The Wilds

One perk of my job is getting to work outside occasionally. On Thursday, I had the family join me on a part-work, mostly-fun excursion to check out a potential research location: The Wilds. This is a nearly 10,000 acre wildlife conservation center managed by the Columbus Zoo that focuses on species that are endangered or extirpated (go ahead - look it up, this could be your word of the day). I am hoping to do water quality research there but that is besides the point - there were big animals! Really close! The Sichuan takin:

 Even though The Wilds does not open until May, we had a hands-on tour from a friend/colleague who also happens to be the Chief Science Officer for the Columbus Zoo and The Wilds. WE GOT TO RUB BABY RHINOS ON THE CHIN AND TUMMY! Highlight for me. Asher wasn't fond of the rhinos, he started crying when he saw my hand (and much of my forearm) disappear inside a mama rhino's mouth. Even though it came out unharmed, just minus an apple and really slobbery, Asher starting screaming and didn't calm down until we were out of the rhino barn. Cadie feeding a baby greater one-horned Asian rhino:

 The giraffes were fun as well. They like romaine lettuce.

Below is the animal that made me nervous. It got really excited when Asher started walking away from the adults. 

As a research location it is probably not going to pan out but the family is looking forward to heading back again in the summer when there are more animals out in the pastures. 

Family = Love

We made a quick trip to Salt Lake City for my dear grandmother's funeral. Here is one of my favorite pictures of Bestemor about 8 years ago on my brother's bike:

One from last summer when Asher got to meet her:

She turned 100 years old last November and lived a very full life but it was still hard to say goodbye. All of her living posterity, 3 kids, 13 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren were in town for the first time in over ten years. Family = joy = love. 

I am so grateful that families are forever.

Cousins Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas in Denver with Grandma T and the cousins. While the best part was spending time with family we did get to do some fun things, including many firsts for the little Toes.

Asher's first snow shovel - helping clear the driveway to make room for some hoops. 

Trying out some wheels:

Cadie rides a bike! She has only ever ridden a balance bike and so we were amazed when she hopped right on her cousins bike and was able to pedal away. I guess it is time for her own big girl bike.

First ice skating! Also first harnessed rock climbing (no pictures). The little girl enjoyed both while the parents took turns trying to keep the little boy entertained.

 We spent time with the dinosaurs at Denver's science museum.

 Where there were plenty of activities for even the smallest.

 New snow for Christmas day sledding.

 It was fabulous to be with family for Christmas. And there were gifts.

 And silly faces with cousins.

And although I don't have the photos to document it, my favorite memory was the cousin dogpile on Eric. We all had a great time.

She's FIVE

Little miss had her 5 year old well-child visit yesterday complete with two pokes. She was brave but turned on the tears when it was over. She cheered up a little bit when I explained what the chicken pox vaccine is and what it does. I love how interested she gets in how things work, including our bodies. She has also become very interested in what we are eating at every meal and where (what animal) it comes from. She keeps telling us that she is a vegetarian (except for bacon), we'll see how this goes.

The average height of a 5-yr old girl is 42 inches with a standard deviation of 1.5 inches, so assuming a normal distribution, 95% of 5-yr old girls are between 39 and 45 inches tall. Any guesses how tall Cadie measured? {Scroll to the end to see}

Little miss came in at 46.5 inches - this is 3 standard deviations above the average. If she continues on this trajectory - 3 SD's above average for an adult female is 6 ft 1 inch. Time to enroll in basketball and volleyball lessons? My favorite picture of her from our recent photo shoot:

I love this girl! 

Picture catch-up

More than a month in review:
Life just keeps going and while I don't have much time to reflect just now I'll post some pictures of the past month plus:
Yellow Springs (Ohio) street festival and hiking



Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (and Asher walks!)

A weekend in Chicago - here the kids science museum

Cadie on a CAMEL in downtown Chicago (huh?)

Bundled up in the ferris wheel on Navy Pier, this was 2 days after we were in bare feet and shorts on the beach at Lake Michigan - drastic weather change.

Football (the american version)

Visits from presidential candidates: (did you know Ohio was important?)

Fall fun.

Halloween!

Cadie turns five! How did that happen?

Birthday party at Wendy's gymnastics.

GOOOOOALLLL

September has been a month of soccer. Cadie is playing on a team for the first time. She loves it and we love watching her run after the ball with an ear-to-ear grin.

Eric and I went to the Men's world cup qualifier against Jamaica. USA, USA, USA. 

Check out all the American flags in the crowd and the awesome Where's Waldo uniforms. 

We won! 1 to 0. 

1 year!

How is it that this little boy is already 1?

We celebrated by having a couple of neighbor families over for dinner. They were all involved in Asher's early entrance last Labor Day weekend. It was a sweet celebration. Asher's dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, egg-free cake. Can it really be called a cake? At least it had real chocolate. And lots of sugar.

Ash thought it was delicious and happily munched away while we all ate our dinners. I'm not sure he even threw any on the ground. No after-bath necessary.

More cake the day after:

Here come his stats and growing pictures:

31 1/2 inches tall, 92 percentile, 3/4" taller than C at this age

20 lbs 12 oz, 12 % (!!), 1/2 lb. lighter than C

He doesn't seem that skinny so this stat surprises me.

4 teeth with 2 more on the way

Cruises around holding onto furniture, walls, his sister, or anything he can grab a hold of and he just started standing without support. 

2 weeks old:

One year old! waving to the camera.

We also met with his allergist this week and found out he is classified as severely allergic. His numbers from the blood test in April were incredibly high (bad) - total IgE count was 383, people without allergies have a count less than 0.35. His counts were especially high for eggs, wheat, and nuts. We will have him tested again next April but in the mean time we are going to try to re-introduce cow's milk. Wish us luck! It would be heavenly to be able to have cheese and ice cream again...

His skin looks great. Between diet, lotion and near-daily baths his rashes and eczema have nearly disappeared. Yay! Overall a happy, healthy, adorable kid. We love him!