Allison 10 months

• Crawling fast
• Cruising the furniture
• Standing alone
• Will walk between two really close stationary objects
• Will stand up and then throw herself at you
• Climbing stairs
• Can ring the bell on her radio flyer scooter and is so so proud of herself
• Has become a lot more vocal
• Mama and Dada are her only words
• Big belly laughs
• Two top teeth have come in
• Busy month of travel North Outer Banks, NC and Chicago, IL
• First long rode trip (she did great)
• First ocean swim (she loved it)
  
• First plane flight (she did great)
• First bachelorette party
  
• Self feeding almost all the time now (except for yogurt, applesauce and the like)
• STILL nursing
• Won't take formula or cows milk from a sippy
• Will drink water from a sippy
• Two naps (morning and afternoon)
• Clingy to mom
• Size 3 diapers
• Size 12 month clothing
• Wearing some 18 month sleepers... they are so long on her
• Loves loves loves splashing water (bath, pool, lake, dog bowl)
• 19 lbs, 28 in

My baby is gone... now I have a crawler and soon to be walker. We love her to pieces!!!

Scrapbooking

A quick one... well it took two nights because I had to let the mistable trim dry overnight, but in general it went together pretty quickly. I used my Studio Calico Boardwalk kit from August and this layout by Celine Navarro for inspiration.

Glad I got these photo scrapbooked... why? Because the shootout is this weekend!

Scrapbooking

Hey look at that... is that 12x12 pages? Miracles do happen. I decided to try my hand at 12x12 layouts while on vacation. I was scrapbooking our 2010 Cowan family vacation to Colorado. I did about 30 pages during the week (that's what Susan says... I did not count). My thoughts.... I had a lot less scraps of paper, it was hard to fill the "white" space, thanks to Allison Davis sketch books because most of my layouts started from a sketch. I liked it but now I am done... back to 8.5x11 for me.
I was itching to scrap tonight and whipped this one up real quick. I used my July Mind the Gap Studio Calico kit.

1st Day of Kindergarten

New shoes, new uniform, brand new shiny apple, new backpack and she's ready. Ashley starts Kindergarten today! I think she was excited. Drop of went fine, she was quiet but let me leave without any problems. I can't wait to pick her up today and see how it went!

OBX photos

Our family on the beach.

Allison enjoying the NC Aquarium. She also really liked the big tank with sharks!

Ashely at the NC Aquarium, touching starfish and urchins.

Ashley absolutely loved this turtle rescue exhibit at the NC Aquarium. Here her turtle is in the rehab pool.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. This is the lighthouse were the van died turning into see it.

Bodie Island Lighthouse. Pronounced Body as the rude park ranger let me know.

Currituck Beach Light Station

I should include a picture of the van dead on the side of the road, but will spare you those boring pictures.

OBX

We woke up early Saturday morning and were on the road by 6:45 (5:45 central time). We got away from the islands and stopped at a Burger King for breakfast. The van had gone over a set of railroad tracks and jiggled it enough that the fuse problem was back. The guys put in a new fuse and we took off. We got a couple hours under our belt and stopped for lunch. All seemed fine with the van. We got about 10 miles down the road and the problems started again. We pulled over to the side of the highway and changed a fuse. It blew instantly and so did the next three they tried. DEAD! We called AAA to come tow the van to the nearest dealership. The Wilsons crammed in our Yukon and we left Dave's parents with the van. We headed to the nearest town (Lewisburg, West Virgina) to get a rental car. It was an ordeal but after the rental agency's worked together we got a Chrysler Sebring rented. Off we went to the dealership to meet Dave's parents. We started checking into hotels for Dave's parents.... not so lucky, the state fair was in town and they were all booked. Ultimately they decided to leave the van in West Virgina. We unpacked the Yukon and the van and only repacked the necessities. We took off and were determined to get back to St. Louis. We rolled in at 1 PM. The kids did amazing thru the whole ordeal! The van is still in West Virgina (850 miles away) and as of yesterday they still didn't know what was wrong with it. The guys think it is something electrical which is really hard to find and fix.

Sunday we visited with my parents in Illinois for a little bit and got Trinity back. We made it back to our house by 4PM! This trip has been deemed the "Trip from Hell", I think you can see why.

I promise to go thru my photos and give you some nice things to look at about our trip. Maybe tonight!

OBX

I wrote this while still on vacation but Blogger was not liking me that day so I am posting it now. I need to follow up about our trip home in the next post.... Did we make it?

