Bowl-o-rama

Two weeks ago I was supposed to go bowling with my co-workers. The event ended up being cancelled, but it totally got me in the mood for some bowling. My dad was visiting from NJ this weekend and I thought it would be a great time to take Taryn bowling for the first time. We invited my mom, uncle and cousins Maya & Macy too.

The kiddos took the left lane, complete with bumpers. The adults took the right lane and battled it out. First game ended up me vs. my dad. Second game ended up Lee vs. my uncle Mike.

But, more importantly, Taryn LOVED it. She loved her orange ball. She loved her bowling shoes. She wanted to bowl by herself, but she wanted everyone, especially "Mach" (Mike) to watch. My uncle had been nervous to bring his 4 year old bowling, but all the kids did great and had a blast.

Oh, and she slept like a ROCK that night. When you weigh less than 30lbs, carrying around a 6 lb ball is tough work!

I am so excited to have found an activity that we can do this winter when it is cold and yucky out!

My Name is Taryn...

And I like to snub my parents in pictures...

Hula Hoop

She's got the steps down... Now to put it all together!

I Helping Daddy!

FALL-ing leaves!

Last year we went to this pumpkin patch during October. Never would I have guessed that this year we would be living right nearby! However, I did predict that it would be a bigger hit with Taryn this year, and for the most part, I was correct.

The petting zoo was still terrifying. Seriously Taryn? You would think by her face that Lee was about to feed her to a T-Rex instead of being on the other side of a fence from a lamb.

She was a big fan of this "train" pulled by a John Deere mower. She kept checking to see where we were as she got pulled around the yard, but she was happily steering the whole time.

The thing that amazed me the most was that Taryn finally rode a pony!! This is big news people. For the last few months, everytime we were at a local event, they had the pony ride. Taryn would talk about riding the pony, but as soon as we got within 50 feet of them, she'd cling to us in fear. So, when she said she was going to ride them here, I was skeptical to say the least. So skeptical, in fact, that I asked the lady if she could ride first THEN we would buy the tickets. Fortunately the lady allowed that. We were expecting a total freakout (I mean, see the petting zoo pic above), but she bravely sat on the pony and rode around!

Taryn had been talking about pumpkins since they started showing up at the grocery stores. I kept asking if she was going to get a little pumpkin, a medium pumpkin or a big pumpkin... BIG!!

The hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.

Taryn found her pumpkin! (Or she layed an orange egg.) Fortunately for Taryn, there were a ton of BIG pumpkins for her to choose from. Actually, there were very few pumpkins that weren't big!

After getting our pumpkins, Taryn was very excited to carve them. Or, "open it" as she called it. I knew they had carved pumpkins a year ago at daycare, but I thought surely she didn't remember that... I asked her what was going to be inside the pumpkin when we opened it and she told me "soup".

Here is Taryn & Lee's pumpkin. I carved one with a pi symbol on it. Get it... Pumpkin pi?

I am so glad that Millenium Farms was a bigger success this year. Maybe next year Taryn will even like the petting zoo. Only time will tell!

ILEA

Yesterday was Lee's graduation from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. It has been an EXTREMELY long 15 weeks that he has been down there. It really made me appreciate the single parents out there like my mom. Half the time he was gone it was summer vacation, which was challenging for one reason, then the rest I was back at school which was challenging for another reason. Lee, for the most part, enjoyed his time down at the Academy, besides needing to be away from family. He found it quite a bit easier than boot camp for the Navy, and parts were pretty interesting. Of course there were some boring days along the way.

Taryn and I were able to ride down to the graduation in Lee's police car. Taryn was excited at first, then quickly fell asleep for the ride there and back! Since we got there so early, we had quite a bit of time to kill, so Taryn and I took many a photo around the Academy.

After the ceremony got delayed a 1/2 hour, we were all a little stir crazy. They said that traffic was causing people to not make it in time. Though, I'm pretty sure it was probably Todd Rokita, the congressman who was speaking at the graduation.

When Lee's row stood up to goup and get their certificates, Taryn yelled out "Hi Daddy!" and everyone said "Awww." Then she followed it up by yelling "Daddy, I went peepee." I was a bit embarrassed to say the least. Fortunately, Lee's parents didn't understand what she had said, so I figured most the audience probably didn't either.

On the left is a picture of 3/4 of the Fowler Police Department, Don, Lee & Dennis. On the right is the sign that Lee and his classmates hit on the way out of the gym after every workout. One of the main focuses during their time there was that police officers need to be a good example when they are on duty and off-duty. Which is definitely true in a small town like Fowler!

After the graduation we went to a BBQ place called Squealers. It was delicious, but a little ironic that so many police officers went to a place by that name. We were even sitting at a table next to the sign above. I said I was going to get a sign like that for our driveway. That would really class the place up.

At any rate, we're more than thrilled to have Lee home. He'll be working most of the crappy shifts until the new guy is on his own. We're talking weekend nights, all the time. But, at least he is in town and can stop by whenever he has some down time.

Congrats Officer Klemme! Your family is proud of you!

The Howards

Today, in order to give Marlene some time to study, Ahow brought Adelaide & Miriam up to Fowler for a visit. The girls started out extremely shy, but quickly got down to business playing with every toy in the house!

We ate some spaghetti out on the screened in porch and the adults watched some (really bad) Colts football. Fortunately, Miriam & Taryn didn't realize that they should be embarrassed to be decked out in Colts gear.

Taryn had some trouble saying both their names. She managed to call Adelaide "Addie", but would hardly take a stab at Miriam. While I was taking these pictures, I told Taryn "Ok, now get with Adelaide." She pointed at Adelaide and said "That one?"

Thanks for the visits Howards! Hopefully next time we get together Marlene will be done with her studies!!

I LOVE BAGELS!

Taryn is absolutely and totally obsessed with bagels lately. She had her first bagel with cream cheese down in TN earlier this summer and now she can't get enough. She wants them morning, noon & night.

Here she is looking super cool with her sunglasses (upside down), bagel and two drinks!

Taryn & Max

Yeah, if you can't tell, I'm way behind on getting some pics up here!

We were able to visit Grant, Ashley & Max at their new house last month. The house looks great! I couldn't believe some of the stories of what it looked like when they first got it.
Taryn and Max were a little shy at first, but they definitely warmed up and had some fun.

I hope we can get these two together again soon! Thanks for your hospitality Goldmans!