Evie and Annalise Taller: August 2008

Annalise rides!

Quick, some one call Phil Ligget--what are the rules on handlebar streamers in the Tour?

Finally Peyton Manning arrives!

Evie finally put on her Peyton Manning jersey today because her buddy, Gabby, had one on. She took it off immediately after this picture. She says she doesn't like it because it "has holes in it".

We bleed blue and white horseshoe shaped blood cells.

Later, we went out for a bike ride. When we returned, Annalise had no desire to take off her helmet as she rode the trike up and down the drive.

Later, there was mowing to be done. Safety first.

She plays so well on her own. It's Evie that was a blob complaining that there was no one to play with--see second picture--(and driving mom up a wall while I was trying to read a magazine).

Our last trip of the summer

Last week, we heard on NPR that gas consumption by Americans was down for the summer. We have been consuming more than our fair share and probably need to buy some credits to offset our huge carbon footprint from all the travel we did this summer. Despite all this, we loaded up the grocery getter one last time this summer for a trip to St. Louis! We visited our friends, the Jacobs and the Klings and met their new babies!

We stayed with the Jacob family and they were great hosts. The first morning, they took us to a place called the Magic House. It's pretty much a hands on children's museum. The kids had a great time and it was a good way to pass a rainy morning.

This is the statue on the way in. Evie and Adli joind in the fun.

Annalise had fun playing on the slide. She went down several times by herself and even navigated a net tube all on her own.

Yikes! Four Evies! That's a lot of Evie's asking questions!

We did some art and science too before we left.

Later, after a pretty good naptime, we braved the pouring rain for a trip over to the Kling house. It was so fun that we forgot to bring the camera inside until we were ready to leave. The girls had lots of fun playing on the stage that Chris built and there were so many toys to play with.

Evie, Campbell, McKenna and Annalise pose before we leave.

We got back to the Jacobs house really late because we got lost. After the kids went to bed, we celebrated my birthday with this amazing chocolate cake. The cel phone is there to show you the scale of this thing. It was delicious! Thanks Moe!

Of course, we got to meet baby Mazie. She was full of smiles in the morning, but wasn't interested in posing for the camera.

We loaded everyone up and went to the St. Louis Zoo.

Evie used her own camera all day. She is just like Grandpa Taller. It will be interesting to see how her pictures turn out and how many heads she cut off.

We walked the Dinosaur trail with Disney style dinosaurs. This one "spit" at us. Gross.

At the end, Adli and Evie dug for dinosaur bones.

Annalise gets in the action too, but was quickly distracted by the amount of sand getting into her sandals.

In the kids area, we all got to pet the snake. Annalise tried to kiss it on the lips. I think we have a future vet or zoo keeper on our hands.

Then there was the frog dome. Kissing frogs is ok as long as it is through glass, but how many germy hands have touched that glass? I don't want to think about it.

Also in the kid area was a goat pen that you could go in and chase goats around. You can imagine how excited Annalise was. All the kids had a chance to brush a goat.

Annalise couldn't choose just one. .

She would have loved them all if she had a chance

Mazie was unimpressed with the goats and surrendered to her sweaty confines of the baby bjorn.

Post lunch, we headed for the rides. I think it was the only time all week that everyone was in agreement on something.

We rode the endangered speices.

Thanks for hosting us! We had a great time!

We topped off the trip with a ride on the train. By the end of the ride, we had 3 tired kids and decided it was time to head home.

Evie slept most of the way through IL, and they were both good on the way home. I am happy to hang up the car keys for a while and just hang around home for an entire month before our next road trip!

Beckman Coulter Picnic

on Tuesday, we went to the Beckman Coulter family picnic. It was lots of fun on hot asphalt.

There was a bounce house that we had to visit first and then frequently.

Annalise even got brave enough to stand up once or twice and not be trampled by the big kids.

Evie, who dressed herself that day, got her face painted while dad was in the all company picture.

After seeing Evie, Annalise wanted to have her face painted too. She sat really still

Then the nice lady with the dragon on her face painted a flower on Annalise's hand so she could see it.

We all participated in the chicken dance

And Evie played a game of musical placemats. If this is what dad does every day, sign us up! Dad did take us to see his workspace, but a cube is no where near as exciting as a bounce house and face painting.

Baby Tessa

We had to go to Ohio to pick up the kids after the painting project. While we were there, we celebrated my birthday with the newest member of the Seibert clan.

Tessa slept ALL DAY. She didn't even care if she was being held or not. I tried to hold her as much as I could to spoil her for her parents for the week, but she didn't seem to care either way.

Annalise loves on Tessa after her nap.

Then she even holds her (under the watchful eye of mom and grandma)

Evie holds her one last time before we leave. She had to have a bath because she and Natalie spent all day running around and getting dirty.

And we celebrated my birthday with an ice cream cake from the Dairy Queen. Between that, pizza, donuts from John's in Bryan, and 3 servings of sausage, it was a pretty good birthday. The best present is that we made it an entire 50 minutes in church before anyone got "escorted" out.

Where are all the children??

Answer: At Grandma Seibert's house. This can mean only one thing. We are painting again. This time transforming the sterile operating room of a master bedroom into something a touch more relaxing and romatic! I am getting a lot of "cleaning" done. Mostly throwing away old happy meal toys and "art" projects. And I'm cleaning out cubboards and the Fridge. What a vacation.

Indiana State Fair

We decided to head to the State Fair today because it was so mild and un-August like weather. We walked through a lot of barns and merchant areas. Checked out the animals (Annalise tried to kiss a goat--yuck) and learned about gardening and farming. Then, we sat down to eat and got the camera out.

Evie insisited that she wanted a corn dog. This was the regular size. There was actually a foot long corn dog too!

Lots of breading, Annalise's favorite. They did a pretty good job of sharing the corn dog. Mom and Dad supported the Pork Producers. Yum.

Then it was off to the Dairy Producers to get our Milkshakes. Our bellies were so full, otherwise, we would have supported the Poultry, Beef and Lamb producers too.

We took the tractor ride around the fair (mostly to avoid the midway). Annalise was pretty excited to ride the "Train".

In the ongoing anthology of Evie on a tractor at the state fair pictures, here is the latest entry. I think I may make a collage at some point.

Annalie really like driving her tractor too, but the seat was too hot for her to sit on long.

This is where the Indiana State Fair outranks the Minnesota state fair. It's actually still mostly about agriculture and 4-H. So, there were lots of Tractors to look at and check out. Evie is standing under this brand new sprayer. Thank a farmer next time you see one--do you know how much these things cost???

Mom and Annalise on top the sprayer. Annalise did not want to be held, but wanted to climb all over it.

They had an exhibit called Little Farm Hands similar to the one at MN State Fair. The kids do chores and then sell their work and go shopping at the end. I don't think it makes them appreciate farmers, but they have fun and it's a taste of agriculture that they don't often see in Suburbia.