New Winter Clothes

Even though it is only September, it has already been in the 50's and 60's here in Peoria.  (I don't think this is a good sign as far as the weather goes.)  Anyway, I went shopping to get some warm clothes for Anderson, and I think he looks pretty darn adorable. 

Tower Park

Last weekend we decided to head over to Tower Park in Peoria Heights.  Well, actually, first we went to the Lakeview Museum since they were having a free day, but there wasn't very much to see there, so we didn't stay long.  Anyway, we went to Tower Park and it was a pretty awesome view.

 (Guess which one of us was in charge of getting Anderson's socks and jacket?) 

Morton Pumpkin Festival

As a lover of fall, I was super excited when I heard about the Morton Pumpkin Festival.  In case you don't know, Morton (which is a city near Peoria) is the pumpkin capital of the world.  They had rides, a parade, and a lot of other things that Anderson would probably have been more interested in if he were older.  As for me, I had a pumpkin soft serve ice cream cone and it basically made my day. :)

Twenty-nine

It's hard to believe, but I turned 29 this year!  I distinctly remember thinking, not so long ago, that people who were in their 30's were old.  Now, 30 is only 12 short months away; I guess that makes me almost old.  :) 

Anyway, we were in Orlando the weekend before my birthday, so we celebrated at my dad's house with a delicious Publix cake (I can't even describe how much I miss Publix now that I live in Peoria) and a fun time with family.  I guess I'd better party it up this year while I'm still young!

Orlando

So, after being in Peoria for barely a month and a half, we headed back down to Florida.  We were excited to attend a friend's wedding, but I decided to go earlier than Wayne and make a week out of it.  We had a great time!

Here are some of the things that we did:

We ate giant marshmellows!

We went out to eat a lot and had some delicious food!

 

We climbed in a dirty lake to retrieve some random kids' football (and by "we," I mean Wayne):

We went swimming.

We attempted to take a picture with all of the Rich family cousins.

But mostly, we had lots of fun with family!

The Peoria Zoo

Since we're now living in a new place, Wayne and I want to try to get out and see what the city has to offer.  Recently, we decided to check out the Peoria Zoo. 

It was a little pricey, especially because we stayed less than 2 hours.  It was okay, we just think that we've probably been a little spoiled by living in Orlando with its many attractions for so long.  Wayne described it as the "Water Mania of zoos."  (If you're not from Orlando, Water Mania was a pretty crappy, but relatively cheap, water park that eventually closed down.)  That sounds a little mean, but there just didn't seem to be too much to see.  They did have a really nice, new area that was pretty cool, so we'll probably go again when Anderson gets a little older.  Unfortunately, he was tired and cranky during our zoo experience.  Still, it was fun to get out and check out something new!

Love

I love this guy a bunch:

Well, both of them, but in this case I meant the older one.  He works hard and puts up with me and I think he's pretty great. 

I just love him.  So, I made him this: