Life Through Our Eyes...: September 2009

Thursday, September 24, 2009

guess who is driving????

I have been searching this summer for the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe at garage sales with no luck. So I found them on sale at Toys 'R Us and decided to just get it! Maryn has played with these at several friends houses and loves them. Jeremy put it together last night and this morning it was sitting at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her. She was so excited!!

Maryn and her "new car"!!

So excited she had to eat breakfast in the car...already eating on the run :)

Apple Pickin'

Last week we made our way out to Stuckey Farms to pick apples. It was a gorgeous day and we were with great friends! I think Maryn enjoyed picking apples, but I'm pretty sure she loved the tractor ride a bit more :) Mommy definitely enjoyed the apple cider slushy...yummy! Hopefully we can make a trip back with Daddy to get more apples and pick out our pumpkin.

this apple looks good...

Maryn with her friends Anna, Drew and Ryan

Lovin' the tractor ride!

what a fun time!!!

Visiting the Jones Family in Jacksonville...no not Florida :)

Last August our good friends Andrew, Polly and Oliver moved to the big city of Jacksonville, Illinois (just west of Springfield) where Andrew took a position at Illinois College. We thought it was about time we made the four hour trip over to visit them and to meet their newest addition Addie Beth. We had a great time catching up, playing with the kids, enjoying great food, and touring the town of Jacksonville. What a cute town! Thanks P, A, O, and AB :)

Maryn and Oliver at the park...yea swings!

Enjoying the porch with Maryn and Addie Beth(6 mos)

Such a little girl for a big swing!!

Maryn and Oliver swingin' in their pj's :)

(Maryn and Oliver are about two months apart)

Have you hugged a tree today??

a chilly farewell to the lake for the summer

Unfortunately, this was not a great summer for weekends at the lake and Labor Day weekend was no exception. One nice day and then two cool, cloudy, and rainy days. We made the most of it and hope that next summer brings some more sunshine!

normally Maryn dislikes her life jacket, but she insisted on having it on (over her pj's) to go feed the ducks some cheerios :)

our last boat ride for the summer

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

one day she will not like me for this...

Ok, so Maryn will probably ask one day, "Mom what were you thinking posting this picture?", but I just had to!! It is a proud evening at the Stephenson house because Maryn pooped on the potty tonight!!!!!! Call it beginners luck or just being quick, but our little baby has had one of her first "big girl" moments :) I decided not to share the other picture Jeremy took, but just couldn't resist this one!

swim+bike+run=140.6 miles...all in a day's work!

This past weekend we packed our bags and headed to Louisville, KY to cheer on Jeremy's brother Derek in the Ironman competition. If you aren't quite sure what an Ironman is, let me tell you...

Derek's day started at 6:50am with a 2.4 mile swim in the "beautiful" Ohio River, after that he hopped on his bike for a 112 mile ride through the Kentucky coutryside and then ended the day with a 26.2 mile run. He crossed the finish line with an amazing time of 12 hours and 18 minutes!!!

Our group wasn't hard to miss in our blue and yellow t-shirts with "ever-so-clever" sayings. We kept track of Derek's progress online and followed him as much as possible. We were able to see him start his bike ride and then drove 25 minutes into LaGrange to see him zip by down a hill. Then made it back into Louisville and saw him several times in the marathon. We cheered loud, waved posters, and hopefully gave him the extra boost to keep going.

It was amazing to see all the athletes and the determination they had to conquer this huge challenge. Derek, we love you and are so proud of you!!!!

The bike area...their were 2,500 athletes competing.