Indoor Camping Trip

Daddy and I went on a camping trip the other day.  It is a little to cold outside, so we camped in the upstairs hallway.  We got our flashlights and sleeping bags, packed a bag full of musical instruments, and hiked along with the doggies around the house until we found a good spot by the window.  We settled in, broke out the instruments, and jammed away, laughing and singing and cuddling with puppies.  How cool is that!

Speaking of cuddling with puppies, here's me on the bed with Skye.  She was sleeping in, and we had to get up for school.  I promised daddy I would wake her gentle.  She looked so cozy lying on the bed, I decided to join her!

Updated Lists!

Look at the right side of this page.  I have added a couple of new lists of favorites.  I really like the composers- daddy and I listen to this "Sophie music" in the car all the time.

Pumpkin Patch

We visited Granmimi's farm yesterday.  Granmimi showed me around the garden and let me pick potatoes and onions out of the ground.  It was very cool.  Daddy cooked them up for dinner when we got home- yum!

Annie the goat joined us, of course.  She is so friendly and gentle with me, just like a doggie.  What a cool animal.  I also got to pick out some pumpkins to take home for Halloween.

Thanks, Granmimi!

Snow in October

On Saturday, when daddy was sleeping soundly and recovering from work, it started snowing!  Mommy and I ran outside to enjoy the weather.  It is way early for snow in Iowa, so it didnt last long.  In fact, it had mostly melted by the time daddy woke up.

Here's the front yard with the snow collecting in the spider webs among the thyme.

See the delicate snow on the leaves?

Fall color and snow at the same time.  Cool!

Grammie and Dad-Dad!

Grammie and Dad-dad from California came and visited me last week.  It was really great to have them here.  They are so cool!  We went for walks in the garden, played with our doggies, and got silly at breakfast(above) easting Game-Day Pancakes.

I also wanted to show you a picture of my class with my teahcer Erica.  There's my friends Amelia and Reagan, too!

Here's mommy helping me get dressed in the morning.  I have great boots to wear with my awesome new shirt.  Daddy says I look like a "Florentine Princess" whatever that means!

Columbus Adventure

Last weekend, Mommy, Daddy, and I went on a good, old fashioned road trip.  It had everything: long hours in the car, playing car games to pass the time, eating at greasy spoon cafes, hotel stays, local museums, playing with grandparents, and, best of all, FOOTBALL!

We drove to Columbus, OH, which is an 8 hr trip in one straight shot so we broke it up by stopping in Indianapolis, about 6 hrs from Iowa City.  Although mommy and daddy were concerned how I would do in the car, I impressed everyone by being a perfect traveler.  I was just so happy to be with my family, I didn't care we were stuck in a cramped vehicle.  Actually, I had lots of legroom, which is pretty easy for someone whose legs are barely a foot long!  We watched other cars go by and looked for tanker trucks, cranes, big trucks, and called out the colors of the cars.  Daddy opened my Richard Scary book "Cars, Trains, Planes, and Things that Go" and pointed to cars in the book that we saw on the road.  I would shout out "same" and laugh.  What a cool game.

Then, I got to watch movies in the car.  If you haven't done this, I highly recommend it.  Daddy brought his computer, plugged it in to the power socket in the car with a special adapter, and we fired up some DVD's.  We had a little trouble finding something I liked, until they put in "Madeline".  Watching an animated version of my current favorite book was pretty much the perfect drug.  I was fascinated and glued to the set, not even noticing that a hundred miles flashed by.

After dinner at Denny's in Peoria, we made it to Indianapolis.  We stayed in a really nice English hotel downtown (The Cantebury Suites- check it out if you ever go there.  Daddy's stayed their three times and says its the best in town).  I got to cuddle with mommy and daddy in our big king bed in the room, which I thought was great. Mommy and daddy aren't so sure- daddy got a fat lip when I head butted hum and mommy woke up with bruised ribs thanks to my kicking.  Oops.

The next day we went on to Columbus, where we met up at the hotel with Dad-dad, Boppy, Uncle Chris and Aunt Chloe. Uncle Steve and Aunt Beth, and my great aunt Joan and great uncle Rainbow (aka Ken).  We all had a wonderful lunch together and I got to watch some football with daddy.  Then mommy and I went shopping with Boppy while daddy went to the USC-Ohio State game.  USC won!  YAY!

On Sunday, we left Colmbus after breakfast and drove straight to the Indianapolis Children's museum.  I knew we had found the place for me when I saw the outside: two giant statues of dinosaurs!  We saw an exhibit on King Tut, and I was very interested in the statues.  We saw an exhibit on dinosaurs and I was most impressed with the pterodons.   They alos have a really cool museum store.

I told remember much else, since I slept most of the way back..  We did stop at Denny's again, so I would have more options for dinner.  Silly mommy- I picked the mac and cheese as always!

This is from the museum here in Iowa City!

Autumn Display

I love fall!  I really like collecting interesting leaves and cool rocks.  But I also like collecting "deer eggs".  Mommy and daddy say that they are acorns, but they are like eggs because they have a hard shell and contain the seed for growing a baby plant.  I call them deer eggs becuase they are the deer's favorite food.  Maybe that's why we have so many deer around- we have lots of trees in our yard that produce the acorns. 

Here's my display of cool acorns along with a pupkin that Granmimi grew for me.  Thanks Granmimi!  We have named the pumpkin "Archie".  I also have two nice pinecones and I am always looking for more. 

The workmen recently put rails on the bridge.  This is good because now the puppies and I are allowed to play out there.  We're not in danger of falling off the edge anymore.  Skye and Denali love hanging out on the bridge while I collect rocks in the driveway and daddy works on the lawn, pulling "bad plants" (weeds).