The life and times of a little hippie in the Bersagel-Briese clan.
Another big rain event this late-afternoon. It’s been really good for everything out here – really hard to believe how green everything is for August. During the storm, we were playing inside and Ezra put a CD in the player that is the music that he goes to sleep with. He immediately commented (jokingly) about it being night time, ran and got a blanket, then asked if I would lay on the floor with him. We pretended to be asleep while the music played. Ezra laughed. I wished for it to be true.
When the big camera gets left at home (or in the car), the cell phone takes center stage. It’s just too bad that the best intentions of getting the pictures off of there often get forgotten until a small piece of the brain says “hey, there are photos on there to share.” That small part of the brain made it’s voice heard, and here are the photos.
An oldie, but goodie. From last summer.
These are the last photos from the Wisconsin/Iowa trip. On our last day in town, we went down to the LaCrosse Children’s Museum. It’s a great space for a town that size, and what was special about the place is that Ezra could participate in nearly every single aspect of the museum. At the one in Denver, Ezra can play with about 50% of the stuff there because it is designed for a large age audience. The one in LaCrosse is (in our opinion) designed for kids 5 and under; although older kids can have some fun there as well. They did also have a train set to beat any train set that we have seen yet – one that you can crawl under the table and pop up in 5 different spots to play with the trains. Ezra thought it was pretty cool.
After a week of a serious heat/humidity combination, the weather pattern finally broke following a massive series of thunderstorms. Unfortunately, that was after most of the rest of the family had to go about their own ways…but fortunately for us, it was just in time for the annual LaCrosse County Interstate Fair.
It was home to all of the typical county fair stuff, so no going into boring details there. Ezra did have the chance to see a sheep get sheared, meet a horse named Stella, and pet a couple of goats that were out on a walk. Perhaps most memorably, he got to ride his first amusement rides by himself. We started with the slide (something he really enjoyed last summer in Colorado), then headed to the fairly mellow car-go-round. Following that, we spotted a ride where Ezra would sit in a dragon and have a gentle ride in circles for a while. We opted to let him go by himself.
The ride started and immediately went a little faster and a lot higher than we thought it would (so much for scouting it out beforehand). Ahna and I both wondered out loud what we just did…but then the screaming, laughing, and smiling Ezra came flying around the bend….again, and again, and again. He LOVED it. After the dragon ride, we hit a similar ride that featured turtles, this time knowing what we were getting Ezra into. Guess what? He LOVED it. We are so proud of him for riding by himself and showing us what a big boy he is becoming.
There is is little place just as you enter the foothills west of Denver called Tiny Town. Oddly enough, the name alone is a good enough description of what the place is. It was created in 1915 from a collection of dollhouses and made into what it is today in 1930. There are some updates to building to modernize it (and for sponsorship purposes) including a Home Depot that is currently under construction; but there are also building still standing from it’s 1930 start date. Some buildings are for exploring, some just for looking…but the big attraction is the child-size train that loops the property. The train ride costs the same that it did 30+ years ago when it was installed. We rode it twice. Topped off by a picnic lunch that we brought along, it was a really fun outing on a tolerable outside day.
PS – this first photo is going down in my favorites file.
I totally forgot to post the vital staistics from Ezra’s two year doctor appointment…so they get a post featured to themselves.
Head: 19.5″ (75%), Height: 35.25″ (65%), Weight: 26.6 lbs (40%)
Next scheduled visit isn’t for 12 months (!).
Then the afternoon came. The party started out a little slow….does everyone now think that 20-30 late is the normal arrival time? Hmm, something to consider for the next party. Anyhow, the brothers from CRFD Station 4 stopped by to let Ezra spend a little time on the engine. It was truly great for those guys to come by on their own (we didn’t ask them) and to give up part of their evening to spend a little time with Ezra and gang. While the trucks were here, the party goers started showing up, and the neighborhood kids hit the jealously button – many times.
It was a fun celebration of Ezra’s second birthday with a few friends and family. We decided not to make a big deal out of it and keep it manageable for all of us. Ezra had a great time hanging out with friends and discovering the new gifts that he received. Interestingly enough, he didn’t even try the cake – despite the fact that a piece of it sat in front of him for a while. Just not that interested.
The weather held out pretty nicely, and the house performed wonderfully in it’s first party-hosting duties. We are so blessed to have such great people surround us, and to have such an amazing child to keep us smiling!
Since the party with some friends and family was scheduled for the late afternoon, we figured that it would be nice to have some quieter time in the morning to open some the gifts from the family.
The Life of a Little Hippie 