Catch up time ... again!

Sorry again for the multiple week delay in posting something to the blog. It's been a very busy time the past few weeks.

Here are the highlights:

• One of us got older
• We enjoyed the final days of summer
• We sat in a bunch of fire trucks
• We played in the water
• Someone began a new job

And Dad went to a conference, coming home just in time for shows to begin at his theater, which means our schedules have changed even more.

Happy birthday, Amy!

Amy turned 33 on September 12. Both sets of grandparents drove into town, joining us and Auntie Pam, who lives just down the way, for a day of celebration. I actually had to join the party late as the 12th was also the day I flew home from the Arts Midwest conference in St. Paul.

But it was a fun birthday nonetheless. It was filled with cake ...

presents ...

and party favors ...

... especially for the two grandpas, who Maya delighted in bringing every acorn in a centerpiece candle bowl Amy got as a gift. There must have been 50 of the little things, and Maya went back and forth to the bowl, delivering one at a time until each grandpa's hand was filled to overflowing.

Maya has been using many more words lately. She is an expert at "Owen," "Daddy," and "Mommy," and has taken great interest in our well-being. Now when she wakes up, one of the first things she does is ask about whoever isn't in the room at that moment, wondering what they're doing and making sure everything is OK.

Open House

The Normal Fire Department held an open house the following weekend, on Sept. 19. Regular visitors to the station, I headed up with Owen and Maya thinking we'd probably seen everything already ... but we hadn't even scratched the surface.

It was a marvelous day! Owen got to spray a fire hose ...

... and sit in every engine the city owns, as they trucked all of their other trucks in for the day.

The highlight for Owen, though, was taking a long, close look at his beloved Snorkel 10.

10 is the oldest truck in the fleet, but is definitely Owen's favorite. It's nearly 30 years old and will likely be decommissioned soon. Every time we visit, we tell the firemen that Owen will gladly take it off their hands and are told to "Make an offer," as no reasonable offer to drive the truck away would probably be refused.

I'm all for it. Put 10 in the back yard and there we'll not only be the most popular house on the street for the kids, but I'll have considerably less mowing to do ...

Here are a couple more pictures from the day. You can see Owen was in heaven!

Bye, bye, summer!

The weather in the final days of summer actually felt like summer, a surprise in our unseasonably cool year. Owen and Maya both got sick at the end of the month, leading to a trip to the ER for Owen as his seasonal bout with croup returned, and several days off school for both.

Fortunately, everyone's energy returned for the weekend and we were all ready to get out and enjoy the spectacular weather.

We returned to a favorite play area, Tipton Park, a great area with a spray park and lots of playground equipment. I think this was Maya's first trip to the spray park and she had a great time. We walked through little fountains taller than she was and she laughed every time, quickly turning around and grabbing my hand again so that we could go back through.

We stayed and played for quite a while ...

Then returned home in time to watch Iowa go 3-0 with a win over Arizona. Indeed, fall has arrived!

Lastly, Amy began a new job on the 14th. She is now a social worker for Passages Hospice, and so far she seems to be enjoying it very much. She will be providing social work care to hospice patients throughout the region, but primarily in the Peoria area. The company has taken great care to make sure she has all of the tools she needs to do her job well, and Amy is delighted that she can finally focus on the patients instead of the profits.

She has been quite busy learning all she needs to to do the job well, but I have already noticed a change in reduced tension and increased happiness.