Family snapshots

Jasper took time out of his busy schedule - which includes running around the shed and eating suckers from our neighbor - Saturday for a few family snapshots, although they are incomplete since they don't include Cozmo.

A Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend! Adam started his friday nights football coverage, so Jman and I will have lots of Friday night date nights during this season. On Saturday, Jasper and Adam went to a pancake breakfast. We then headed off to Altoonapalooza - the first annual community festival in Altoona. We jumped on lots of inflatables (well, kind of the same two ones, just lots of times!), watched mud wrestling tourneys and had a great time! We then went to "bonduwant," as Jasper says for his friend, Delaney's, 1st birthday! After a full day of inflatables and birthday cake, Jman got a nap in and then we headed off to celebrate Ami Gillespie's 30th birthday in Gladbrook, where they had a BBQ and we ended the night roasting marshmallows and eatin' some SMORES - yummy! Jman also had his first experience with a skateboard. He actually did pretty good with keeping one foot on and pushing off with the other one. All in all, it was a great day!

Snapshot

Just a quick break from all the Iowa State Fair posts for a shot I took tonight of Jasper wearing one of my old baseball helmets won, I'm sure, throwing baseballs at Adventureland.

Yes, he fell earlier today playing 'tennis' and scratched his lip.

Snakes Alive!

We toured the Snakes Alive! building with Noah and Jason last night and Jasper was quite impressed. We didn't go so far as to hold the snakes for photos, but we definitely got within a thin window pane of some very dangerous serpents. Among them, an albino cobra (pictured slithering back and forth with J's finger) and a couple of wicked rattlesnakes.

J and Clifford

We ran into Clifford at the IPTV booth in the Varied Industries Building last night at the Iowa State Fair. As you can see J and the Big Red Dog quickly became buddies.

The Big Slide

Jasper got two rides on The Big Slide last night at the Iowa State Fair (his second and last visit to the fair this year).

The first ride was with Nat, with Uncle JJ (Jason), No-no (Noah) and Abby leading the way. I don't think he was sure about it at first, but I hear he was all smiles the second time - when he rode with me.

Iowa State Fair 4: Jasper and a 'lion'

We had to stop for a second tonight at the fair to get a photo in front of the big Jasper County sign in the cattle barn.

Not more than 15 minutes later a funny site caught Jasper's attention. 'Look ... a lion!' Jasper said of a recently sheared alpaca that, with his fuzzy head, truly does look like it's got a lion's mane.

Iowa State Fair 3

Jasper found his way into the scoop of a bulldozer tonight at the fair, and spent a few minutes pretending to whiz around on the zero-turn mower. He grabbed those controls and acted like he could drive off right then and there - good thing Grandpa Paul has one so he can learn the ropes!

Iowa State Fair 2

The amount of refurbished tractors nearly blew Jasper's young mind tonight at the fair. He scurried around dozens of John Deere, Minneapolis Moline, Farmall, Oliver and other antique tractors calling to us, "Mommy, Daddy ... see this one? See this one? Look at this one!!!"

Understatement of the night: The boy loves tractors.

Iowa State Fair 1

We hit the Iowa State Fair for about 2 hours tonight for a quick look at the farm equipment and animals located on the southwest side of the fairgrounds.

First stop: two enormous combines near the entrance. Jasper got his photo taken in one of the wheels of the John Deere combine and we took a second to climb onto the tire and corn head of the Case IH.

Enjoying the weather

It was beautiful last night - 80 degrees with little humidity and a slight breeze. Perfect Iowa weather, which we haven't seen much of this wet, hot summer.

We took advantage with a couple of hours of good, hard play in the backyard and a little time in the hammock.

Bed head!

As you can see, Jasper occasionally wakes up with some really, really good bed head. Today was one of those days.

Learning to tailgate

Jasper started learning the art of tailgating the other night. His first lesson: ladder golf. He was pretty darn good at it for his first time, although he did take the 'ladder' part too seriously at one point.

Hangin' with Gordo

Our 4-year-old neighbor, Gordo, likes to come over and play with Jasper. It doesn't seem like Gordo gets to play outside much, so he really likes going down Jasper's slide and playing in the sandbox.

Last night Jasper and Gordo shot hoops, scooped sand and ran around with Cozmo for a while before we headed in for the night.

More Balloon Classic Photos

We had such a fun time!

Balloon Festival with Cousin Sydney

We headed out to the Indianola Balloon Classic with my mom and Cousin Syd! Adam had sponsorship passes, so we got free parking, admission, and a free meal - sweet! There were plenty of "jumpy" things for the kids, a train like gramps', swings, and the best part of the night - balloons! Jasper and Syd loved watching the balloons and there were plenty of 'look at that one,' 'woah,' and 'that's a way big one' to go around! We also enjoyed some ice cream and Syd and Jman had a sucker while we waited for the balloons to fly.

Big Boy Bed!

We decided to give the big boy bed transition a try....so far, so good! It is one of those convertible cribs so we just had to take one side off and viola - big boy bed! These are just some photos of him snuggling in his bubba as he crawls around and giggles at this fascinating new bed :) It's been about 2 weeks and he has done great. We did wake up about 2 a.m. one morning to a big thud. He had fallen. It was almost as if he thought he was in trouble, because he scurried real quick to get back into bed. And usually when we put him down at night he says, 'I stay in my big boy bed.' Even in the morning, he won't get out. he usually yells, "mom, dad, I'm awake" and then we go and get him. He's growing so fast!!!