Grandma and Grandpa, Garage Sale and Zoo: What a weekend!

The weekend of August 20 and 21 was a whirlwind of activity for Ms. Alma. To prepare for our upcoming move to Hawaii, we have started downsizing. This means taking lots of things to Goodwill. It also means that it's time for a garage sale!

To help us out, our friends TJ and Staci came up from Columbia. And what a help they were. As soon as they arrived, Staci was in the garage helping to price all of the items we had spent the former week dragging out of dusty closets and lugging down to the basement.

Saturday morning came all too quickly, with the whole house getting up at 5:30 to get ready for the big garage sale day. Matt, Staci and TJ spent the better part of the morning wheeling and dealing with the garage sale-goers and Alma spent lots of quality time with momma. Around noon, Alma's Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt arrived. Alma got to spend the afternoon with the whole family, and Grandma and Grandpa made sure not to spoil her "too" much. What an exhausting day it turned out to be. But it was all made well when we went out to Gates BBQ for a delicious dinner of fabulous Kansas City style ribs, sausage and turkey.

Alma and Grandma show off for the camera.

The next day, we were so exhausted that we decided to take a break. After bidding farewell to Staci and TJ, we packed up the family and took a trip to the Kansas City zoo! Alma seemed nonplussed by the animals, but was fascinated by the shimmering water in the otter pool. But what she really seemed to enjoy were the fans that blew mist on passers by. She was startled when we went into the first one, but quickly overcame her initial fear and seemed to really enjoy the cool water and air (it was quite hot). All in all, it was a tiresome, but productive and fun weekend.

Papa and Alma cooling off in the mist from a fan

Leavenworth County Fair

The family made a trip up to Leavenworth, Kansas to visit the county fair this Saturday. It was a hot day with temperatures reaching the upper nineties, but it wasn't unbearable because many of the attractions were inside of pavilions. We got to walk around and look at all of the prize-winning livestock, and Alma was fascinated. She seemed to like the sheep and the goats the most. She wasn't a big fan of the ducks, turkeys and chickens though.

This guy was very interested in Alma.

August already

Looks like our summer is almost over (and hopefully all of this nasty heat!). We have been mostly hanging around the house trying to stay cool. Alma started a new daycare and is acclimating well. Over the last week she has really started using her hands and is now holding toys and grabbing for things. She is also experimenting with her voice and makes all kinds of adorable (and some hilarious) sounds. Crawling is around the corner as she has learned to scooch around using her forearms.

Can't keep this kid off her tummy. 

Oh and another thing, we are already at the point where everything goes in her mouth!

She loves to play and is sooo curious.

Alma isn't a thumb sucker, but rather an index finger sucker.

She is such a sweet girl and we are loving every minute!