Ride on a Big Green Tractor

Hadlee took her first ride on a tractor. She helped me drive it back to my neighbors house a few streets away. We borrowed it to mow and pull a law aerator yesterday. She had to have her first ride with me since Papa sold his when he moved to Florida. Maddox had her first and only ride with Papa just before they moved. By the way, if anyone wants to get me a great Christmas gift you can get me a riding mower and a shed to put it in!

Cleveland Rocks

It was time for our annual fall baseball/Chiefs game trip with my parents! Woo hoo! Except that my dad got really sick with a fever for about 9 days and couldn't come. I was really disappointed not only because we love taking trips with my parents, but because now we had no babysitter to go outand for the Chiefs game. They were supposed to drive up to Winston-Salem and then we would all drive up to Cleveland in his van with lots of room and tvs. So much for that plan. Mom and Jeremy want to go to every baseball stadium before they died and Cleveland was a new one for both of them. Mom will have to make another trip sometime. We had lots of fun anyway, but it would have definitely been more fun with them.

The cracker jacks must have knocked Hadlee out.

It was a little chilly at this game. It had rained before but didn't during the game. Our seats were under an awning but the stadium was so empty we could have sat anywhere. The game went to 11 innings (Cleveland won) and by the time it was over I was the only one freezing. It probably wasn't that cold, just windy, but I'm always freezing. I also had a cold and cough and was constantly blowing my nose so the end of the game was welcomed. On Friday we went to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. It was a great day for the zoo! About 68* and partly cloudy. All the animals were up and about moving around except for the lazy lions and a gorilla. At this zoo you weren't very far from the animals and there wasn't much between you and them. It wasn't all spread out with too much walking and the zookeepers were very informative. I really liked this zoo.

The lorikeets were free to land on you and you could buy nectar to feed them. Maddox even had them land on her although she didn't want to. They did it anyway and surprised her but she didn't freak out. She just laughed. So then I got her to hold the nectar cup and feed them.

Is your hearing really better with big kangaroo ears?

Jeremy prooves that it's not.

Maddox is almost 36 inches tall now! We only checked because you had to be 36 inches to go down a snake slide at the zoo and when I told Jeremy how close she was he didn't believe me. That means she's grown about an inch in the past 5 weeks!

Hadlee got to go swimming for the first time! She seemed to like it, as much as a 3 1/2 month old can.

That's a map Maddox is holding. She wanted to navigate as we walked around the city. It took a LONG time to get anywhere with her reading the map and walking. But she's learning early watching Mommy with a map all the time.

That's Cleveland Browns stadium behind them. We're down by the waterfront.

Maddox wanted to go to the beach, just like she always does since we visit NC beach and Grammy and Papa's beach. Just 2 miles east of downtown there's this park with rocks to climb on and a beach. Not quite the same as a coastal beach, a little dirtier, but hey, it's sand. Maddox liked it.

Impossible to get all 4 of us to look at the camera at the same time.

Sunday we went to the Browns/Chiefs game. We had tickets in the Family Zone so there were some kid friendly activities to do.

Again, it was a great day for football! It was near 70* and partly cloudy. Not hot and not cold. That stadium is right on the water, really, right on the water. I can't even imagine going to a game in December with snow and wind whipping off that lake! Brrr!

Hadlee didn't sleep for most of the day. She was awake from 8:30 until about 3:30 when she finally was tired enough to ignore all the noise and nap. By the way, she's wearing a size 12 month jersey which is not huge on her. The fall clothes she wore while up there are 6-9 month and, again, she's only 3 1/2 months old. She's a chunk.

Yeah!!!!! The Chiefs won!!!!!!

We've been to 4 away games in 3 seasons and this is the first game we've left being winners. Maddox is only 2 1/2 years old, born and raised in NC, and has already been to 4 Chiefs games. Pretty good for 2!

Where will the Chiefs play next year? I'm already looking forward to our 4th annual trip. But this time, my parents better stay healthy for it!

Aunt Suzy and Cousins

The day after we got home from the beach in August Aunt Suzy and her kids came to visit us. Yes, I'm a little behind with blogging. Every time I tried to load the pictures blogger wasn't working. They came out to meet Hadlee. Here's Emily and Hadlee: And Matthew and Hadlee:

It was hot, as usual, when they came. One day we just went to a park to play and feed the ducks and have a picnic. It was so hot that our fun didn't last long and we came back home to the air conditioning. Maddox loved having her cousins here and still asks about them. Matthew hung out with Maddox all the time, playing with her and giving her piggy back rides. She loved all the attention. Matthew is such a cool cousin and loves playing with little kids!

Another day Suzy and Katherine went canoeing so Matthew, Emily and my girls went to the Children's Museum. The two little girls were enjoying story time while Matthew sat with Hadlee, again doing a great job at babysitting!

Emily and Maddox had to do everything together, from going potty to bathing together! Emily's just showing Maddox how. And it must have helped, Maddox seems all trained now!

Their last day here we went up to the mountains to go to Linville Caverns and hiking to a swimming hole and rope swing. By the time we got to the swimming hole we only got about 20 minutes to swim because a storm rolled in and it started raining pretty hard. We had to climb back over the slippery rocks to the trail and hike back in the rain. Emily was pretty scared about it and Hadlee was scared to death. By the time we got back to the car all the kids were freezing and the sun was starting to peek out again. Where is radar when you need it?

Emily and Maddox took refuge under a rock while we waiting the rain out for a bit.

Just a few pictures since I'm so late. Their visit was the last of our summer visitors that came to meet our new addition. We were kind of bummed when they left. Not only because Maddox especially loves playing with her cousins, but because their visit marked the last of relatives to come see us and summer was coming to an end. Thanks to all who made the trek to come our way this summer!

Hadlee's 3 Month Photos

Just a sampling of some of Hadlee's cute pictures. I bought enough that I got the whole cd of all 64 of them. They were all just too cute! She needs to smile less so I can save money! If you want to see them all you'll have to look on facebook.