This weekend we so were busy with holiday preparations and activities. Saturday was spent bustling around Bloomington with Nana, Uncle Lyndall and Mommy tyring to do some Christmas shopping. Sunday was a fun filled afternoon of horse and carriage rides, looking at lots of Christmas trees and eating Christmas cookies.

Here we are just before our horse and carriage ride through suburbia Saybrook! Uncle Lyndall, Aunt Sara, Mommy and Trent all rode together!

After our ride around town, we went back inside where is was warm and enjoyed sugar cookies with icing and Christmas sprinkles!

Yum!!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day was spent at Grandma and Grandpa Wetherell's house. We ate lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls and dessert. Trent even got to open an early Christmas present. Trent loved the opening part, but was very confused when he couldn't open what he thought was a book about trains! The advent calendar is going to take a little explaining.

After a yummy lunch and presents Trent and his cousins decorated Grandma's famouse sugar Christmas cookies. I think the sprinkles were Trent's favorite part. No need to shake the bottle, just hold and pour until all the sprinkles have completely covered one half of the cookie!

Lots of people wanted to help decorate- Grandma, Daddy, Aunt Nicky, and Grandpa let Trent lick the yellow icing off the plastic knife! - "Just experiencing new things!"

Mommy and Daddy picked up new jammies for Trent when they went Christmas shopping the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Mommy wanted pictures of Trent in his new jammies. Trent wanted Elmo to be a part of the pictures too!

The countdown to Christmas has begun!

Opening Weekend

Dad was feeling a little left out from the Blog, so Trent and and Mom decided they would post a few pictures of Dad from his favorite weekend in November.

Yes, you will see that he enjoys this "sport" and is very proud of his "accomplishments" during the brief weekend. Our freezer is full and "we" (I use that term loosely) are all so excited that Dad can bring a "piece" of his new treasure home with him. Yes, for Christmas Dad is getting the 11 point buck head mounted. It should look smashing hanging in the garage where Mom can see it everytime she pulls into the garage. You have to admit, it's better than hanging in the basement or the living room!

The weekend was beautiful- in the 70's! Dad had fun and Trent and Mom got to spend a lot of time together that weekend.

Halloween

Halloween weekend was anything but boring around the Wetherell home! Halloween was not only a night of trick or treating on Saturday night, but also a Friday night of fun with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Wetherell.

Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to visit and drop off Trent's Halloween treats (and take us out for dinner)! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Dinner, the marshmallow ghost peeps, the chocolate, the new books, stickers, and "Cookie" were appreciated very much! As you can see, the candy was by far the biggest hit of the night!



The following day, was filled with typical chaos, as usual! Mom raced down to Champaign in the morning, Dad and Trent played on tractors and rode around town, then we all met up for lunch at McDonald's. We then went to Kyle's football game before crashing for a long afternoon nap before an even LONGER night of trick or treating!




Our little train engineer had a ball trick or treating! Once he figured out that people would give him kit kats if he just carried around a silly orange bag, he was pretty excited! We visited people all over the country side and came home with a pooped 20 month old Engineer and a heaping bag of candy for Mom and Dad to fight over. (Yes, Trent will get SOME of it too!) We even met up with some friends along the way. See Trent and his friend Ryan, the fisherman?

Trick or Treat!

Weekend in Chicago

We spent a weekend in September with Grandma and Grandpa Wetherell. We traveled to Chicago for our first big overnight trip. We visited the Lincoln Park Zoo, spent the night in a hotel (for the first time) and went to the Children's Museum at Navy Pier too.

Lincoln Park Zoo was great! The weather was beautiful and the animals were amazing. I think we all agree that the gorillas and apes were our favorite exhibit! We were a little upset that there were no elephants. At the time, that was the only animal noise Trent could really make!

As you can see, the train was a big hit! He rode it all by himself, even though he was not quite three (not even close) and was no where near tall enough either! Oh well, he's a professional- he even stood up to give us the devilish "look at me" smile.

We were all pooped when we left the zoo!

The next day, we went into town to Navy Pier on our way back home. We wanted to check out the Children's Museum. Once again, Thomas the Train was a big hit! This time Trent was "big enough" to ride the train, but the man operating the train was a little confused about Trent's family. Were we his siblings?? Was Grandpa his Uncle?? and Grandma his Mom?? He really didn't know, but it didn't matter he let Trent ride a second time for free! Thanks Grandma for helping support that confused old man and giving Trent another free ride!

What a great weekend!

Miller Park Zoo

Of course now that August is upon us and school is right around the corner, the weather has decided to become beastly hot AND what better way to spend a Sunday than to go Miller Park Zoo on one of the hottest days of the summer.... We waited quite awhile on the Zookeepers to make their appearance to feed the sea lions. Trent enjoyed watching them, but as the sun kept beating down on us Daddy and Trent decidedit was time to move on to the next event. We did watch the sea lions eat a few smelly fish, then it was on to the next exhibit.......

and if it's hot and humid outside the best thing to do is go into the Rainforest exhibit. It too, is hot, humid and slightly uncomfortable. Trent went under the roped off ares, into the mud and chased after the long legged birds walking around the "rainforest." He also enjoyed the turtles and the monkeys, but couldn't get close enough to them.

