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We headed to the State Fair early in
the morning, and spent about half a day checking out the sights. This
was, of course, Lucy's first visit to the State Fair.
Friday, 2-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| We arrive
at the U of M, where we parked. Lucy looks ready to see what this
whole fair business is about |
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Lucy and
Sean, heading into the fairgrounds |
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| We had
breakfast at a nice little greasy spoon |
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And
breakfasts.. |
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| Our first
stop was the pet center, where we watched dogs demonstrating obedience.
We also met a couple of wonderful Border Collies |
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Stopping
for a little grass-walking interlude |
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| Lucy, the
observer |
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Family
photo |
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| Lucy
enjoyed the feel of the cool grass |
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Applying
suntan lotion |
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| Lucy tries
to figure out what the next thing to check out will be |
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Flirting
with strangers |
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| Fair
sights |
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Lucy |
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| Fair
sights |
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Joana |
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| Some more
walking |
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Lots of
stuff in the back of the stroller to investigate |
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| Sean was
excited to get a shot of this PH digger stand, since we have a similar PH
digger |
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Sean and
Lucy |
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| Lucy
watching stuff |
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Joana took
some very nice (artistic) tractor photos, on machinery hill |
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| Old
tractor |
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Kubota
badge |
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| Sean and
Lucy explore Kubota-land |
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Lucy
checks the tread on one of the smaller Kubotas |
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| Lucy was
excited to sit up on the seat of one of the Kubotas |
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John Deere
"H", wonderfully restored |
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| Another
view of the Johnny Popper |
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Transmission cover and work light |
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| Lucy
explores one of the newer (and smaller) John Deere garden tractors |
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Lucy next
to green tractor |
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| Row of JD
lawn tractors |
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The lawn
tractor for everyman |
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| I forget
what this attachment was. (Notice how I comment on the tractor, when
we have a photo including tractor and humans). |
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Lucy
giggles at a big group of balloons |
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| More
giggling |
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Exploring
the world under a picnic table |
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| Hi Dad! |
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We stopped
for lunch in front of the MPR stage, where we listened to Gary Eichten do
his show. |
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| Lucy |
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Lucy |
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| Tram |
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Gary
interviewed Tim Pawlenty, though we are such MPR fans that seeing Gary in
person is always much more thrilling than seeing the politicians that he
interviews |
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| Lucy was
pretty excited to see some horses |
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Checking
out the horses |
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We took Lucy to her first
wedding–that of one of Joana's coworkers. Since Lucy is well into
toddlerhood now and never sits still for long, we just stayed for the
wedding–not the reception.
Sunday, 4-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Lucy loved
wandering around before the ceremony started. The mark on her nose is
a scrape from our visit to the State Fair, where she tripped and fell on her
face |
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Lucy and
Joana |
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| Mother and
daughter |
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Heading to
the car |
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On Labor Dady, we headed out to
Prescott to visit Sean's Dad, but first stopped at a local park in Prior
Lake, to give Lucy some play time.
Monday, 5-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| A bit
sleepy, on her way to the park |
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A little
frustrated, to be in the car when she wants to be outside playing |
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| Our
destination |
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Nice
playground–and no one else there on a Monday morning |
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| Joana and
Lucy |
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Lucy
enjoys the slide |
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| We hold
her all of the way down–she seems a bit nervous that Mom is going to let go |
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By far,
the most fun at the park was playing in the sand |
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| Lucy just
loves digging into the sand, and letting it fall through her fingers |
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Or
occasionally sticking her head in the sand |
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| Reaching
for a handful |
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Since it
rained recently, the sand was a bit sticky. Lucy was fascinated with
how it stuck to her hand. |
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| So much
sand, so little time.. |
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Sand,
sand, sand |
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| And some
of it won't fall off of her hands |
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But it's
cool when she can drop it onto her jeans |
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| Feels
funny on the fingers |
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Fascination |
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Concentrating on sand |
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Lucy |
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| Joana
looks on |
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Joana |
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| Lucy and
Joana |
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Lucy |
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| What the
sand sees |
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Action
shot! |
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| Look at
the jeans–sand scattered all over them |
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Close-up
of the situation |
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| Lucy and
sand on her fingers |
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Ditto |
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| Lucy |
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Another
close-up |
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| After lots
of time playing in the sand, we walked over to the picnic pavilion and Lucy
walked around, trying her new shoes out |
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But there
were so many interesting things to pick up! |
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| Lucy under
the picnic table |
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Putting
the hat back on |
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Interesting hunk of gum |
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Not for
the faint of heart–running with a sharp stick! |
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| Lucy
giggles at something Daddy is doing |
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Lucy at
the park |
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| Concrete
feels good to touch |
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Interesting trash barrels |
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| Continuing
on the trash barrel inspection |
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Something
else interesting has been spotted |
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| Joana
looks on |
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Stopping
for a brief sit |
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After our park visit, we headed to
Prescott to visit with Sean's Dad, who is battling Melanoma.
Monday, 5-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Heading
out on a walk |
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John and
Joana chat.. |
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| ..while
Lucy enjoys the sun |
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Joana,
Lucy and Grandpa John |
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Our friend Matt came over Friday
night to join us for burgers and corn-on-the-cob. We gave Lucy an ear
of corn to play with, which she enjoyed quite a bit.
Friday, 9-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Playing on
the porch with a corn cob |
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Or should
we say–"wielding" the corn cob? |
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| A little
nibbling, now and then |
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Or tossing
it through the porch railing, which was another fun game |
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Hi Mom! |
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| A girl in
overalls with her cob of corn–is it obvious that we're in the country? |
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| "Wielding"
again |
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| She keeps
coming back to this table |
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A quick
switch from corn cob to leaves |
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| Bugs? |
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Leaves are
just as fascinating |
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| Heading to
other places, corn cob in hand |
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| Clearly,
this was the best toy that she's played with in months! |
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We enrolled Lucy in a local swimming
school. Saturday morning, we took her for her first lesson. It
turned out that she absolutely loved the water.
Saturday, 10-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Getting
dressed |
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Joana and
Lucy, ready for the class to start |
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| Lucy was
curious about the whole pool thing |
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We've had
Lucy swimming a few times before this, and she's always just loved the water |
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| The
teacher was great, explaining all the different things that they tried and
working through them with Lucy |
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We were
also quite fortunate, in that Lucy is the only child in her swimming
class–so we get one-on-one time with the teacher |
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| Lucy likes
riding around in the water with Mom |
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One of the
exercises was to sit Lucy on the edge of the pool and then have her jump in
to Mom (which she did eagerly) |
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Lucy even
tolerated the back floats, which apparently most kids don't like |
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| Back
floating |
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Joana
points to the dolphin cutouts hanging from the ceiling, but Lucy is watching
Daddy |
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| Lucy with
a dolphin |
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After her
first dunking |
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| Joana and
Lucy |
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Making
splashes |
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| Lucy was
pretty excited at the whole thing |
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More
splashing |
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| Another
dunking. Amazingly, our teacher said that babies don't swallow water
when being dunked–even if they have their mouths wide open |
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Sitting on
the edge, ready for another leap into the pool |
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| They sang
"Humpty Dumpty" (he falls off the wall, into the pool) |
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Happy
swimming girl |
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| Excited at
the tummy float |
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Playing
with toys on a floating raft |
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| On the
raft |
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Lucy |
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| Happy girl |
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Eyeballing
the various toys, strewn all over the pool |
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Some shots of Lucy in the car seat,
headed somewhere.
Friday, 16-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Patient
girl |
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Zoning
out, looking at her mirror |
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| I think
she was ready to get out of the car seat at this point |
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Lucy |
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Lucy's 2nd swimming class.
Saturday, 17-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Goldfish ! |
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Eating
goldfish in the car, on the way to swimming class |
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| Maybe Dad
wants one |
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Dad said
something silly |
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| Silly ! |
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Mmm |
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| Sitting at
the edge of the pool, ready to jump in |
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And she
gets wet |
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| She was
constantly giggling, having fun |
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The
teacher pour water on Lucy, to get her wet–which Lucy found to be hilarious |
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| Back
floats |
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She
giggled whenever she made a splash |
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| More back
floating |
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She just
loves making splashes |
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| More water
on the head |
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They sing
"Humpty Dumpty" and when they get to the "had a great fall" part, Lucy is
supposed to jump in. Lucy was so eager, she'd generally jump in as
soon as she heard "Humpty" |
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| Sploosh |
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Ready for
another one |
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| More
splashing |
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| Swimming
circles around Mom |
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She really
giggled when they passed her back and forth |
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| Whee! |
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Very happy
1+ yr old |
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| Setting
some toys aside for later |
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They were
moving around the pool, collecting various toys, and Lucy wanted to bring
all of them with her–so she'd generally put at least one in her mouth |
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| Grabbing
for the next toy |
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A little
water in the face, perhaps? |
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| More back
floating, with teacher |
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Hehehe |
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| Just
having a good time |
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Lucy
tolerated the back floats, but definitely preferred being on her stomach |
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| Although
back floats allowed her to look at the dolphins hung from the ceiling |
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London
Bridge .. |
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Pointing
out the arches |
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| Another
whee |
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Most fun ½
hr of the week |
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| Lucy and
Joana |
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Sitting on
the foam raft |
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| Ready to
jump back in |
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Afternoon snack in the high chair.
