Aunt Janice.

I love the Madison zoo. It is the perfect size for a young family and the perfect price--FREE! I'm not sure I have a lot to say about our trip to the zoo. We go there multiple times a year and always have a good time. Ky especially enjoyed the water fountain--whenever he sees on he HAS to have a drink. Of course most of the water ends up on his shirt. Good thing it was a decent day. I do look forward to Ky getting his glasses though and seeing if he enjoys the trips even more with his new vision. Ky's favorite part was the "doats". We love that he calls them "doats". If you say "doats" he will then tell you that you are saying it wrong and that they are "DOATS!"

This time he started naming the doats in the petting zoo. His favorite was a blonde goat he named "Nonny". Alaina liked the goats too, but at this age she can't enjoy them nearly as much as Ky does. Ky also rode the carousel and played on the playground--most of which is way too big for Alaina. We did find a tunnel for Alaina to play in though--and she really enjoyed that.

You can also probably tell that Alaina has now reached that "hard to capture her face on camera" stage. She is a QUICK one. And has no interest in the camera, whatsoever. I am really having a difficult time just getting a picture of her smiling. ARGH! 1 year pics are coming soon--hopefully she will do better for the photographer.

The next day we went to visit the Herbst's in Arlington Heights. We visited Grandpa first, who is doing better than we could have imagined. It was nice to see him and some of his personality shining through. I don't know if I have mentioned this in other blogs but Grandpa is suffering from dementia. He was doing really poorly at the beginning of this year, but is now doing much better now and has stabilized. It was a nice visit and I know he especially enjoyed watching Ky & Alaina.

After visiting with Grandpa, we went with A. Linda & A. Janice to Grandma & Grandpa's house. With Grandma gone & Grandpa now permanently living in a home, the house was going to be placed on the market soon. Rob wanted a last walk through so he could remember his Grandparents and his visits when he was younger. So many pieces of furniture tell so many different stories, I know that it is hard for their kids to have to do this. I honestly can not imagine myself having to do this for my mother. *Sigh*

After the final walk through, we went back to Aunt Linda's and had a good time visiting with her & A. Janice. They showed us a neat machine dating back from the 1950's that was used to record (like a tape recorder) voices. Grandpa had actually made several recordings on this device of a few Christmases. It was neat to listen to him and his wife talk about Christmas, and even hear Rob's mom's voice as a little girl.

We had a good time with the aunts. Ky & Alaina also kept them busy with their talking and moving. (Alaina is fast now and loves to try to swipe everything!) We really enjoyed reminiscing about Grandma & Grandpa--and dinner as always was FABULOUS! Aunt Janice was even able to convince Ky to eat all his food (he just wouldn't even try it.) She would spoon it in his mouth and he would eat it. Which was good because we know he wanted dessert. A. Janice had made an ice cream cake--and boy was it good (can you tell by the 3 pics I have dedicated to it?) So she made the bottom crust with smooshed oreo pieces. Then built the ice cream sandwiches around the outside of a spring from pan. Then inside she layered three flavors of ice cream, whip cream on top with chopped Oreos. Now that is a cake!

When it was time to go, Ky didn't want to leave. We had to do some convincing to get him to go--and even after we left we had to reassure him that we would see them again.

So another blog down...and many still to go! I will catch up, I will catch up! Whew!