Fabulous Fall

I am way behind on blogging because for about two and a half weeks McKenzie and I both battled a cold that would NOT go away! That being said, here's a great story about our day in Nebraska City.




Nebraska City is about an hour from Lincoln and home to The Arbor Day Farm which honors a lot of agricultural achievements. Every September they have an Apple Jack Festival. Here is a picture of McKenzie when we all went there last year.

We got up early on a Sunday morning and took a ride down to Nebraksa City. When we got there we let McKenzie walk around and she was all smiles and ready to explore nature.

We took a long walk around the park where McKenzie actually almost fell asleep. Once we were done walking around we went into the Children's Play area. She loved playing with the blocks that were cut out of different types of wood...not that she knew the difference between Maple and Ceder! Naturally, when she found the water display she walked over to it as fast as her little legs would go. We're going to need to keep a life jacket in the diaper bag here soon because she's just going to throw herself into the water whenever it's near by! She loved splashing in the water, and as you can see from the video, she also enjoyed playing with another little girl.

Finally, we went over to the apple orchard to pick apples before heading home for nap time (and I mean a family nap time!). Since we had been with her the year before I really wanted to get a picture of her holding the bag to compare how much she's changed. I didn't realize that she would show me how much she's changed as soon as we put her down. Chris and I were talking and McKenzie took off with the collecting bag and found some apples on the ground and immediately started to fill the bag. Chris and I just watched her and laughed. We never showed her what to do she just knew! It was so cute that I couldn't help but take lots of pictures (as you'll see below). We only wanted one bag because we knew we wouldn't eat that many apples but we couldn't take the bag and empty all of McKenzie's hard work. We did double check the apples she was picking up off the ground and they were all great! Once the bag was too full for her to carry around she left it on the ground, would go find an apple (often picking leaves and grass off the apple before keeping it) and would return to her bag and gently place it with the others.

This was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday!

The Daily Routine

I understand that babies love to have routine because it makes their life predictable which makes their life comfortable. While I'm all for routine on some things, there are other aspects of McKenzie's life that make routine amusing for us.

Every morning after she has finished her morning bottle she will pick a favorite toy (very often a soccer ball - MLS is turning into more than just her initials!) and will stand by the door waiting for one of us to take her outside. Once outside she walks around the courtyard talking with students as they walk by. I like to think she's encouraging them to do well in school! As she walks around she, almost literally, brings every piece of trash to our attention and waits for us to pick it up and throw it away. I need to get her signed up for youngest Go Green advocate!

As she's walking around the courtyard she will make her way to visit a bunch of people that I work with. This includes visiting my supervisor, using the handicap door button to open the door, taking the elevator to the tornado shelter and singing anywhere it echos.

She'll then walk over to The Village (apartment style housing for students) because there are stairs there that she can climb. She still needs our help, which is so super cute because she'll reach up to us when she wants to hold our hand. Since her hands are so small we will give her our index and middle finger to hold on to. She's purely adorable!

Bath Time Bliss

McKenzie just LOVES the water....I can't imagine where she gets that from! It doesn't matter where the water is just so long as she can go and splash around in it. This has lead to having bath time every evening because she just gets so much joy from it. Her favorite bath toys include a travel toothbrush holder and a plastic bowl. It's not that she doesn't have a rubber ducky or other bath related toys, she just likes those, don't ask me why.

The past few nights we've stepped up the bath time adventures. Chris lays her back in the water and slides her up and down the tub while she squeals and laughs with delight. We haven't been filling the bath tub up very high anymore!! Tonight she kept grabbing Chris's hand (which she does while he's swinging her around in the tub) because she wanted him to keep doing it. She was even kicking her legs and closing her eyes in anticipation of the fun about to be had.

A Day At The Fair

Nothing says a beautiful fall day like walking down to the Nebraska State Fair, enjoying fried dough and a petting zoo. McKenzie was, of course, adorable while we were at the fair. She was intrigued while we walked around until we took her out of the carrier and let her walk around. She was a bit overwhelmed with the petting zoo but was able to see an actual giraffe AND a zebra -- she was all smiles.

After the petting zoo we wondered around the park until she found a teepee, which she didn't hesitate to walk into. Imagine the delight on her face when she saw a beautiful black lab for her to pet. Thankfully this dog was very tolerant of young babies because McKenzie's idea of petting a dog was pretty much slapping the dog on the back and then running back over to us.

Before we could leave for the day we HAD to find water for our little girl to play in. At the fair they have a display of farm misters. The wind was blowing to hard for her to be able to play around in the mist on her own so her Daddy helped her out.