11 Months

A few days late in posting this, but better late than never. Clark finally got one tooth, and has one more on the way. With his new tooth, he is suddenly very interested in all the food and is finally eating more than just a little taste at meal time. He is getting very brave at trying to walk and will walk short distances between handholds. He is starting to mimic our behaviors - trying to dip french fries before eating them, putting clothes in the laundry basket (and then pulling them back out), trying to brush his hair (and his sisters). He is turning from little baby to little boy right before my eyes!

"Everything Is Awesome" Ward Family Dance

Our ward hosted a family dance the other night. Lots of music, lots of dancing, and lots fun was had by all. Clark was mesmerized by all of the colorful lights. Elsie loved running around the gym chasing the other kids. Alice, as seen in the videos below, is a dancing fiend.

Alice the story teller

Alice has always been a good story teller. Lately I've been recording her stories so I can type them up and save them. Alan managed to capture this little gem while I was out with Elsie. Somehow just the transcript doesn't do it justice.

"The elephant... and a kid one and a Daddy one and Mommy one. And a baby one. Everyone in the Jungle. Beware in the Jungle! And now you aren't! But there where these things! A happy face! But someone was walking to the jungle! But they juggled three balls! But somebody was looking at them. A happy face, a happy face, a sad face, happy face, a sad face. They were learning that very well like in class."

Milwaukee Labor Day Weekend: The Domes

Our last day in Milwaukee was wet and drizzly, so we headed inside to check out The Domes. They are three giant bio domes that house different ecosystems. The girls were excited to go inside the "big bubbles".

There just so happened to be a dinosaur display going on in the Jungle Dome. They were a little scary at first, but the kids soon warmed up to them.

Alice meeting an Allosaurus.

Dome number two was the Desert Dome.

We found some Jade plants!

The last dome was the Garden Dome. It had all sorts of flowers growing.

Outside there was a sundial. We had to wait for the cloud cover to break to get this shot.

Before we headed home, we stopped at Kopps frozen custard. I got a strawberry milkshake. Clark got his hand in someones ice cream, and as I was getting napkins, my cup slid off and dumped all over the floor. As I saw 3/4 of my shake spread all over the floor (that I paid a lot for and they didn't give me a new one (and was really good!!)), I started crying. The culmination of knowing that this was our last stop before our weekend was over and the next day Elsie was starting Kindergarten and was suddenly going to be away from home more than she has ever been... It was just too much. I tried to get it together as I sadly finished the rest of my milkshake and everyone else enjoyed their treats.

It was a fun weekend and we had a good time together before starting the routine of school. I feel like this might become a yearly tradition.

Milwaukee Labor Day Weekend: The Pool

We spent an enormous amount of time swimming in the hotel pool. Elsie was fresh off her summer swimming lessons and eager to show off her new skills. I didn't get any pictures of her without her floaty, but she spent plenty of time swimming with Alan without it. We were in the pool at least twice a day for anywhere between one to three hours at a time. We even offered to take them back to the beach one evening when it wasn't raining, and they both decided they would rather go swimming.

Clark didn't spent as much time in the pool as Elsie and Alice (sometimes he was napping while Alan took them swimming) but when he did get in he really enjoyed it. We brought his little boat and he loved splashing around.