The Elenbaas Family: September 2009

Apple Picking

We spent some time at Meijer Gardens last week with Gwen, Rob, and Samantha.

On Saturday we went to Crane Orchards to pick Erin's favorite apples - Honey Crisp. They were delicious. To keep Evie under control we bribed her with a hay ride. She liked the freedom of walking around in a moving vehicle and playing with the straw.

Once picking the apples Evie liked getting into and out of the wagon. When we stopped her, she wasn't too happy.

Indianapolis Zoo

While we were in Indianapolis last week Erin took Evie to the zoo with Grandpa and Grandma Veldhof.

Evie loved the monkeys. She loved them so much that she's been making monkey noises very regularly ever since - "ooh ah ooh ah."

Evie was startled by the walrus every time it swam by,

but the fake one seemed safe.

Labels: Evelyn, zoo

Turkey Run State Park

This weekend Erin, Evie, and I went to Turkey Run State Park in western Indiana. Erin's family had been to the park several times but this was my first visit.

The park is really amazing. I never would have guessed Indiana to have such cool scenery and things like gorges, cliffs, and canyons. We spent most of our free time hiking the beautiful trails. All the trails were roughly 1-2 miles, which was perfect for carting Evie around without driving her crazy.

After a couple of our hikes we rewarded Evie with some play time in the river. She especially enjoyed the mud.

Of course we had plenty of time hanging around the camper and enjoying delicious fire kissed camp food. The playground nearby had a 4 person teeter-totter that Evie loved.

The hikes were way more scenic than I expected. There was an impressive suspension bridge over Sugar Creek.

The ladders hike was really neat. We hiked through a canyon and then needed to climb ladders at the end of the canyon to get out. Half the fun of the ladders was knowing how much my mom would freak out when she saw what we did.

Evie was greatly over-stimulated from the camping experience and would not nap, which led to some classic melt downs. At her worst, she would flail wildly in the hiking backpack trying to fling herself out...which was a bit of a concern for us since it would be a 5 foot fall onto some hard rocks. Eventually she got so tired she'd fall asleep on my back. But overall she was a delight. Her communication is getting much better and we had a lot of time to "talk" with her about what monkeys say and whether it is time for "na na" or not.

Labels: camping, Evelyn, hiking, turkey run

Labor Day 2009

Finally, an awesome weather weekend! Summer seems SO short, but at least we could really enjoy Labor Day weekend. The busy weekend included:

18.5 mile run with Derek
Tubing
Skiing
Golfing
Whiffleball
Volleyball
Swimming

Sadly, the last weekend of the cottage also includes taking out the docks, taking out the boats, and putting everything away for 9 months.

Like every other weekend this summer, Evie was the center of attention. She LOVES Molly and all the attention she gets. She also played very nicely with Esther, Jacob, and Andrew.

On Saturday most of us Elenbaases had an enjoyable round of golf.

I lost by 1 stroke to Derek, partly because my drive on #6 ended up resting 4 feet up in a pine tree.

Labels: baby, boating, cottage, golf

Lousy Weather

It has been the worst weather summer that I can remember. We've had a great amount of time at the cottage, just no good weekend weather. This weekend was more of the same - 60's, rain, and a lot of indoor time.

We still find things to do. For the most part everyone sits around and watches Evie. My mom couldn't resist buying Evie a little doll, which my dad aptly named "Miss $9.99." Evie loved it.

One outdoor activity we end up doing a lot with the poor weather is going for walks.

Evie likes to ride in our backpack carrier, but thought the motorcycle looked more fun.

Last week Erin bought Evie a kid-sized camping chair. At the cottage she was happy to relax, put on her shades, and put her feet up by her good buddy Molly.

Stuffed animals are favorites. Evie can mimic the noises of a monkey, cow, dog, duck, and make a fish face. She's also working on her other words - 1, 2, 3, thank you, mama, dada (although she regularly calls me mama), amen, dog.