Our Little Fisherman!

So I mentioned in a previous post how Cooper "earned" his Batman fishing pole. He has been pretty excited about the whole fishing thing. We went to a fun fishing store to buy our worms. The old man there was so nice to get Cooper excited. He let him catch a few fish in nets out of his little ponds. He also showed him the big box of "bait" crickets. Cooper was so excited!

So we went out to Scott Lake here on base, and I have to say, he was quite the caster. However, at the first spot we picked, the fish just kept nibbling the worms (another fun part of fishing) off the hook, but not "biting". So we moved spots and wala! He caught 3 fish! He reeled them in all by himself too. It was our kind of fishing! We were only gone from home for 45 minutes, and Cooper was satisfied! He caught little "blue gills". Supposedly there are bigger fish there, but those were perfect for him.

The FUNNY PART, was Andrew told him to hold up 3 fingers for the picture of his 3rd fish...and instead he held up 4 fingers. Andrew said, "You're already a fisherman! Stretching the truth." :)

Gunner had fun playing with his Tigger fishing pole with a fake fish tied to the end of it, and watching the frogs and turtles.

A New Favorite

Each place we've lived, there are the places to eat where you can't wait to go back again and again...and you crave them, especially when you move and can't have them anymore. And then when you return to those places...eating at certain places is one of the priorities of the vacation. Some of our favorites where we've lived...

Spokane: Thifty Scottsman, Racho Viejo, Ron's
Coeur d Alene: Hudson's Hamburgers, Dockside desserts, Pow Pow's Kitchen, Toro Viejo, Tomato Street
Arizona: Ned's Crazy Subs, Rosa's, Papa Kelsey's, Rositas
Oklahoma: The Pankcake House, Braum's, Cactus Jack's
Utah: Cafe Rio, The Pizza Factory, Los Hermanos, Gandolfo's, The Wilk, Jimmy John's Subs
Cleveland: Penn Station, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Texas Roadhouse, Max & Erma's, East Coast Custard, Quaker Steak and Lube

I realize some of these are chain restaurants (but I didn't list the obvious favorite chains like Oive Garden, Outback, Cold Stone, Jamba Juice).

Well, now that we moved to St. Louis, we once again have had to search for those unbelievable places. And we found one recently. LOTAWATTA CREEK! This place is awesome...mainly because they give you ENORMOUS amounts of food (and it is really yummy). Their appetizers are all at least $8, but you get a plate the size of a serving platter. The nachos are our favorite-and this picture doesn't do them justice. They are SOOOOOOO yummy. They make them and then stick them in the oven so the edges of the chips brown. Not to mention they are big enough to feed our whole family a meal! No kidding! I bet it is a whole bag of chips. Even though it is an expensive appetizer...it is cheap if that is all we have to get! The boys share the kids meal chicken strips...which I can't help but sample since they give them so much! They are so yummy because they are battered. The other thing we love...they have shaved ice in their softdrinks. Yummy!

Ok, now I am getting hungry!

Fall Fun!

So today it really seemed like Fall. First, it was actually kind of chilly outside! (Although it is supposed to warm up again next week) We went to Eckert's Farm...which is only a few minutes from the base. It was ward playgroup with about 5 other moms, so Cooper was so excited to be with "friends!". We rode out to the orchards, and got to pick some really yummy apples. Andrew is less excited about the apples, since he got BRACES today! More about that later. But, he is expecting me to attempt his mom's apple pie...again. Anyway, Cooper was really into it...finding the best apples. Gunner had way too much fun picking all the apples up off the ground and throwing them like "baseballs!".


Everything was decorated so cute, and Cooper got way excited about the possibility of Halloween being around the corner. He loved posing at all the picture props saying, "Look mom, get a picture of me by this one!" Then he wants to see the picture immediately on the camera.


Then it was off to the "Fun Corral" where there is tons of FREE things to do. They had trikes, animals to feed and pet (Gunner loves animals...but they all bark), a sandbox, haybox, and even a 9-hole mini golf course (the boys' favorite). Cooper got a hole-in-one on one hole and was so excited. He likes to play golf on the Wii video game at home, so he kept asking me, "Mom, did I get par? Mom, I got a birdie!" Golf is not my strongpoint, so I just nod and wave. :)




The fun had to end though, and Cooper actually cooperated when it was time to go! It's a miracle! He even helped me get his brother to the car. Priceless!

