October Pictures

Here are a few October pictures that haven't made social media yet.

 

8 Months

Poor Gabers, I haven't done his 8 month update. He is keeping us very busy crawling around at speeds I didn't think was possible. He didn't have an 8 month doctors appointment, so there are no new stats. I'm guessing he is around 22-23lbs and maybe 26inches. we'll have to wait a couple weeks to see if I'm close.

 

 Gabriel has learned to wave and crawl really fast. He can climb the stairs all on his own (with us right behind him of course). We think we are close to seeing some teeth come through soon. And just maybe, we might be walking soon. He loves to walk and let us hold his arms.

 

He has been rockin' the Cardinal socks most game days, some days they bring all the luck.

 

Apple butter festival

We headed down to Kimmswick, MO for the Apple Butter Festival this past weekend.  Scott and I had gone a couple years ago and really enjoyed everything that was thereBut before we left picked up Scott's parents and Gabe.  Gabe was able to rock his new hat.  He actually kept this one on for a while.

This year we were in an hours worth of traffic to just get off the highway and find the high school.  Once we were close to the highway the police made us go around and it took another 30 minutes before we could park.  I wasn't too happy about that, however I was really looking forward to checking out the craft booths. 

Once we arrived and the bus dropped us off we started checking out the booths.  There were thousands of people there and really getting around was difficult.  I was very happy we had the baby bjorn for Gabe instead of the stroller. 

When we walked around we only saw a few booths that really caught our eye.  A lot of the booths had knock off purses, scarves, junk.  I only saw 2 apple butter booths and still haven't tried it.  I was disappointed with the lack of craft booths this year.  I could be wrong, there was a lot of people and getting in and out was annoying. 

After walking around we ended up waiting for our bus back to the car and having some fun with Gabe.

LU Girls Night

Friday night I caught up with Keleigh and Carrie for a girls night.  We had planned for a few other girls to join, but it was game 6 of the NLCS and some were lucky enough to have tickets to the game. 

Pumpkin Beer

We met up at Trailhead Brewery for dinner and gossip.  I had never been to Trailhead and I was told they have a great pumpkin beer.  So, we gave it a try and it was really good.  So good that we had 2, I know, living on the edge.

Heart beer - Feelin' the love

Since everything on the menu sounded so good and I'm really on a pretzel kick.  I had a burger with a pretzel bun.  It was amazing!  Even the portabello mushroom sandwich that Keleigh had was amazing (I'm getting that next time). 

It was a great night with the girls to catch up on everything and even better night to cheer on our Cardinals as they won game 6 and advanced to the World Series!

Go Cards!

Pumpkin Patch

We picked a great day to check out Thies's Pumpkin Patch.  It was sunny and a little chilly.  The rain from the night before made the pumpkin patch really muddy, but it was fun.  When we arrived we walked around and debated what we wanted to pay for.  We decided that since Gabe was still really little and shoeless, we would opt for just getting pumpkins and leave the climbing for next year.  The climbing area was an extra $3.75 for adults and Gabe would have been free, however, it wasn't worth spending just yet. 

Our carving pumpkin

Aunt Michelle and Gabe with his pumpkin

We got our wagon and headed to the close pumpkin patch.  Our stroller didn't make it too far, the mud was really sticky and slowed the wheels.  We found two great pumpkins, one to carve and the other to paint.  We even found some pumpkins that were at least 2 times the size of Gabriel. 

We had a lot of fun checking out the pumpkin farm and all that it has to offer.  The best part is that this is 5 minutes from our house!  I think we will be coming back a few more times.

Hump Day

It's Wednesday and normally it's a very routine day, but not today.  We are checking out a daycare and leaving work early, however, that's not the real reason...It's Game 5 of the NLCS, starting in about 20 minutes.

The Cardinals are so close to making to the World Series and St. Louis is going crazy.  I may have been the force behind us wearing our Cards gear to work the last couple days.  The one day we didn't, we lost. 

So, now I can't focus on work for the next hour.  It's time to listen to the radio and hear Mike Shannonisms - Get up baby, get up!

Go Cards!

Columbus Day

We attended the Columbus Day parade on the Hill.  The picture above is from the St. Louis Post Dispatch.  I had to circle the 3 of us watching.  Here is the link to the actual post from the paper.

This is our corner.  Every year we hang out at Debbie's and have a great view, get some candy and enjoy a meal that Debbie prepares for us, and everyone else that enjoys her pizza. 
 

