Cute Little Family Trip to Starved Rock

So here we are at Starved Rock, a fabulous crisp autumn day where all the leaves are so orange you can hardly believe it. If you look closely at this photo above you can see a deer through the trees. That was definitely a highlight.


Lots of fun walking around on the decks and breathing in our share of fresh air.

So much so that sweet princess overdid her oxygen intake and promptly fell asleep and grandma had to carry her all the way back to the car.

Devil's Lake Delights

We had a lovely visit with Carrie and Luke and Meg and Nat at scenic Devil's Lake where we picnicked like true gourmets thanks to Lucy "Martha Stewart" Prazuch and her magic blue picnic baskets full of delightful picnic treats, complete with grilled sausage and avocado salad. We all ate more than a reasonable person ought, and had pumpkin bars and soft cheeses coming out of our ears by the time it was all over. The weather was perfect though a bit nippy, but thanks to Carrie's cozy quilt collection we were toasty. Luke certainly didn't seem bothered by the chill and he ran around with his coat open and hat and scarf strewn all over the place as if he had his own personal propane burner in his pants.

That's us in picnic action:

And here's us keeping warm:

And here's unstoppable Luke, unhindered neither by temperature nor fatigue. It's so fun to watch a two-year-old go nuts in the great outdoors. No hat, no gloves, hardly even stopped to eat, and still he just kept going and going, happy as a clam. Watching him was clearly the highlight of the afternoon (other than the food of course.)

All Sorts of Goodies

Check out the sitting baby!!! I know!! It's amazing. Sitting up in the stroller. Only for a minute, but it happened. It's documented.

This was really an amazing scene. She just totaly flipped out when Krispin came over with Ciocia Ilonka the other day. She had seen him a few weeks ago but didn't really react. This time, however, she went nuts. It was HILARIOUS. She was so excitied she didn't know whether to laugh or cry and just made all these funny panting noises. Adorable.

A budding young pianist, of course. She learned how to bang on things with her hands and tabletops and pianos are among favorite banging surfaces.

Grandpa love. Isn't this just the swseetest picture ever? It's so cool how Zosia's bonded with Grandpa.

Developments in Toe Sucking

ALMOST THERE...A LITTLE CLOSER...

MMMM, THAT'S A TASTY TOE!!!

I'M QUITE PLEASED.

So these are the fruits of what has been termed "nakedtime" around here. Every night before Sofi gets her bath she gets to lay on the bed on a waterproof sheet (thank goodness for these handy tools because she always has to pee at least three times during naked time, and sometimes even a poo, as if she couldn't do it like five minutes earlier) and kick around in diaper-free nakedness. She gets so excited to be unconstricted that she always ends up doing a cool new trick, or advances her skills from the previous night. As we can see, she's got the toe thing down, and she's certainly glad about it. As are we.