More Nomad Life... in St. Louis!

Around Halloween, we spent some time in St. Louis. We attended my a Harvest Party at my parent's church and it brought back a lot of memories growing up and going there for Harvest Party myself! Boone actually wore a dinosaur costume I wore when I was two years old and my mom made it, so it has held up really well! Boone had a blast playing all the games and he didn't really get the whole candy thing yet, so the games were really the fun part for him.

Sharing candy with Dora.

He loved the bounce house they had set up for the younger kiddos.

And he loved the big bounce house with the slide. He must have gone on it 10 times.

Look at that face!

Boone with his Uncle John and John's girlfriend, Katie. It was such a warm weekend in St. Louis and Boone was sweating in his costume.

Playing golf

Checking out the petting zoo

All tired and ready to head home to Nana and Papa's house.

A week later, we trick-or-treated on actual Halloween. It was quite a bit colder than the weekend before, so the dinosaur costume worked out a bit better.

At Creve Coeur city hall for their trunk or treat.

Hanging out with the police.

We stopped at the Younkins for trick-or-treating. Boone was their only visitor!

Later that weekend, our former neighbor Johan came to visit. Him and his family used to live next door until they moved back to South Africa (where they were originally from.) It was so great to see him, we missed seeing his wife and girls though.

I jumped in a picture too!

Johan in front of his old house. Lots of good memories with his family!

Boone and Uncle John. I thought this was a good picture!

Happy Halloween!... only 4 months late :)

Boone's 2nd Birthday

While my parents were in Colorado, it was Boone's second birthday! We decided to book a trip on a train that went through the mountains since Boone is obsessed with all things train (and truck and construction!) Here are a few pictures from his big day!

Getting the birthday boy up out of bed!

Dad took the day off of work and Boone was excited to see Jeff!

Donuts for breakfast!

Onto the train! Boone was amazed!

Nana and Papa came along for the ride.

The birthday boy!

My mom got Boone a little train and he played with it the entire ride!

Our family!

Meeting the "conductor" at the end!

After we got home, Boone opened a few presents! 

A bubble mower!

Didn't take him long to start playing!

Trucks to play outside.

Birthday cookie cake for Boone with a train theme! We had lasagna for his birthday dinner since it is one of his favorites (if a two-year-old can actually have favorite food!)

Blowing out the candles on his 2nd birthday!

We love you Boone-man! We are so proud of the little boy you are becoming and can't wait to see what the next year holds for you. You are loved beyond words and we pray that God uses you in big ways in His plan. Thank you for all the fun and joy you have brought into our lives!

Camping in Estes Park

Towards the end of July, we decided to head up to Estes Park and camp for a weekend. We had heard a lot about Estes Park and how much so many people enjoyed the area. We booked the last available site at the county campground, loaded up our car with gear and food and headed out.

Our campground bordered Rocky Mountain National Park. We spent Saturday driving the main road through the park. 

Boone loved the views. He definitely loves the outdoors and climbing on the rocks, so we had to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't get too far from us.

We stopped at one trail and Boone and Jeff hiked up to some snow that was still in the area. (I don't think you were technically supposed to hike up that far! But they had fun!)

It was starting to get a bit cool at this point. We heard that in the summer it is very typical to have beautiful mornings and then bad thunderstorms in the afternoon, so it was better to get out and explore in the mornings. A few people had actually been hit by lightening earlier in the summer, so we didn't want to take any chances.

My favorite picture from the weekend! So beautiful!

Our little campsite. It actually was a great campground and pretty cheap. We did get some heavy rains in the afternoons, but we still had a great time. We checked out the town of Estes Park on one of the afternoons, but we weren't super impressed. It seemed like a lot of tourist trap-type stores and it was SO crowded. We much preferred hanging out at our little piece of nature.

We are so glad we've taken Boone camping both summers so far. Although it is a lot of work, we really enjoy getting out and making some memories as a family!

Until next time (as we try to catch up),

Jeff, Emily + Boone