Friday August 12

• Go-Karts (Dave and Ashley versus Chris and Kaitlin)
• Lunch at the house
• Beach!!!
• Pizza for dinner

The beach was awesome today, the ocean was a lot warmer and it was overcast. The girls played and played in the sand. Someone before us had dug a hole and they played in that hole most of the time.

Susan and Dave feel much better. Dave even was drinking beer today, a sure sign he is fine. Susan is still running slower than normal.

I also forgot to mention that there is a great dismal swamp on fire close to the Virgina North Carolina border. If the wind is blowing right the smoke is everywhere and it stinks. On Tuesday when we woke up we thought someone was burning trash... but the further we drove away from the house we knew it had to be something else. It was real smoky again on Thursday.

The van is also back in commission... I am not sure they really know what was wrong with it. Let's hope it makes it back to Missouri!

OBX

Tuesday August 9

• North Carolina Aquarium
  
• Ashley loved the exhibit where they helped rescue a sea turtle (hers had a stomach impaction and she had to administer a laxative and an enema)
• Fort Raleigh National Historical Site and the Lost Colony (Ashley earned a Junior Ranger Badge)
• Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo
  
• Lunch at Full Moon Cafe and Brewery
• Back to the house to Swim
• Dinner at the house, Chris made brats
  

Dave didn't feel right after dinner and went to bed early. He pretty much spent the whole night in the bathroom. We still are not sure if it was food poisoning or some kind of virus. Susan woke up Wednesday morning not feeling to good either. She spent all day Wednesday in the bathroom. Dave and Susan pretty much spent the whole day Wednesday crashed out and with in 10 feet of a toilet.

Wednesday August 10

• Currituck Beach Lighthouse (Wayne, Jamie, Jennifer, Ashley, Kaitlin and Allison)
  
• Lunch in Duck, NC (I don't think I ever caught the name.... but I had shrimp and grits.... and oh my god it was so so good. I am learning to make this at home! YUM!)
• Back to the house to care for the sickly
• Dinner at the house, leftovers
• Jamie's Birthday.... we had cake!
  
• Jamie, Ashley and Kaitlin swimming after dinner
  

Thursday August 11

• Bodie Lighthouse
• Cape Hatteras National Seashore
• Van dies
  
• Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
• Many many stops to change the fuse
  
• Late late lunch at Kill Devil Hills Shakes and Fries
• Hanging at the house
• More leftovers for dinner, plus some cooked shrimp
  

We drove almost one hour from the Bodie Lighthouse to get to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, right as we were about to turn onto the road leading to the lighthouse Dave's parents van died. We all pushed it to the side of the road. We tried jumping it, putting in oil, lots of little tricks, finally the guys figured out it was a fuse. It got it running but it wasn't right, something to do with the oxygen sensors. We have it scheduled to be in the shop tomorrow morning. I hope it gets fixed tomorrow for the long drive home on Saturday.

Susan just left to go to urgent care, she is still not feeling very well. Dave is much better but still not 100%. All he has eaten all day is a milk shake.

North Outer Banks Vacation

Thursday August 4

• We started our vacation after work
• Made it to my parents (In Illinois) for an overnight stay
  

Friday August 5

• Started the long drive at 8 AM
• Off the road at almost 11 PM
• Allison did great, she slept most of the way
• Ashley rode in Grandma and Grandpa's van
  
• We made it to Greensboro, NC

Saturday August 6

• We make it to the Outer Banks
• Drove thru lots and lots of rain
  
• Traffic is crazy trying to get onto the islands
• We swam at the house pool as soon as we got here
• Even though it was raining
• Shrimp dinner at home
  
• Grocery shopping (Wayne was with in $2 of the total)
  

Sunday August 7

• On the beach first thing
• Allison loved it
• Ashley really loved it
• Sand castle building
• Riding the waves, it was cold!
• Back to the house and to the pool
• Water wars with the squirt guns
  
• Dinner at Rundown Diner
• Bailey's Ice Cream for Desert
  

Monday August 8

• Wright Brothers National Memorial
• Chris, Susan, Ashley and Kaitlin made the long hike up the dune
• Ashely and Kaitlin got Jr. Ranger badges
• Lunch at High Cotton BBQ
• Swimming at the pool
• Dinner at home (steaks, corn and salad)
• Making fun of Wayne's cell phone ringer
  

Record Breaking

It's HOT!