Saturday, 17-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Sean gave
Lucy an afternoon snack–some Chinese noodles in garlic black bean sauce–and
she absolutely loved them |
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| Reaching
for the camera (or maybe it was the next noodle) |
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She loved
the texture of the noodles |
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| Messy, but
so nummy |
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Mmm |
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| Giggling
at whatever Daddy is doing |
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Lucy |
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| Giggly and
messy |
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More messy |
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| Examining
a noodle |
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It's starting to get a bit chilly
outside, so a sweatshirt is occasionally needed. Lucy loves walking
around on the driveway in her new Stride-Rite shoes.
Tuesday, 20-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Examining
a piece of bark |
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Lucy |
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| Lucy |
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Lucy is becoming just the sweetest
little toddler. Here are a few photos taken around the house.
Saturday, 24-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Lucy waits
for the next event |
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Lucy |
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| This looks
like Lucy is in the middle of complaining about not being able to do
something. She's a very sweet kid, very loving and huggy, but also
very active and curious, wanting to do lots of things. |
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We suggest
something else that she might want to do, other than going out into the
garage |
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| Carrying
shoes around, and looking out the front door |
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Heading
back to the laundry room |
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| Lucy with
someone's shoe |
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Lucy |
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| Just
hanging out in the laundry room |
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Lucy |
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| "Where did
it go"? This is Lucy's body language for expressing that she doesn't
know where something went, or what happened. Often used after throwing
something over the edge of the high chair and then shrugging. |
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Looks like
a nice day out there |
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| Taking a
brief (very brief) rest |
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Lucy |
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| Our Eiffel
tower clock |
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Sporting a
new sweatshirt |
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| Checking
out the location of Jack & Kirby |
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Another
favorite activity is emptying the storage area of the pack-and-play |
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| Organizing
stuff |
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Hmm, what
next? |
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| If adults
were this good at squatting, we'd all have thighs like speed skaters |
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On her way
somewhere |
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| Looking at
something on the high chair tray |
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Kirby
waits to go outside |
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Scott County sponsorts a "country
tour" event where you can go tour up to four different businesses out in the
country (actually, fairly near where we live). We took the afternoon
to visit a dog kennel and an organic dairy farm. We were quite happy
to find the dairy farm, since they sell milk and ice cream.
Saturday, 24-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| We arrive
at the dairy and get ready to go on the tour |
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On the
tour, in front of silage storage rows |
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| Notice the
chickens in the background, free range |
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Nice old
barn |
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| The
turkeys all belong to different families, who will collect them on
Thanksgiving, when they are "ready" |
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Again,
nice barn |
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| Granary? |
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Given that
this is an organic farm, the cows are fed the old-fashioned way–by grazing
them. This is quite rare now, given that most farms have become more
automated/mechanized |
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| Cow
closeup |
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Joana and
Lucy |
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| Cow in a
field. |
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Lucy, your
nuk is upside down! |
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| They let
us go inside the pasture fence with the cows |
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Sean, Lucy
and cows |
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| Lucy with
her Dad |
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More cows |
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| Sean and
Lucy |
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Watching TV.
Wednesday, 28-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| Lucy
watches TV, sitting on her new Lion chair (which she loves) |
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One of Joana's last Fridays home
with Lucy, they spend some time outdoors (in the front yard).
Friday, 30-Sep-2005. |
All photos |
| She looks
like a longshoreman, ready to go to work |
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Have
stick, will travel |
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| Coming to
show Mom her stick |
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Lucy |
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| Gorgeous
day. Too bad Dad has to work. |
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Again,
running to Mom to show her something |
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| Happy to
be out running around on the front porch |
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Lucy plays
with a chunk of bark |
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| Digging in
patio cracks with a stick |
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Lucy |
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Momentarily distracted |
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Lucy |
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| Lucy in
the front yard |
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Mom, I'm
running with a sharp stick |
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| Taking the
tennis ball to Kirby |
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Lucy |
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| Lucy with
her normal grin |
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Wielding a
leafy branch |
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| Smiling
girl |
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Future
Tour de France competitor? |
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| There we
go, that's the Tour de France look .. |
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