Aiden the Explorer...

Instead of telling you yet again how much Aiden loves to be outside, I will just let you see a typical outdoor session. Penny the side kick is having fun too!

Now if these two don't look like Capital T Trouble, I don't know what does!

Precious...

A picture of my precious baby! He is growing so quickly! He is such a sweet boy and is absolutely the love of my life!!!

Grape Picking Time... or GPT if your from Jersey

A few weeks ago, it was time to head down to Tamaha to help my parents pick some grapes! Very old France, don't you think? He planted the grapes about two years ago and didn't think we would have any viable grapes til at least next year. Well, those thoughts weren't exactly correct. We ended up picking just short of a ton of Vidal Blanc. We started early and worked hard for about 31/2 hours.

Aiden and I "helped by riding around on the mule all morning. With a 2 year old that was about all we could manage.

Four generations in one mule! Counting Tucker of course...

A view of part of the vineyard and the pasture in the background. This picture, to me, shows just how much work my parents put into their land. All of the upkeep and maintenance of the vineyard is not to overshadow the hay baling in the background. It all keeps growing.

My 84 year old grandpa out in his overalls helping pick grapes! I don't know how he does it, but I know he wouldn't want it any other way.

Vidal Blanc.

The picked grapes looked beautiful piled up in the buckets. You can see how many there actually were.

Our littlest grape wranglers! Aiden and Marley don't like to miss out on any of the action!

I think Aiden ate more grapes than he picked. He would reach his arm in the bucket and pull out a handful whenever he got a chance. His face says it all! Right when I took this picture he was saying, "Mmmmmmm."

Marley Poo is sun smart! (and super cute)

My dad aka Pappy holding a massive bunch of grapes! Aiden's chunky arm is reaching to try and grab some to eat!

We filled all of these containers,

plus this giant watering trough! It was amazing to see how many grapes there were. Literally the fruits of our labor.

The Wrap Party. We finished at about 9:45 and glad it was so early! We will gladly accept payment in bottle form!

Diaper Booty...

If there is one thing I absolutely love, it's Aiden's little diaper booty! And the chubby part of his legs right below the diaper booty!

He's showing off his tumbling skills!

I actually got a picture of Aiden smiling for a picture because I asked him to smile for the picture! He used to just look at me like "I am not your puppet mom!" He even said "cheeeeese!"

Family Fun Time...

We were recently lucky enough to go on a family vacation. All of my mom's family went. Four generations of the Alumbaugh family, and it was lots of fun. We headed off to Holiday Island, which is a little island on Table Rock Lake. It is about 10 minutes from Eureka Springs and about one hour to Branson. We spent our time on the lake, playing golf, going to the pool and enjoying our time together! One day we headed to Silver Dollar City. Even though we got there early, it was super hot. Aiden could really only get on two rides because of how young he is so we split up and dad went on the Frog ride.

He is holding on for dear life! He's not really sure if he even likes the ride.

He looked super serious and held on with a death grip! After a few turns around he finally even looked at us to take his picture!

After the Frogs, I took him on the Butterfly ride! He really liked it for about 2 rotations.

Then he couldn't wait to get off. I was half holding him down \for the ride.

After more food than I am willing to admit, we found the kids area. Aiden loved it because he could get out of his stroller and walk around and go where he wanted. He liked this little splash pad and thought all of the kids running through it were so funny!

Then there was a little area that had all of these soft little cotton candy colored balls that could be shot out of cannons or put in a big gum ball machine thingy. It also had these little vacuum hoses, like what they use at the bank, that would pick up the balls and take them back up to the top of the building. Aiden loved playing with the hoses.

Here he is trying to master the air canon. It was a little too loud though!

We drove through Branson and there were some neat attractions along the way that I took random pictures of ! Who wouldn't take one of King Kong climbing a building? (excuse the power lines in front of him)

Here is the Country Mount Rushmore! Who is the chick? we had a debate as to whether it was Marilyn because of the mole (but she's not really country is she?) Or Dolly Parton? (she doesn't really have a mole though?) Who knows.

Then the Titanic. The fountain in front made the ship look like it was moving and crashing into the iceberg.

Aiden had so much fun he was completely WIPED when we left. It was great to have a little escape from reality and have some much needed family quality time! Its been pretty hard to come by lately!