Pictures!

We had some family pictures taken last week by some friends of ours. They do a preview of pictures on their blog before they upload the rest to their website. They just got our preview out tonight! So excited about this! Of course, I hate the way I look in pictures but I think Tyler is always adorable! =)

Go here to see the preview http://smidts.blogspot.com/2009/10/thorpe-family.html

Family trip

A couple weeks ago we went on a family vacation to Wisconsin. We stayed in a condo that was just south of Wisconsin Dells (although, we only went to the Dells once while we were there). Since we've been back we've been battling some sickness but I think things are starting to improve...at least for me they are! I finally have enough energy to update the blog. Bet you didn't realize blogging required energy!

First, Tyler's speech is really improving. He puts a lot of words together now. He is missing "filler" words like a, the, I, he, she, etc (or, they get lost in his jabber. maybe they are there!). But I can understand longer strings of words now which is nice. Last week at his therapy we got a progress report (since the therapy is through the public schools, we will get these often due to parent teacher conferences). I was really pleased to see how much he has improved since he started in August. He is moving along at a good pace. His teacher is really great at getting him to cooperate. Sometimes he doesn't want to say the words or will bury his head into me. She is very patient with him. (I should also clarify that his progress is with getting the endings onto words...that is really what she is measuring)

Tyler also LOVES letters. He knows all of his capital letters and he loves to read them off of things. It's interesting to be in the car, going down the street, and hear him say P-A-W-N. He is also really good at writing the letter T (for Tyler of course!).

Second, back in September I headed to Michigan for my annual get together with my two friends from college, Carrie and Kelly. This year we got together at Carrie's house and we participated in a grape stomping contest. The pictures from that are on Carrie's blog http://carriemilesblog.com/2009/10/11/grape-stomp/ It was very interesting! It wasn't what I expected and it was exhausting for my arms.

Okay! Now for pictures from the Wisconsin trip. The first thing we did was go on a train ride on the MidContinent Railway. Tyler really enjoyed his first "real" train ride.

Some views from the train.



Another day we went to Devil's Lake State Park. The fall color was so beautiful while we were there. We decided to climb up one of the big hills on our way around the lake. The trail was quite a climb. I really felt like the stone steps would never end. I was really impressed with how well Tyler did climbing up the stairs.

We finally made it to the top! The water was such a pretty blue-green color.




This is from the other side of the lake on our way back. We opted for the flat trail that time. We were all pretty cranky/tired/hungry at this point. But we stopped to take this picture so you can see the hill that we climbed to the top of, behind Dan and Tyler. And no, Tyler is not sleeping, he is being cranky and refusing to look at the camera.

The one thing we did do in the Dells is we went to the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory Interactive Science Center. I wasn't sure how it was going to be for Tyler since ages 5 and under were free. Usually if it's free for Tyler, that means there's nothing for him to do. Really, Dan and I had the most fun there. Tyler was okay with it.

He did like floating these balls in the air though.


And then we decided to cut off his head and place it on this table (I gotta say, the picture does not do this justice. It actually looked much better in person)


On our way home from our trip we stopped to visit Dan's Grandpa Joe. The last time we saw him Tyler was just a baby. It was nice to be able to see him again. The funny part was Tyler took to calling him Joe (minus the grandpa).

Random pics

I gotta do this quickly so there will be little text and many pictures! Tyler's speech therapy is going well. They are focusing on endings of words. I can see improvement each week. It's very encouraging.

I made these cookies last month. They are supposed to look like witches hats...can you tell? (it's a fudge striped cookie turned over, then a hershey's kiss placed on top-held in place by a dot of icing-then some orange icing around the base of the kiss)

Tyler enjoying a pile of leaves

We participated in the Heart Walk this year in honor of nephew Evan. It was a very cool rainy day. Luckily, we walked inside but only after Tyler got all wet and muddy. He thought the umbrella was really cool.

We also celebrated grandma and then grandpa's birthdays.

Tyler having fun on this scooter/car thing at a pumpkin patch.

Tyler helping me make some homemade crescent rolls. They turned out really yummy. He's quite the baster!