Fall Festival

Yesterday we went to the Farmington Valley Equipment Fall Festival.  This is a local store where Ryan bought his chainsaw.  There were other fall events around town but this one had free food and tractors for Ethan so we decided to check it out.

Ethan loved it. He ran around  looking at all the tractors, mowers and other equipment they had out. He didn't want to get off to eat the burgers, fries, ice cream and other goodies they had!

The balloons were also a big hit.

 He already knows to keep his eye on the ball! He loved this and actually managed to hit the ball a couple of times. He is still working on his sharing skills and was not happy when other kids wanted to try it out. Ethan was a little too young for the other activities like the giant slide and pumpkin painting so we will definitely have to remember this for next year.

Our busy boy

Ethan has been a busy boy. Here are some of his latest adventures.

His new favorite book is Hooray for Fish. We read it all the time.  His last favorite book, Dig, Dig, Digging, was completely destroyed after Ethan ripped out each page.  He knows how to stay up later at night by asking us to read him more books.  Ryan is a softy and would probably read to him all night long if I let him!

We got rid of the binky.  When he turned one we started making him keep it in his crib.  He was really good at spitting it out before we would pick him up. Last Saturday we couldn't find one so he went to bed without it.  He was fine so we hid them once we found him and haven't had a problem.  We were hoping to get rid of the binky before the new baby came, but I didn't think it would be this easy.

Last Friday Ryan took Ethan on a father/son camp out with our church.  Ethan had a blast and Ryan was relieved that Ethan actually slept through the night.  They might have to wait a couple of more years to go again, it was too difficult for Ryan to carry multiple loads of stuff from the car to the campsite while trying to keep Ethan next to him. 

Ethan still mostly babbles but has a few more words and signs.  He now says 5 words, ish (fish) wa-wa (water) ma-ma, woo-woo(train) che-che (leche) and geka (Rebecca).  He has said da-da a couple of times as well as E-en for himself.  He's pretty stubborn so if he doesn't want to say something, he won't. He calls Ryan "ma-ma" no matter how hard Ryan tries to get him to say da-da.  He started saying Rebecca's name when we were in Vermont.  The other day he was looking at his family picture book and when he got to the page with Rebecca, he came running over to me to show me her picture while shouting geka!

 He loves bubbles, but now wants to do it all by himself.  He can dip the wand in but still hasn't managed to blow any bubbles.  By the end of bubble time most of the solution is on him. 

 He gets very excited when Ryan comes home.  I'm not sure if its because his daddy is home or that he brings him crackers every day.  Ryan's students get free breakfast but often don't eat it all so Ryan has been bringing home bags of animal crackers almost every day.  So now when Ethan sees his car he starts signing "cracker"! 

Our neighbors got a piano and gave us their old keyboard.  Ethan loves it and has learned how to turn it on and press the button the plays "livin la vida loca" He is quite the little dancer! I keep trying to catch it on video haven't been fast enough.  He also makes it go into dj mode and makes some interesting beats while banging on the keys.  Good thing there is volume control and I can keep it low!

We have been eating outdoors a lot this summer.  This little table was my 4th birthday present (and Justin's too but I claimed it since he doesn't have kids!) and Ethan loves to sit there.  He likes to bring his food outside just so he can sit there.  We got him a set of plastic fish plates since he has a tendency to throw things when he's done with it.  At first he wouldn't eat on them and would throw his food off so he could see the fish.  

His favorite outdoor toy right now is his tricycle. He hasn't quite mastered using the pedals, but he sure tries!  Usually he just ends up standing behind it and pushing it around the driveway. Which is much better then when he wanted me to lean over and push him around.

This isn't about Ethan, but I was really excited to go to Toysrus and buy these 6 games and 2 candy bars for exactly $1.00!  I love coupons :)

Ok this isn't about Ethan either. The other day my friend Clair and I canned raspberry jam.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I only burned myself once. Next year we are definitely planting our own raspberry bushes. I also made a ton of tomato sauce (and burned my wrist) and more salsa then we know what to do with.  I'm kind of glad the growing season is almost over, my hands can't handle any more burns or cuts!

Labor Day Weekend

This year we went up to Vermont for Labor Day weekend with my parents and Rebecca.  I was a little worried because my parent's lodge is not Ethan-proof, but Ethan actually did pretty well up there.  On Saturday we went to the Vermont State Fair.  I brought the camera, but unfortunately I forgot to put a memory card in it so no pictures.  First we headed to the animal exhibits were Ethan has a blast running around to see all the different animals. Ryan enjoyed going to the gardening building after. It started to rain just as we were going to find lunch and we lucky enough to find a place to eat under and stay mostly dry.  We all got our farm favorites and headed back out when the rain stopped.  We thought the pig racing was hilarious but Ethan liked the exotic petting zoo better.  He even tried to climb into the camel enclosure.  Before we left, we got some great ice cream and Ryan tasted some maple products.

On Sunday we hung out at the lodge.  Fortunately we had a memory card back at the lodge so I did get to take some pictures.

 Ethan loves to help in the kitchen and helped Grandpa and Daddy make breakfast each morning.

 It was cold up there! Though it felt kind of nice after the hot summer we had.  We took a walk down Bingo Road that morning without the stroller.  Which was unfortunate since half way through, Ethan wanted to be carried.  Grandpa and Daddy had to take turns carrying him since he is too heavy for me now!

We stopped at the brook and Ethan had a blast throwing rocks in the water.  We had to drag him away to go back for lunch.

In the afternoon, when it was a little warmer, we all headed over to the swimming hole.  I don't think I've gotten in the water in years, it is much too cold now that I am not a kid.  Again Ethan had no problem sitting next to the water throwing rocks in. 

 He threw in little rocks

and big rocks

He probably threw enough in to make a small dam

and was quite proud of himself.

He even got to throw some in with Grandma.

Ethan was not happy when we took him away from the water to get a family photo. 

We brought the stroller this time, but Ethan wasn't allowed to go back in it.  While he was throwing rocks, my mom and I were collecting some for a craft project.  My Dad mentioned that he always takes one or two unusual ones home to add to his rock walls.  Ryan decided that he was going to as well and chose a really heavy one.  The rock got the stroller seat (our bags of little rocks were already in the storage basket underneath) and Ethan had to walk.

At least he had Grandpa and Grandma to help him get back to the lodge.

We went to dinner at Peavines, a place my parents always talk about but somehow I'd never been.  Ethan loved it at first; it had trains all over the place and 2 that went around on tracks above us.  However they also had this large talking robotic bird that randomly talks and it freaked Ethan out.  He spent the rest of the night hiding in either my or Ryan's arms. They also had a pirates chest that came down from the ceiling, which he was also not thrilled about until he saw he could pick a prize (bubbles). Ryan and I decided to leave after dinner so that Ethan would sleep most of the way home and made it home in a record 3 hours and 15 minutes.  It was nice to be able to spend Monday relaxing at home instead of driving back at some point. We would love to go up to visit in the fall with the beautiful fall colors but I refuse to make the drive up there that close to my due date.  We will have to settle for the fall foliage here in CT.