We finally got a little smarter and decided we would take a little break and go into the Zoolab. Air conditioning, squwaking parrots, but it didn't smell. We were happy for the break out of the heat!

After some water and few blueberries, we were ready to visit the petting zoo......

and the big, hairy pig. Trent thought he liked it, but really wasn't too sure. He would follow the pig around-evenback into the "private animal resting area" but when the pig started to follow Trent, he would cling to me for dear life! Trent would only pet him if he could do it without the pig looking at him or smelling him!
Before we left the zoo we had to take a quick ride (yes I mean quick- the parents had to hold on for dear life when the little high school volunteer threw this thing in gear!) on the carousel. Of course, Trent rode on the elephant. He loved it- it was a little difficult for him to ride when he was tyring to dance to the music at the same time.

After all that walking, running and riding (and a short 15 minute nap in the car), our outing concluded with lunch at one of our favorite "family" places- Hooters of course! Hot dogs, buffalo chicken, super salty fries-Yum! Both the boys were very content with the activities of the day!

30th Birthday Party

Here is where I get to take a break and post some about me- yes, Aunt Sara this post really is all about me!

With the month of July quickly coming to a close I am finally realizing that yes, I am now 30 years old! Turning 30 was really no big deal, we did celebrate a lot around here- that was fun!

In fact, I might even turn 30 again next year.

For my 30th birthday I threw myself a party at our house- it was great if I do say so myself! The best part was the insane craziness for the first 2 hours of the evening. Entertainment for the evening included performances from the 2009 Toddler Circus! "They" were everywhere! On the swingset, in the bouncy house, in the neighbor's yard, in the road, literally everywhere- it was busy to say the least!

Trent did actually get into the bouncy house. Did he bounce? No, he would just sit long enough to bob around a few brief seconds, then cry or try to stumble back out. It was rather entertaining! He really did enjoy it (we think), but he just didn't realize it!

Mallory and Ryan did not want to get out of the bouncy house!

That's Ok, it gave Mom's and Dad's a chance to talk and relax a little too!

Altin and Chloe stopped for a few brief sweaty seconds to pose for a picture! Wonder what yummy treats are in that bowl that they found in the middle of the yard?

Aunt Nicky and Uncle Dave got to be a part of the party.......

.....and so did Grandpa!

Happy 30th Birthday to me!

The best gift of all was of course, my favorite Toddler Circus performer- you guessed it! Trent!

Fourth of July

This year's Fourth of July was a bust to say the least! All that rain- yuck! The good thing was we did get to celebrate the weekend before July 4th in Saybrook with Nana, Papa, Aunt Sara, and Kyle at Chare's house. Thank you again Chare- the food and hospitality were wonderful and much appreciated once again!
We actually did get to enjoy the parade this year. Last year we (Trent and Mommy) hid in the stairway at Chare's covering our ears while Trent screamed at the top of his lungs! He definitely DID NOT like those fire trucks! This year the fire trucks were just as loud and annoying (I think the fourth is the only time the Saybrook Fire Department really gets to sound their sirens) but Trent handled it much better this time.

The weather was beautiful! Trent loved the tractors and trucks! There were no tears this year, just lots of pointing and "hmmmm"ing about everything.

As you can see, even though we all wanted our picture with Trent, he really could have cared less. We even tried to make it look like Trent wanted his picture with us, by turning him towards the parade so it would appear that he was looking at the camera. I guess when you're not wearing sunglasses, you can't really be sneaky like that!

Yeah, the parade was definitely better than a picture with Daddy, Mommy or even Nana and Papa. We got throught the parade this year, we'll go for pictures next year!

First Boating Trip

Friday night Trent had his first experience on the lake.

We went to Clinton Lake on Papa's boat. What a great night we had.

Aunt Sara helped Trent put on his new life jacket. That was a little "different" experience to say the least. Once we got into the water, Trent forgot that he could not turn his head, or sit down very comfortably with his new jacket.

Papa drove the boat and tried to give Trent driving lessons. He did not know that Trent apparently already knew how to navigate the boat. He wanted to drive so badly he almost pushed Papa right out of his seat. He will be a boat captain someday too.

Nana lounged in the back and fed Trent cheesy puffs. Yum- You have to eat healthy snacks when you're boating. It makes everyone hungry.

Nana also got to hold Trent while we went on a boat ride around the lake. Trent waved at other boaters, especially people tubing and skiing. See how happy he is sitting in the jacket???



Daddy took Trent for a swim in the lake. It was really warm.



Mommy wanted one good picture with Trent, but he was too involoved with the other boats loading and unloading. He wanted to make sure he could be there to drive the boats if anyone needed help and wave at the dogs in other peoples, boats.
Nana says "No pets in our boat." That's becuase it's such a nice new boat.



We all love the 1979 Mark Twain. She rides great and we can spill food and beverages in it and nobody cares. There will be more boat postings in the future, I'm sure.


Happy Boating