Look-Alikes

This is super fun! So in case you are all wondering who Cooper and Gunner look more like, this is a really cool site that does "face-recognition" and tells you. Thanks Sara Jane for the idea! I always thought Cooper's face looked more like mine, and Gunner's more like Andrew...but most people think they both look more like him. What's funny is I think Cooper and Gunner have such different looks!

Supposedly Cooper looks more like me now.

But here is our 3-year-old pictures being compared to his.


Here is Gunner compared to us now.

And here he is comapred to our 18-month-old pictures.


It does a cool celebrity look-alike meter too. So, what do you think?!

Andrew says people have said he looks like Tom Cruise...guess not! But he is hotter than Tom Cruise, if you ask me!

More Baseball...and other stuff too

It has cooled off this week with some big midwest thunderstorms. Dad brought the boys out to play in the culdesac full of puddles...while the loudspeakers were announcing to "find immediate coverage". They loved it!!!



The Cardinals played the Pittsburgh Pirates this past week, and we couldn't play favorites. So we tried to dress for both teams. We got quite a few wierd looks. Especially since we were in St. Louis, where all the fans are "true" fans. There were only 2 people in our entire section who weren't dressed in Cardinals gear. We sat in the left-field bleachers, right behind the Pirates bullpen, and Jason Bay...Andrew's old college roommate/teammate, and Cooper's favorite player! I went down by the bullpen with Cooper for a few innings yelling for a ball, and with the help of some teenagers yelling for us, Cooper got a ball thrown to him! He was SOOOO excited! He slept with it that night. :)



Papa would be proud of Cooper's new hobby...fishing! He "earned" his fishing pole with good behavior for five days. There is a man-made lake on-base with tons of little fish, turtles, and snakes. He practices his casting with a plastic fish all around the house and backyard too!



We went up to the "Homestead Harvest Festival" on Friday. Our new friends, the Whittles came with us. The boys had a lot of fun. There were tons of old fire engines and tractors, a War of 1812 encampment, bees making honey, pedal tractors, horses plowing fields, some harvest equipment running, and good food.



Lately Cooper has been saying, "Lets do something fun Mom". That usually means the pressure is on to think of something extra special. We made this craft tray (inspired by my friend Jen) to hold our supplies. Playdough was also a hit this week, and Cooper's elephant he made has become his imaginary friend for the week. Gunner still doesn't understand that you don't use markers on your body, and crayons on the walls!


Oh, and if you're wondering what the scab on Cooper's forhead is, he slid on the kid's carpet baseball field at the stadium and got a bad rugburn on his forhead. :)

Go Cards!

Friday we went to a Cardinals game. We rode the metro. It is so nice because we can get on "the train" on-base and ride it all the way to the stadium exit. It is way easier than driving, and the boys love it. We got there in time for some batting practice too, so Cooper was excited!
He never misses a "charge!" opportunity. He also makes up his own cute cheers. Like this one to the tune of "Let's Go Card-inals, Let's Go!", he said "Let's go bat-ter, don't let the pitch-er, hit you 'til your de-ad!" Needless to say, we get some funny looks at the games. :) It was Cooper's 54th MLB game! We are going Wednesday against his favorite team/player...the Pittsburgh Pirates and Jason Bay! For those of you who don't know, Jason Bay was Andrew's roommate and teammate his freshman year of college, and he now plays for the Pirates. It is fun to go see his games! And fun that he is Cooper's favorite player. That will be our last Cardinals game of the season though, because most of the games are sold out! We'll have to get tickets early next year!


The stadium has a fun kids area for the boys to play.


They also have batting cages, including these cages with the ball on a string so they can hit them over and over. Perfect for Cooper...and Gunner even had a try.


Busch Stadium has a really pretty view of the Gateway Arch.

Thought this was a pretty picture with the moon in the arch.


We ran into "Fredbird" by the championship trophy, and he just grabbed the boys out of Andrew's arms for a picture. Fun! Then he went and sat in Gunner's stroller. Gunner was a little confused! But they both LOVE Fredbird now after the little one-on-one fun!

And, since we're talking sports....GO BYU! Great win against Arizona! Trying to teach Gunner to say "touchdown!", but he still says "homerun!" most the time!