Mesker Park Zoo

We took a weekend to head up to Indiana to visit mom and dad (Bebe and Papaw) recently. It was an absolute beautiful weekend and we took full advantage of it by visiting the Mesker Park Zoo. We have been to several zoos now with our lil' lady (Cincinnati and Louisville), but this one was by far the best zoo for a small toddler!! First of all there were no crowds at all. There were several times in the day when it seemed like we were the only ones there. That was perfect for Lylah because she could walk most of the time, which was what she wanted to do. The zoo is a lot smaller, but it still has some really great animals and some close encounters as well. They actually have a giraffe feeding which was really cool. Of course before the feeding we were helping the giraffe get to the leaves he was trying to reach. Lylah was so cute picking up leaves and taking them over to the giraffe, she was not nervous at all. In fact later on in the day when we were visiting the rhino, a zoo worker stood right outside the cage and was giving him a belly rub, Lylah just looked at us like "okay, it's my turn now". The girl loves her some animals that is FOR SURE!! She did all of her animal signs and noises and just really had a lot of fun! So did we for that matter!!

15 months

Our little lady is 15 months old!! I feel like she has changed more in the past few months than she has since her first few months. Here is what is new:

She is walking to the point of almost running.
She can also spin and "jump".
She does very well going up stairs, not so great on the down.
She has gotten really good at her stacking rings, building blocks, and shape sorting.
She knows more signs than we can keep track of. Our favorites-penguin, excited, and 'i love you'. She is also talking more than we can keep track of. She remembers lots of things over time. For instance, when we pull up to dollar general she says 'balloon' because they have lots of the helium balloons. She REALLY likes to be funny. She is a picky eater and usually only eats one good meal a day. Her favorite things to play with are books. Her favorite books- anything by Eric Carle, books with pictures of real animals, and her Bible. She can even do hand motions for Psalm 47:1!! One thing that has not changed is how crazy we are about her!!! Who can blame us?!

Now and Then

We recently went to one of our favorite fall places, the paved walking trail at Barren River Lake Resort Park. It is perfect for families who have to rely on a stroller for all or part of the walk. Plus, it is beautiful in the fall. The walk is mostly shaded and super peaceful. We discovered this little gem last year when Lylah was under 2 months old. We went a few times for picnics and walks. In those days Lylah slept as Nathan and I just watched her, thinking about how new and exciting every little move she made was.


Well, at our most recent visit, approximately a year later was much different. We didn't pack a picnic, but we did walk for a while stopping with our little lady to investigate pine cones and leaves. We let her walk and help push the stroller. When we finished our walk she promptly signed "playground" and started "ooohing and ahhing" at the nice play set they have. Lylah played and Nathan and I played along thinking how much she had changed and how we have enjoyed every single moment of this past year with our lil' lady.

Our little Cincy Vacation

We wanted to do some little getaway for fall break but went back and forth as to what we would do. Our decision was made when we decided we wanted to get Lylah a play tent for Christmas. Do you know how expensive those things are??? I also looked at blogs and thought about trying to make one, but decided my sewing skills weren't up for it. I found a simple little tent on IKEA's website and so we decided to go to Cincinnati. We left early Thursday morning and went straight to IKEA for some shopping and lunch. After that we checked in our hotel and tried to get Lylah to take an afternoon nap....tried. She finally did fall to sleep for a while which was nice because we were really tired too. After our family nap time we went downtown to the river front (my favorite part of the trip). They have a beautiful river front with two incredible play grounds. They had lots of little areas to explore and fun slides. Lylah played for probably close to two hours and then we went and got some dinner to take back to the room. We did some swimming before trying to put Lylah down for bed.....again trying. Our lil' lady was not much into sleeping that day!! Needless to say we all slept in a bit on Friday morning. We got ready and headed to the zoo so we could get an early start. Thanks to Triple A we only had a small wrinkle in our plan when we locked our keys in the car... :) It was really fun watchin Lylah at the zoo. She would study the animal and then if she knew it's sign (monkey, penguin, elephant, giraffe, zebra, cat (for all cat like animals) she would start signing like crazy. If she didn't know it's sign she would just oooooooh and aaaaaah in amazement. In fact, since we've been home her animal books have become her all time favorites!! It really was a good zoo, but nothing we will probably do again just because we have two other zoos that are so much closer. We headed home in time for Lylah to get an afternoon nap (hypothetically since she really only slept for 30 min.). We stopped in Louisville for dinner and some more riverfront views and play time. Lylah even made some new friends!! All in all it was a nice time away for some family fun!!

Fall Fun: Part 4

There is a little hidden treasure in the Grove....Pelly's is an extension of The Garden Patch. The Garden Patch has all the pretty plants you could ever wish for, while the barn (Pelly's) is more like a farmers market. They also host lots of great events throughout the peek season (March-Dec). This time of year they also have loads of pumpkins and some fun animals!! Lylah and I actually visited 3 times during fall break!! She loves the animals and now that she can sign "pumpkin", well, she loves them too. I love the fact that it is just around the corner from our house (a little under 3 miles) and the Pelly's are a super sweet family. This past Saturday, they had an old fashioned farm day. There were lots of demonstrations (corn grinding, along with sorghum and apple cider making), face painting and a live band. They also had cows, chicks, pigs, and a horse for Lylah to pet/feed and there are sooo many pretty places to snap some pictures. I have decided that the people in BG need to add Pelly's to the list of places to visit with their families in the fall. So, if you haven't made it up the rode to the Grove lately, why not come on out and visit!!

Fall Fun: Part III

Chaney's-another BG tradition for many folks this time of year. It was a super windy afternoon, but that didn't stop us from enjoying some fun before we blew away!! Lylah even got to go on her first horse ride!! I was sure she wouldn't like it (I don't know why I thought that since the girl loves animals), but she actually really liked it, more that mama did I think!! Here are a few pics taken before we gave up and went to the barn for some ice cream :)

Fall Fun: Part II

What is fall without a little craft time?? First Lylah got all dressed up in her pumpkin clothes:
Then we made this cute lil' sign:

Happy Fall!!!