His Feet Were Made for Walking

Guess what everybody? Big news! Our little man is now walking! Wow! Although he started walking much later than his sister did, at 14 months vs. Bree's 11 months, he's quickly making up for it by not only just taking a few steps at a time, but walking across whole rooms. I guess he decided he wanted to wait until he was really sure he could do it well. So here's some shots of the action for you:

Here he comes!

You can tell it's first thing in the morning because of the PJ's and the super soggy diaper. :)

Brianna was pretty excited about her brother walking. She said, "Now he's not a baby anymore, he's a toddler!"

There he goes back the other way...

Of course, what better way to commemorate your first walk than to do it the second time around with celebratory, silly accessories? At least, that's the way we do it around here.

Oh yeah baby! Groove those glasses and purple hair clip! (Brianna accessorized him.)

Aside from establishing his big boy status by walking all over the place now, as Noah gets older it's becoming obvious just how "all boy" he is. Some of his favorite activities lately that exhibit his maleness include: crashing into things around the house on his little tiny push bike, dunking his head over and over again in the kiddie pool and coming up gasping and laughing, kicking the back of his big sister's seat in the double stroller until she yells and then trying to look innocent, and climbing up onto whatever he can. Did I mention that he also finds nose-blowing and burping quite amusing? He actually applauds for them! Yes, it's apparent that Noah has a bit of a mischievous streak.

On top of all this he's also started talking a lot more. Well, okay, he has a few words that the general populous could understand and the rest are sort of nonsense sounds that only Mom can understand. But, I know what he means because he says the same "word" consistently for certain things. Right now he can say: "uh-oh" when he drops something, "ga-ga" for Grandma, and "ba" for binky. He also barks when he sees a dog and has "words" I can't quite express in writing for kitty and all done.

The little guy is just flourishing with every passing day. All that learning and growing is enough to make a mini-dude pretty tired! So when he needs a break he does something that I find perhaps most amusing thing about him lately- getting up into a patio lounge chair and laying there with his hands behind his head. (I'll try to snap a shot for you later.) It's pretty hysterical. :) He's sure a character and charms me everyday with his funny little personality.

Pick A Peck of Peaches

It's that lovely time of year for gardeners when they get to start harvesting some of the fruits and veggies they've been so patiently nurturing all summer long. At my grandma's house, (aka Bree's "Grape Grammy"), it was her peach tree that was full of ripe fruit, ready for picking, and she thought it would be fun to have Brianna and Noah over to help gather them.

Bree was an eager helper and immediately started up the ladder and went to work finding peaches.

Up and down she went...

And here she is showing off her finds. She was pretty proud of herself.

How's that for a classic fall portrait? :)

Not wanting to be left out, little brother was soon trying to climb up the ladder as well.

Of course, he was too small to actually use the ladder. But, with an assist from Grandpa he got in on the action as well.

Here can't you just see him thinking, "Wait, am I supposed to be picking the peaches or the leaves? Hmmm...."

Counting the spoils...

Being in somewhat of a putting things in and out, and in and out, and in and out over and over again type phase, Noah continued to "organize" peaches, long after Bree had lost interest.

And after sorting the peaches got a bit old, the ladder continued to be a source of great interest and entertainment for Noah. He is just sure he's a full grown man now and wants to be Mr. Independent Big Britches.

But he could only really get up one rung before getting stuck and having to be rescued.

Finally, Noah decided it was time to taste the day's bounty...

...and quickly discovered that peaches are covered in a pretty non-palatable fuzz.

"Grape Grandpa" came to the rescue, showing Noah how it's done.

Grandpas sure are useful that way. :)

Yep nothin' cuter or more classic than a kid sitting with some sun-warmed, freshly picked fruit in Grandma's lawn on a gorgeous fall day.

Except maybe for one pig-tailed little peach-picker, looking rather satisfied with herself.

Moons and Dunes

It's a little known fact that Idaho has it's own tiny slice of the Sahara, otherwise known as the Bruneau Sand Dunes. Actually, most of Idaho is technically a desert but rolling sand dunes are what most people picture when they're thinking about deserts.

Bruneau Sand Dunes, Idaho

It looks pretty odd, just a valley of sand dunes out in the middle of farm land, looking like they accidentally fell out of the sky from out of Egypt or something. Scientific explanation for them? Apparently there are eroding hills not too far away that create sand particles. The sand is then carried off in a wind heading towards this particular valley. At the valley the prevailing wind, carrying the sand is met by more wind but this one's headed in the exact opposite direction. So, these winds equal out and the sand is dumped in the valley, and there it stays since neither wind is strong enought to carry the sand back out again. Well, anyways, they're definitely a unique feature in Idaho, something to see just to say you did.