This was Gabe's first parade, ever.  You could tell he wasn't too sure what to think about all the sirens, people throwing candy, and loud cars.  But he didn't cry, so I'm saying he liked it.  He was a little tired from being up so early cheering Scott on in the half, so he most likely would of rather been sleeping. 

But Gabe was a hit with the nuns from the Sacred Heart Villa that came to see the parade and ended up taking pictures of him and Scott.  I thought it was funny, Scott standing among the Sisters.

I even ran into my old babysitter.  I had to verify with one of the nuns before going up and saying hi.  But it was great to catch up with Virginia after 20+ years.  It was a beatuiful day for Gabe's first parade, next year he will be with the other kids grabbing the candy.

Go! St. Louis Halloween Half

Scott ran his second half marathon of the year this past weekend.  He ran the Go! St. Louis half in April, a mere 2 months after Gabe was born and not as much training as he would have liked.  He almost beat his PR in that race.  This weekend he ran the Go! St. Louis Halloween half marathon and managed to get a PR!

All three of us were up bright and early Sunday morning and drove downtown for the race.  We got there will plenty of time to find a decent parking spot and walk to the start line.  This race was a little different, we got to hang out with Scott and take a couple pictures before he left us to get in line.  The best part was he knew where we would be watching for the start.

Once Scott left Gabe and I, we waited and watched all the people and the great costumes line up.  Gabe was happy to see the bright lights of the lead police car right in front of us.  My favorite parts of watching is the very beginning, when the wheelchair runners start.  It's very emotional for them and inspiration to watch.  And of course, who doesn't like watching someone cross the finish line, whether it's first place or 56th, it's a huge achievement.

After Scott ran past us at the start, Gabe and I followed the crowds over a couple blocks to catch them at the first water station.  Gabe quickly learned all about cow bells.  We grabbed Scott's long sleeve shirt and went back to the finish area to wait for those finishing the 10K race and the costumes.

We caught up with Scott about a mile from the finish line on Market St. and Gabe did his best to cheer his dad on.  Then we walked a block over to cheer some more as he ran the last leg up Chestnut.  Once Scott ran past us, we power walked our way to the finish line to meet up with Scott and find out his time. 

Scott's official time was 2 hours and 54 seconds!  Way to go!  Now we wait 2 weeks till the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon.

Fall Festivies

Fall is quickly becoming on my for favorite times of the year.  We have so many things going on and it's wonderful to be outside enjoying it all.  This past weekend we finally got decent fall weather, the highs were in the 60s and it was time to bring out the long sleeves and jackets.

We didn't do too much on Saturday, we ran errands and watched football at home.  It was really nice to have a Saturday where we were not rushing anywhere or had a plan for the entire day.  And the Huskers won, so all is right.

On Sunday we got moving early in the morning to make it down to Missouri Botanical Gardens (MoBot) to check out the Missouri's Best fair that goes on every October.  This has become a yearly tradition for Scott and I, and really, it's a free breakfast/lunch/dinner depending on the time of day you go.  The samples are insane.  There are so many different types of foods to try and wines to drink.  Plus, there are a lot of woodwork and crafts to check out.  All from local Missouri businesses.  After going so many years in the afternoons, we found that getting there as close to the open works out great for stroller movement.  It was busy but we weren't constantly saying sorry for running over people.

Afterwards, we said good-bye to Michelle(she headed off to work) and on to Ursuline's Fall Festival.  This is the first year since I was a senior that I attended Fall Festival.  A lot has changed in those 15 years!  There were more booths, more kids activities, more crafts being sold, more fun to share with Gabe.  I ran into a couple people from my class and their kids.  Gabe is still just a little too young to really do anything, next year will be better.  I saw teachers and coaches from my time at UA.  Then Scott and I hung around for a little pre field hockey alumni game.  I wasn't going to play but it was nice to see my Varsity coach and cheer heckle Loreen on against a bunch of Freshmen. 

We left and headed home to enjoy an afternoon at home watching football and relaxing.  It was a very relaxing weekend and we even managed to do some cleaning and rearranging in the basement.

Little swimmer

We have a swimmer!  We took Gabriel swimming at my parents hotel in Omaha to get him tired before the wedding.  Since we haven't bought a real swim suit for him but a pair of shorts that he will quickly outgrow worked just fine.

We started out in the hot tub since the big pool was a little too chilly to start in.  He mostly sat on our laps and tried to figure out what the big bath tub was all about.  We did some splashing and spinning and he was pretty happy. 

A little later we moved over to the big pool.  It was still pretty cool, but warmed up fast.  We did more splashing and spinning in the water.  There were a lot of smiles after this new adventure and that makes me excited for swim lessons!