Projects and Family and Habits, Oh my!

There is something about a nice crisp fall day that's not too hot, but not too cold with sunshine and green trees that makes me just happy to be out on a walk. Cache and I decided it would be a good day to venture to the library, since that's they place that we haven't explored yet. It is one of those buildings that was on the national historical something or other and was built by Andrew Carnegie. The bookshelves are all dark wood with molding tops that are arranged in a maze in this little building. Cache had fun weaving in and out and jumping out and saying, "Aaaahhh!" whenever I found him. Because this building is to remain historically preserved, they are not able to upgrade to digital cataloging so they still use the dewey decimal system with a card catalog. They even had the little cards tucked into the covers that you use to sign in and out. It was all rather charming actually. After Cache got tired of climbing up and down the little stairs, we headed back out, without a book in tow, because I just wasn't prepared with an author that I might want.  

Grammy Jean and Papa Steve just had a visit to our quaint little town. They were tons of help in getting some long over-due projects started at our house. We always appreciate the extra help they provide, even if it's dancing with Cache to keep him occupied.
Here are some project pictures:
Kitchen:

Before

Before

Grammy Jean standing on the counter scraping paint!

Papa Steve laying down the skim coat!

Same section by the kitchen sink! All primed and textured and ready for color!

Downstairs bathroom:

Before with white walls and no storage

Managed to get our baskets and shelves in for storage and painted the walls green

 "Dining Room":

Terrible red before....

Beautiful blue and yellow after!

And the garage got an electrical facelift, and there were plans for other things to be done, but with the short amount of time, we just couldn't fit it all in. We did get to tour the dam for a day off, so that was good. :)
I will be glad to have all the projects mostly done! We still want to put tile in the bathroom and paint the walls and cabinets in the kitchen (and maybe knock a wall...and chimney...out) But one thing at a time. :)

There are always good times with family and of course my camera is always focused on Cache because he is such a cute little man. I love that he wants to take my fingers and drag me across a room to pick up that ball he was standing right next to. I love that he wants to sit in my lap with his bear and watch sesame street.

Just after getting off my lap

Meeting Elmo at the Avon Homecoming parade in unseasonably cold weather! And yes, we held up the whole parade just for the picture...

I love that he waves "buh-bye" to Harry the Bunny on TV and now to other people, and that he claps with Sammy the Squirel when they find the acorn. He loves to play hide and seek and lifts his face for kisses even when I'm not initiating it. It's amazing to watch him grow and learn make faces and noises. He loves to turn on and off light switches and climb stairs, ladders and just about anything else.

helping in the kitchen

I love that he will put just about any pair of shoe on if he can find it. He will bring me his shoes and try to hold his feet up for me to put them on. He will also bring me my flip-flops and try to put them on my feet.

He loves to go outside and will run for as far as his eye can see. There is this one storm grate at the park that he loves to stomp on. It makes the best sounds :)

It's great to see all the funny things that he does. I love that even though he doesn't say many words, we have our own language  that allows us to communicate. He loves to sweep the floors, and play with his friends. He tends to hide at the store in clothes racks and on shelves...

And today we had lunch on the deck which was lots of fun. His favorite foods are berries, fruits, mac and cheese, lasagna, grilled cheese and of course fruit snacks, cookies and ice cream. Today we had mac and cheese.

Aaaaannnnddd we broke our the high chair after he wouldn't keep from sitting in the mac and cheese...

So this brings our post to an end, though I think I covered all my bases. The video below was yesterday of Cache finding another light switch by the front door. Notice how he waves now :) Sadly, he now has fallen off that step stool, but it frightened him more than anything :)

Boating and Camping with Jill and Major

So we had a couple of options for what to do last weekend. We ended up going camping with our friends Jill and Major! This, of course, meant that I had to clean out our trailer from when we had lived in it earlier this year while moving out here. Always needing motivation, ha ha. So, we camped near Gavins Point Dam in Yankton and Jill and Major got to try out a rental trailer to see if they liked it. It was a lot of fun and we got to enjoy the outdoors. Cache enjoyed the sticks, grass, rocks and fire pits. For entertainment, Jill and Major brought their boat and we got to spend some time out on the reservoir! The morning had started out all rainy and cloudy but as soon as we got a sunbreak we headed for the water! Lucky we did too because it turned out to be a beautiful day! The water was between 73-75 degrees and we were all a little reluctant to get wet, but once you get in, it wasn't so bad! :) Cache's vest practically swallowed him whole, but when he got used to it, he didn't seem to mind.

Jared and Cache before take off!

Woo hoo!

Jill and their son Tyler (8 months)

Tyler, Jill and Major's son, spent pretty much most of the time sleeping, which was good because he didn't seem to like the life vest all that much. I can't blame the kids since they are so tight and confining.

Jared was the first brave one to try the waters

Cache got to ride on the tube too!

 Cache's first ride on the intertube was fun! He wasn't too sure about it at first because his feet were getting wet and the vest was uncomfortable, but once we got moving he started to enjoy it! He was slapping the tube and making happy baby sounds, so I would say that he liked it.

We were way  behind the boat!

Jared made it up onto the water skis on the second try!

Toward the end, the kids were getting a little cranky and restless, but who can blame them after a few hours. Cache was ready for a nap and Tyler was probably ready for food. I did get a chance to try to water ski as well, but I kept wiping out. I almost made it up on the second try, but with how long it takes to put the skis back on and run the rope out, it was time to head for land. Especially because of the crying little people. But we did have fun!
Back at camp we got to break open Cache's new camping chair! He pretty much just sat in it long enough to get the picture because he was too interested in the fire we had going for dinner, but that's ok. :)

On Sunday we had a bit more thunderstorms and I was pretty glad that we hadn't been in tents. It was nothing more than some rain and wind, but not so much to rock the trailer around. Cache hadn't been used to sleeping in the trailer, so he had spent the night between Jared and I sleeping like a rock. Unfortunately for poor Jared his back was hurting from skiing so he didn't get much sleep. But Cache sure didn't move too much, so at least he did. When we got up and ate breakfast and were ready to head over to the other trailer we heard a little crack outside, but we just shrugged it off. As we headed over to the trailer we notice that they had half a tree on top of their trailer! Apparently the tree that was between our trailers had split a HUGE branch off and was just resting there on their roof! It was crazy! I suppose it was a good thing they had just been renting the trailer instead of it being their own. Nothing was damaged too badly and no one was hurt, it was more just a crazy thing! After that got all situated we headed for home as it would seem that we would not be boating that day.
After cleaning up up and unpacking and a nice nap for Cache we headed back over to Jill and Major's to try to figure out what to do. We had thought about taking the Jet Ski's back to the water because the weather had cleared up, but they weren't working like we had hoped so we spent the time hanging out while Jared and Major tried to get them working.

I know it's sideways, but here is Tyler and Cache playing in the pool in their driveway

 Overall it was a fun time and we enjoyed it! I wish we had had more opportunities to camp this summer, but now that Cache can walk it will be easier I hope.