Of course, no one comes just to look at them. The fun part about visiting the dunes is climbing up them, and then finding fun ways to come back down! The best way being to sled down! It's like a winter scene in the summer only with sand instead of snow and bermuda shorts instead of ski boots. Or, if you're my brother who's a pretty darn good snow boarder, you can even snow board down them, or would that be called sand boarding?

Another great feature at Bruneau is the nice little lake nestled right at the foot of the biggest dune. It has a beautiful beach and shallow water, perfect for little swimmers.

Noah crawled right in and was happily splashing around, with Bree hot on his heels. Meanwhile, I was determined to make a sand castle.

They had a blast in the water....and I'm still working on the sand castle.

Of course, for Noah, one of the most important parts of any day is the snack food.

The Bruneau Sand Dunes park also has an observatory and is home to the largest telescope in Idaho. Turns out that the middle of nowhere is the perfect place to get a great view of the stars at night, no "light pollution." And, luck was with us, they were having guided star tours the night we stayed there so we got to peek through the 12 ft., 25 inch diameter scope to see the Ring Nebula. We also saw Jupiter and it's moons, and great views of our moon close up.

The moon over the dunes.

But the real bragging rights of any sand dunes trip come from climbing "the big dune" that reaches up 470 feet in the sky. It's a pretty steep hike, but I can tell you, the view from the top is great!

See, that's me, the ant on the very right. That's right, Nefertiti's got nothin' on me!

Fair!

This last weekend it was that time of year again, time for the county fair! Seems like just yesterday we were there last year. How time flies, and what a difference a year makes in a child's life. Check it out, this was Noah at the fair last year:

Just a few weeks old.

But this year, he was old enough to walk around the fair (with a little help) and do all kinds of things.

One of the highlights for him and Bree both was the little animal petting area they have set up so the kids can get up close and personal with barnyard animals.

Bree had fun but since it was the first time for Noah even seeing some of these animals he was really excited about the whole thing. He was all smiles and happy screeches for all the animals but he especially liked the goats.

He kept wanting to lean over and try to look them right in their faces and talk to them.

He seemed to fall in love with one goat in particular though, as you can see....And it must have been one heck of a good first kiss judging by the look on his face afterwards!

Not only is it a fun place to get to pet a pig and kiss a goat for the first time, the fair is also a great location for some cute photo ops:
Here's Bree taking a small rest on a perfect child sized stump and even taking the time to pose for the camera, a rarity for her. Usually she's too busy running around to be bothered to pose. :)

A cute shot of Brianna with her "Goo Goo."
My parents had so much fun last year when they just happened to be in town during the fair that they've decided to make it an annual event with the kids.

But, speaking of photo ops, one of our favorite stops at the fair has to be the silly photo backgrounds at the Viking booth. It's quickly becoming a traditional stop on our fair route.
Bree being a monster

Grandpa being a troll.

Grandma, the little Viking girl.

This year Bree's eye was caught by a face painting booth. Naturally, since she regularly pretends to be "Polka Dots" the cat, she chose to get her face painted like a cat. However, not just any regular cat, she specified that she'd like to be a green and blue cat.

Bree was thrilled with the end result, and went around the rest of the day meowing and saying "I look just like a cat don't I?"

We also stopped for awhile to watch a clown putting on a show.

This was Bree's face as she watched him...
She even got in on the act, getting called up to help hula hoop for a few minutes.
Then it was time to head over to the main event, the games and rides.
We started out on the carousel. Noah wasn't too sure at first, but quickly warmed up to the whole idea. After that, he actually cried when it was time to get off any of the rides.

Bree, Noah, and Grandma taking a spin in the kiddie car ride. Grandma had to jump in there to help Noah sit up and stay safe.

And he had a blast too! Here he is throwing up his arms as he rides even. (What can I say? My kids are just not the shy, reserved, or timid types. They're more on the loud daredevil side. Don't know where they got it from!)

Although, looking at my mom's face, I'm not sure who had more fun, Mom or the kids.

Bree and I took a break from the rides and did some "fishing," winning ourselves a little stuffed animal.

Bree even rode a small roller coaster ride all by herself, getting a real thrill out of it.

Of course, what would the fair be without having some of the traditional fair food? We wrapped our day up snacking on some of the most sugary, unhealthy, wonderful food we could find. :)Sharing a caramel apple...

topped off with some cotton candy.
It was Noah's first time having the fluffy clouds of sugar, and as you can see, he's double fisting it! And although both kids love the stuff, they weren't above sharing with Grandma.

Yep, it was another good year at the fair.