Wild Animal Sanctuary (Sept 2)

Brian's friend Drew invited us to go with him and Melissa to the Wildlife Sanctuary in Keenesburg. We have been there before but it was a long time ago and they added on to the facility. It was a little warm but there was a breeze so it wasn't too bad.

 

We rented this wagon for Brooks. Thought he might like it better than his stroller and he seemed to enjoy it. I couldn't find his other sunglasses so we had to go with the girly ones I had lying around the house.

The beginning our journey....

Lions rescued from Bolivia. As you can see they were crashed out

Brian thought this spider was cool so I took a picture. It isn't a rescued spider!

Look down there it's a LION! Roar!!!!

Wolves

 

 Lynx

 The tiger came out to see what was going on with the Lynx. Some of the workers were driving around in a gator-must have thought it was dinner time!

Back in the wagon on our return journey. They had catwalks that went over all the exhibits and once you hit the end you had to turn around and go back the same way. Brooks was more excited about seeing the pools of water they had for the animals(no animals were in the water though). We did let him walk along the cat walk and he was super fired up about that-so much so that a couple people made jokes about him needing his own exhibit-he wasn't too quiet! Most of the animals were sleeping so not much action for Brooks to see.

He was getting sleepy towards the end-he is on his hands and knees then would burying his face in his blanket then pop back up to check things out. He was a trooper and hung on until we got to the car-then he crashed for the ride home.

Pool and Tower (Sept 1)

 

We finally got the pool out for Brooks. He had a lot of fun-no surprise since being in the water is one of his favorite things but it was serious business. Hard to get him to smile let alone look at the camera. He was all about dumping the water out

Brian built Brooks this tower to stand in while we are doing things in the kitchen. Every time we do dishes or cook Brooks always wants up to see the action. We are hoping this will work. He wasn't to sure about it but seems to be liking it more (especially when we are doing dishes-because of the water!)

Brian put garage door hinges on the bottom and a slide lock on it. When you unlock it the panel opens and Brooks can walk down/up the ramp and into the tower.

 

Brooks is doing better with food and we are trying more and more things. Still has some reactions but they don't seem to be as bad. He is also starting to say more words-some not very clear but we can tell what he is saying. We have added book (in sign language too), boo, uh-oh, bath, go and sometimes it sounds like he says gotta go, hi/hello, bye bye, moon. He says moo for cow, still pants for dog although sometimes it sounds like he says dog or doggy, meows for cat, roars for lion & tiger, who-who is our owl, he snorts for a pig, snores for sleeping, woo-woo is train. No-along with a head shake is very popular but he will also shake his head yes. He knows that when he wants to go outside he as to put shoes on so he will bring them to us,sit down and put his foot out. 

August Photos

 

Hello!

 August 11. I took Brooks to Boulder for the Fairy Tale Parade. A small to do but he had fun. All of the kids(some of them dressed up and others made pirate or princess hats at one of the booths) walked down the sidewalk-that was the parade. Here is Brooks in his pirate hat that he made-he picked out what stickers he wanted

 Brooks trying to keep up with the parade of kids

 The toy store had some blocks set up for the kids to play with. We spent a lot of time here

Walking to the path-he didn't want to get in the stroller

Well, we made it to the beginning of the path then Brooks decided that playing in the gravel was more fun than taking a walk. I did manage to get him in the stroller so we were able to get in a walk and a stop at the park

 
Driving the car again! Now he is standing up! He turns on the radio every time-and he likes to turn it up really loud and of course he just can't help himself -he has to start dancing

Out for a walk. Little chilly when we left the house but warmed up pretty quickly-good thing we dressed in layers! He decided he wanted his sunglasses on the top of his head.

 

On our way home from the park

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 The long road home

 Finally made it home-get me out of this thing

 

Brooks has discovered the cabinets! He is now opening them and well decided to empty this one and crawl in. We have a couple that we cleared out of stuff that he can't have and right now he is pretty happy with those and stays out of all the other ones

 

 

 

Iowa July 25-29

We headed back to Iowa at the end of July for my high school class reunion! I can't believe I have been out of high school for 20 years!

Out to lunch with the girls

 We tried to get a class photo-hard to get everyone in, but it was a good turnout and we had a lot of fun

 

 We took Brooks out to Aunt Beth's stables so we could see her horses and where she spends a lot of her time! This is her newest horse Zeke. He is a huge Irish Draft horse.

 

Brooks petting one of the horses that is boarded at the stables

I bought Ethan and Brooks matching PJ's-Brooks isn't real thrilled about getting his photo taken! Aren't they adorable?

We took Brooks to get his first haircut at Papa Bruce's barber shop. I took video so I don't have photos of the actual haircut (I will have to get those from GG and Mimi) but after the hair cut we crossed the street to look at the river. Here is Ethan with his "elephant ear'!

 Uncle Jay and Brooks searching for treasure

 Oh look they found something (fish bones)!

 

Brooks after his hair cut

Daddy and Brooks playing the piano at Mimi and Papa's house