Red Raspberries and Apple Slushies

We are fortunate enough to live near the fabulous Anderson Orchards. So last night we decided to go down and partake of their wonderful fruit. You can buy already picked produce or you can pick it yourself. So we decided to go and pick raspberries.


This was Ashley's first time picking any sort of fruit and she loved it. At first she didn't know what to think and thought you could pick everything - leaves included. Thad showed her to only pick the reddest raspberries. The first one she picked, she decided to lick and then threw it on the ground. After a few more licks, she finely tasted it and then she couldn't get enough. She loved eating the raspberries more than picking them (who doesn't?!)! We also got some delicious apples and peaches. After all the picking was done, we enjoyed Apple Slushies. Yum!

I'm a Big Girl Now!

Last night Ashley spent her first official night in a big girl bed. Well, maybe it was still her crib, but she got to sleep in it like a big girl. Due to space constraints, we have decided not to get Ashley a toddler bed or twin bed. Our crib is a convertible crib and she was definately ready for the freedom of being able to get in and out on her own. Unfortunately, we didn't have a bed rail yet (we bought one today) and she fell out of bed 3 times. The first couple times it woke her up, the last time we heard a loud thud, then waited a couple minutes to hear crying. When we went in her room we found her sound asleep on the floor. She didn't even realize what had happened. We felt bad, but it was kind of funny too.

Yesterday when I took the side rail off her crib, we played around climbing on and off her bed. She thought it was pretty neat. Later that day we were downstairs and I was busy in the kitchen. I realized that I hadn't heard Ashley for a few minutes. I looked around and went upstairs, only to find that she was sitting on her bed reading a book. It was really cute! I think that she is going to love her new found freedom (I just hope that we do too :) !)

What a Difference a Year Makes!

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that we go to the state fair every year. Anyway, after posting the pictures from this year I had to go back and look at the pictures from last year. It is so amazing to see how much Ashley had changed in just a year. She was just 7 months old when we attended the fair last year. Now she can walk, talk, is taller and thinner, and has MORE hair. I thought it might be fun to post the pictures from last year. Here is Ashley feeding the goats (with Daddy's help of course.) :)

What Do You Do in the Summer Time?

Well, I can't believe that it's the end of summer. It has just flown by! I thought it might be fun to post some of our favorite summer activities.

#5 - Going to a Baseball Game - Ashley loves reading books and as a prize for reading a certain number of books from the library, we received tickets to go see an Indians Baseball Game.

#4 - Riding Bikes - Ashley loves riding bikes. She's still a little small to reach her pedals, but she really enjoys having us push her around the block. Then she gets off and pushes her bike herself.

#3 - Going to the Zoo - We love going to the zoo. We go almost every week. Ashley loves to run around and never gets tired of seeing the animals. Her favorites are the koala bears and monkeys.

#2 - Playing at the park - We play at the park several times a week (of course, what else is there to do?) Ashley especially loves swinging.

#1 - Swimming at the Pool - the pool has been a nice break from the hot days. Ashley has loved splashing around.

"Goats, eat"

It has kind of become a "tradition" for us to attend the Indiana State Fair (we've gone every year). I know, it sounds kind of dorky, but is actually pretty fun. Of course the best part is the food. The first year we went we were all in awe and excited to try all kinds of deep fried food/desserts; such as, fried twinkies, ho-ho's, snickers, oreos, and somewhere I heard there was deep fried pepsi (although we never tried that one). I guess these Hoosiers will deep fry just about anything. There is nothing in the world like fair food! Of course it's something that you can only allow yourself to have just once a year (I'm sure we'd all die of heart attacks if we had it more often). :)

The last couple years our attention has somewhat been diverted away from the food and towards some of the more child friendly activities. We enjoy seeing all the different animals that have been brought for competition (pigs, cows, etc.). However, the highlight of our visit is feeding the goats. Ashley loves this part - as you will soon see from the smiles on her face. That night she kept talking about feeding the goats - "Goats, eat. Goats, eat." Even today she giggled at the pictures of her feeding the goats and said "Goats, eat!"

High Speed Chase

How many people have been in a high speed chase??? I can now say that we have (not so sure this is something that we want to confess to or brag about). Here's what happened.

Last night we were driving home from the State Fair on the freeway (post and pictures to come later). We were in the middle lane and out of no where we hear this loud "bang" as this white car crashes into the side of us knocking us into the right lane. He slowed down for a split second (as we realized what had happened) and then took off. Thad started yelling "That guy just side-swiped us! Call the police, he's trying to run." So I grabbed my cell phone and called the police. Thad was really mad and his adrenaline kicked in. So while I'm on the phone, Thad starts chasing this guy down the freeway doing 110 mph - I thought we were going to die!!!!! The guy was driving like a complete maniac - driving onto the shoulder of the road to pass cars and weaving in and out of traffic and Thad followed right behind him (I still can't believe that we're alive and can't believe that Thad chased him down - looking back I'm not so sure it was the most intelligent decision)! He got off at an exit and we finally caught up to him so I was able to give the police the license plate number. The police told us not to follow him because they didn't want anything to happen - like him pulling a gun on us or something. They said that since we were able to get the license plate number, they'd send an officer out to do a report. So we headed home to wait for the police.

As soon as we arrived we jumped out to see what kind of damage had been done to our vehicle. As we were chasing this guy we were able to see the damage to his car - he had hit us pretty hard and the entire right side of his car was completely munched. We thought for sure our car had to be in pretty bad shape as well. We were surprised to find that our vehicle was fine. It has some minor scuff marks, but no dents or scrapes. When the officer arrived, he asked us if we wanted to file a report. We decided to simply because of the principle - we couldn't believe he had tried to run. The officer filled out his report and said he was going to track the guy down.

This afternoon I received a phone call from the officer. He told me that he found the guy last night. He was completely plastered. The officer told me that after seeing his car and seeing the kind of condition this guy was in he couldn't believe that we walked away with such minor, minor damage. Come to find out, the license plate was a fake, he just bought this car last week, and he doesn't have insurance. The officer wrote him up for several violations, plus charged him with a misdemeanor.

We realize that this accident could have been much, much worse. We feel very blessed that we were uninjured and that there is basically no damage to our vehicle. We know that Heavenly Father is watching out for us and definitely kept us safe last night.