A Visit from Uncle Luke

A visit from Uncle Luke for 3 days can only mean one thing - lots of sight seeing. We continue to fulfill our pledge to be "tourists for a year" by visiting new places in Iowa City. This past weekend we found new restaurants (the best French toast ever!), introduced Luke to the PedMall and Prairie Lights (a popular independent bookstore), walked the University of Iowa campus (their campus pales in comparison to University of Illinois), toured the Old State Capitol, visited the Devonian Fossil Gorge, and traveled to the Field of Dreams in Dyersville.

First some random pics of the kids...

A true Cardinal fan in the making. As this picture shows, Ethan enjoys nursing quite a bit (hence the round face and double chin). As this picture does not show, Ethan has pretty much lost his hair on top - he has kept his sideburns and the hair on the back of his head, and is bald everywhere else. Yes, we are hoping it all grows back very soon!


Olivia and Joe having fun with raspberries.

Uncle Luke arrives to some stormy weather on the first day. Luckily it cleared up quickly.

Joe, Olivia, and I in front of the Iowa Old State Capitol (please note the shiny gold dome that it is famous for). It actually pales in comparison to the IL Old State Capitol - the inside is pretty sparse. Then again, without the Lincoln memorabilia I guess that IL wouldn't have much inside either! Ethan was asleep in the stroller by this point. This building is actually in the middle of the U of Iowa's campus in an area called the "pentacrest".

Olivia making a speech on the Senate floor.

Next was a visit to the Devonian Fossil Gorge. This was discovered next to the Coralville Lake in 1993 after the floods from that year receded. Five feet of bedrock were washed away to reveal fossils dating back about 1 million years. Visitors are allowed to walk on the rocks to find the fossils (mainly seashell and some imprints of various water life forms). Olivia just saw the trip as a chance to walk on rocks and "look for dinosaur bones like the Backyardigans".

Ethan and I on the fossil gorge. I did not know what to expect with this site, so I was wearing platform sandals. Not the smartest choice of footwear when navigating on loose bedrock.

Olivia LOVED this rock and claimed she was riding on a fish.

Joe and Luke drove the 90 miles to Dyersville to visit the Field of Dreams. They witnessed the "ghost players" coming out of the cornfield to play a short game as was shown in the movie. Here is Joe's reenactment of the scene.

First Day of Preschool

The first day of preschool for Olivia! She is attending a school called Early Learner's Enrichment, and she goes 3 mornings per week. This will be a work in progress for all of us. It is shocking to Joe and I to have a school age child (!) and it is shocking to Olivia for obvious reasons. As we were preparing her for school, she was very excited and couldn't wait to attend. Then we informed her that we would not be with her at the school and suddenly everything changed. The teachers assured us that she did not cry for a very long period of time (some at the beginning and again at the end), and she did not appear to be traumatized when I picked her up. However, Olivia is not a very good reporter on her day, as according to her all she did was "play play play with a ball" while her teacher assured us that she did do more than that. At least she is thrilled with her Dora backpack as you can see in the following picture.


After school we took her for a special McDonald's lunch, and as an extra surprise the ice cream man was in our neighborhood at night for a treat.

Olivia's Third 3rd Birthday Party

In case the title doesn't make sense, Olivia had 3 birthday parties for her 3rd birthday! One party for each set of grandparents, and one on her actual birthday. Living far away does not make big get-togethers easy! And no, we will not have 4 parties on her 4th birthday! My parents were here this past weekend to celebrate Olivia's birthday (and Joe's 31st too - but his birthday sort of gets eclipsed by Olivia's). These are pictures of her third (and final) party.

Joe and Olivia blowing out the candles. Except for the Backyardigans' cake toppers, we decided on more of an adult cake for this party - we can only handle one pirate ship cake per year!

Olivia and grandma having fun.

Olivia is an old pro at opening presents by now. She received the American Girl Bitty Twin dolls, stroller, and trundle bed from grandma and grandpa. We (meaning Kate) decided to name them Emma and Sam - the names that Olivia and Ethan would have had if I had gotten my way!

Olivia practicing with her new soccer ball from Aunt Rachel and Uncle Thomas.

A piggy back ride from daddy.

Grandpa and Ethan bonding time.

Playtime for Ethan. He "tolerates" his toys for just so long. He much prefers to stare at faces rather then stare at toys. He just soaks everything in and tries to figure it all out.

A future all star? Hard to tell at 3 months, but every daddy is always hopeful of a left handed pitcher in the MLB. Preferably Cardinals of course.

Happy Birthday to Olivia!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Olivia! Hard to believe that she is 3! We had to sing Happy Birthday to her about 50 times today and she had a large smile each time. For her birthday we celebrated with "make your own" pizza and ice cream sundaes. We were all "caked-out" from her birthday party with Grammy and Grandpa Brett the previous weekend.

Joe and I gave Olivia a doll house for her birthday. As you can see from the picture, we had a hard time finding one big enough! :) It is so tall that she cannot reach the attic, but she will soon grow into it - literally. Olivia LOVES the dollhouse and played with it for the rest of the day - she thinks that the little potty is hilarious. Who knew bathroom humor started so early?


Grammy and Grandpa Brett visited this past weekend for Olivia's birthday. This was their first trip to Iowa City, so we spent much of the time showing them our favorite parts of the town. It was so hot on Saturday that Grandpa Brett and Olivia spent much of the afternoon having a water fight.

Grammy and Olivia the Chef. She now has to wear the outfit when playing in her little kitchen.

Happy Birthday to Olivia!

The theme that she selected for her birthday was Backyardigans. However, she then also selected a pirate ship cake, and we wrapped her presents in Princess paper, so all bases were covered. Her cake was really impressive as you can see from the picture. Joe even had to assemble it before the big presentation!

Birthday pancake breakfast.

The family enjoying free music Friday in Iowa City. It is held in the PedMall in the summer, and is a great family outing. Please ignore the Ron Paul Presidential poster in the background. You cannot go anywhere in Iowa without seeing campaign information. This event had about 6 tables for Presidential hopefuls.

And now for some new pictures of Ethan...

Full of smiles! He is still a calm baby (for the most part). He just loves attention.