Pumpkin Patch!

We had the chance to participate in a traditional Midwestern activity: visiting the pumpkin patch. We ostensible urbanites feared dwelling into the countryside so deeply, but we did have lots and lots of fun. The night before, Quinn had a pretty nasty fall in the house where she hit her cheek on one of our fireplaces. OUCH! Even though there was lots of bleeding and bruising as a result, she was quite the trooper. Pics from the pumpkin patch below!

The pumpkin patch had many activities for kids like this sand box filled with corn (corn box?). We have found that Quinn loves the sand box at school (one of the reasons we took her to the Indiana Dunes the previous week - so that she could experience the biggest sand box she had ever seen).

Then there was this ominous slide...

...and go-carts!

Unfortunately, Quinn's fancy rain boots got a bit muddy. She was cool with that though...

We got to go on a hayride to the pumpkin patch!

...and Quinn bought a sticker from this little entrepreneur...

Dawn talking to our friend's Ian and Talin on the hayride.

We each got to pick a pumpkin

Quinn made baba get this big one...

Mama and Quinn picking out a small pumpkin for Quinn.

Quinn liked this tiny one!

Back on the truck for the hayride (Quinn's getting a little sleepy)...

This is Talin with Oshin. Quinn loves Oshin!

...and this is Ian with Raffi (Oshin's gege--big brother) who Quinn's good friend.

We didn't know that it was "Purdue Day" at the farm, and they pulled out all stops by bringing the Boilermaker Express. What's a Boilermaker? and, why does it have an express? We don't know either...

There was also a petting zoo!
Here is Quinn and Raffi checking out some pigs.

Mama! Chickens!

The highlight for Quinn was the pony rides! This is Quinn and Charlie.

Part of Purdue Day was bringing out the mascot Purdue Pete. Purdue Pete is the creepiest sports mascot we have ever seen (bedecked in a skeleton's outfit no less for Halloween). Quinn was intrigued especially because there were kids that were (curiously) flocking to Purdue Pete. But for us, this is nothing short of child abuse:

Before checking out Purdue Pete though we had to go through a little Hay Maze. That was pretty fun too.


...and then Quinn got to meet Purdue Pete. Even though she wanted to get her picture taken with him, as soon as we got close, the specter of this giant black-eyed demon was too much and she wanted to get away as fast as possible.

So, it was off to the go carts again!

Fun day and Quinn was very excited to get some pumpkins to carve! We finished the day by going to Quinn's favorite restaurant (and the only one she knows by name): Taco Rico.

New Preschool Photos!

Quinn got her pictures taken at preschool the other day and we just got them back. We love them! She looks so grownup and lovely! While baba tends not to like contrived photos where girls are holding flowers and boys are holding balls and baseball bats, he melted when seeing his little lady in these...

Chicago (with Grandma and Grandpa)

So, these are quite late, but here are pics from our trip to Chicago with Grandma and Grandpa Widmer. We had a great time at the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. Quinn had tons of fun.

But first...

Kevin hired some students to do work in the yard, so we made a bunch of banana pancakes before doing the work. Quinn was in charge of cutting the bananas (with a butter knife). She is quite good at this and is very proud (as are mama and baba) of her work!

This also gave mama and Quinn the opportunity to wash the car...

And, then off to Chicago and the Field Museum!

Quinn was very impressed with Sue, the T-Rex.

She also liked the Pirate exhibit which included some life-like pirates on benches around the museum...

There's Grandma Widmer having fun with Quinn.

Then, we made our way over to the Shedd Aquarium...

Quinn loved the Shedd! She liked the big tanks of fish (big tanks of fish? in an aquarium??)...

...and "Nickel" the sea turtle.

Here we all are waiting for the dolphin show (that's Grandpa Widmer in the background)...

Quinn got a little bit impatient...

...but she was very excited when the show started!

A week later, Quinn's preschool had an open house! She had a ton of fun showing us around...

...and hanging out with her friends. This is Ellie...

Quinn got her face painted with a purple butterfly...

...and then she got a balloon from a balloon guy (what are they called?). We're not sure what the purpose was of the stern woman in the background. We guess that she was there to enforce the "no crying" policy if your child's balloon popped. These balloon people take their jobs a little bit too seriously.

Ultimately though, she was very excited to get her balloon (a purple octopus)...

Here is Quinn with her friend Hannah...

Quinn the Funkee Homosapien

We went to the Indiana Dunes today. Had a BLAST, but we foolishly forgot the camera. We were there for a good three hours and Quinn had so much fun running on the sand dunes and seeing Lake Michigan up close and personal. It was a bit chilly, but we dressed warmly and the sun came out too. We will go back soon and will try to remember the camera next time!

Quinn was in a great mood when we got home so she decided to dance a bit to Deltron 3030. She loves any song where she can "wiggle her butt" (her words) and she LOVES this one. Unfortunately we got the video camera after she had been doing it for a while and so only got the tail end (hee hee) of this action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz4p3tfJ5ic

Here's another with mommy too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eHD5UsYLnE

New videos from the zoo!

(coming soon - more pics from Chicago with Grandma and Grandpa!)

We went to the Indy zoo yesterday with Kris and Jeni and their son Stian (noted in the "Featured Child post below). The kids had a blast, and baba was able to get some good videos of the kids, some of which are posted to youtube.

Here is one of the two looking at meerkats (or "meeeerkaaaaaaaats!" as Stian would say).

Here is a video of the two checking out an eel (Quinn kept wanting to see the eel through the video camera).

Video on the carousel with Kris (Quinn was particularly excited to get on the seahorse. She was also excited that her buddy Stian was riding with her).

Getting up close and personal with penguins.

Quinn with the sea jellies and then saying "I love you" in Chinese and then German.

Prepping to see dolphins (didn't get any good videos of the dolphins - sorry!).

"Featured Child of the Week"!

At preschool they feature two children each week. Last week, one of the children was Quinn (and the other was her friend Stian - see his blog here)! Mama and baba are so proud of our "delightful little lady"!

...and then Indy...

And, after we went to Chicago, we went to Indy for the day. There was a Chinese festival and we wanted to go to the zoo.

Quinn loves hanging out at the zoo.

She also loved trying the "Dippin' Dots". We know: it's not real food, but pretty good anyway...

Here you go baba. One for you...

...and one for me...

...and another...

...and another...

...one more...

...and one more for baba...

...and, let's not forget mama...

This is our Bergman shot.

Time for a ride on the carousel. Quinn wanted the seahorse, but someone beat us to it. She loves the elephant too.

Mama got Quinn this purple monkey. Quinn loves anything purple. In fact, she is known as "Purplicious" at school because she loves purple so much. Needless to say, she loved the monkey.

Off to the Chinese festival. Quinn's favorite part was this bouncy thing that mama got to go into with her...

Then off to the Canal Walk. Quinn and mama were having a good time...

Inexplicably, Quinn wanted to show off her belly button.