we spent the night before our early morning flight in l.a. sarah and thor met us at the hotel to pick up our car. they were just returning from two weeks in montana as we headed out.
aleah got to sleep in the big bed with mommy and daddy, which helped set the precedent for the rest of the trip (she's always slept perfectly in her own crib since the first day we attemped at seven months, but never in any other crib). she crawled right up and pulled the covers over her.
we had a late night, and an early morning. we were all in great spirits though as we boarded the plane with our golf clubs, stroller, car seat and two suitcases safely on board below. aleah fell right asleep and even with a one-hour delay, she slept all but the last 20 minutes.
stephanie, matt, nolan and cody greeted us with great big smiles. it had been nearly a year, and wow, how we noticed the changes in the boys! stephanie looked wonderful as always.
later that evening, we got our halloween costumes on for trunk-or-treat. we had lots of fun, with aleah, cody, and nolan shuffling up and down the halls at the church, playing ring-around-the-rosy with some other kids. we met lots of steph and phil's friends and we also got our first taste of a warm, delicious pumpkin cobbler.
i have fun getting costumes together. this year i was inspired by the pictures we took with sally, sarah, whitney and drew a couple months ago with the cowboy boots. when i saw the red boots for aleah, i had a plan in motion.
always time for a little upside down fun with daddy :) - i love the tongue!
sunday we were up early for church. as we got ready, nolan read to aleah:
we had so much fun just watching the children interact. later that day we ventured outdoors for a walk. the weather was perfect fall weather.
nolan was very protective over aleah, and she loved him :) we brought her baby stroller from home, but the baby was left behind as she got acquainted with elmo.
just love these boys' smiles. we love them so much and are so proud of them!
every time i'd point my lens toward matt, he would give me an amazing smile or something like this!
taking turns with the stroller.
the trees were so vibrant with color.
crunching leaves.
later that evening, we designed and carved pumpkins, including one mickey mouse by special request.
phil had taken a couple days off work, which was so great. he and dale went golfing monday morning while matt was back at school for the day. nolan wasn't feeling so well so he stayed home. after catching up on some sleep, aleah and i joined stephanie and cody for some fun with books, puzzles, cars, and (of course!) trains.
aleah still loving elmo:
the house was a great place for the little ones to play.
trick-or-treating was a big success and lots of fun for dale and me to watch aleah on her first venture. it made it much more fun to be with cody, nolan and stephanie (matt went out with friends while phil stayed behind to hand out candy). we dressed up for the second time and made our way around the neighborhood. cody and aleah would walk up the steps and, after prompting, would say the traditional "trick-or-treat", only...it came out of aleah's mouth as "turkey treat"...much to my delight! so, so cute! stephanie gave her a little pail to collect her candy in and she and cody were each very proud of their earnings, objecting as we tried to empty the pails into a larger bag to lighten their load.
tuesday was our much anticipated day at the kansas city zoo. matt and nolan got to stay home from school so all of us were together. the weather was warm and beautiful; a perfectly enjoyable day.
the first stop was the carousel, which is always a hit with the little ones (and the bigger ones too). it's a win/win because i love all the colors and interesting background on carousels.
we saw lots of the animals at very close range. we were constantly impressed at the layout and beauty of the park. i am not using a telephoto/zoom lens!
i enjoyed watching the family just as much as the wild animals.
there was a really cool bridge.
elephants did not disappoint. they were in a long, narrow paddock, so again, we got amazingly close to them.
now this was the cutest thing ever. aleah sort of discovered cody and really seemed to want his company. for a good while she held his hand and looked at him in admiration. this mommy was loving the interaction:
we all got a good amount of walking in. true to her usual custom, aleah preferred to walk than ride in the stroller. true to his usual custom, matt was selfless and offered to pushed the empty stroller for most of the time; so impressed!
after awhile, one of the little people got a little tired:
but we weren't down for long with so much to see :) a few favorites from the day:
credits on this last one go to nolan!
after the zoo we had dinner at jack's stack...a super yummy barbeque place. can't wait to go back there next time!!
wednesday was our last full day in missouri. it was our only rainy day. we took a trip to the store to let the boys and girl pick out a present. sadly, cody and aleah were a bit under the weather, but we had a good spaghetti dinner and then for dessert...dale and stephanie made pumpkin cobbler with the new recipe. we had the last round of cards before we turned in for the night.
we couldn't have imagined a better visit (only it could have been longer). we are so blessed to have stephanie, phil, matt, nolan and cody in our family.
