Nebraska City Adventure

As some of you know, John, Sue, Steve and I take adventures to see the countryside and wildlife of our fine state of Nebraska. Sue usually drives because she owns the new, roomy Murano or because we take John's pickup, and also because the guys sit in the back enjoying their cooler full of, uh, ice tea?



Today we ventured to Nebraska City where we did a quick tour of the Lied Conference Center, enjoyed lunch at Parker's Smokehouse, walked around Arbor Lodge park, shopped at Arbor Orchard, Kimmel Orchard and finally got apples and cider at Union Orchard. We didn't have any sunshine, but we were happy to have great fall temps and no rain. Oh, almost forgot. Sue and I almost always get ice cream at trip's end. It was a great day with apple crisp to follow this week.


Sue and I testing the "Whispering Bench." It really works!

Kelly-Paul's!

Last weekend we went to visit Kelly and Paul in Nebraska.  When I told Taylor we were going, she was so excited and kept saying "kellypauls, kellypauls!!"  I think the trip lived up to her expectations.  We had a great time at "Kelly-Paul's," got to go meet Niki's new babies and even got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa.  And the car rides were smooth - bonus!  Here's the overview of the weekend...

Great-Grandpa and Grandma thought Xander was beautiful and quite the chunker! 

Xander and Great-Grandpa

Taylor ADORES Kelly! 

Tay loved Kelly's bracelets! 

Story time with Kelly and Lily

Tay looks just like Kelly :)
When you ask Taylor to smile, she thinks that means 'squint your eyes' which looks just like Kelly when she smiles!

Visit to Niki's to meet the boys, Sam and Luke.  Thanks for letting us stop in on a Saturday!  They are adorable, and Niki and Matt are great parents with their hands full!  Matt won Taylor over by giving her cookies and Niki snuggled with Xander and did the "swing-bounce" move, his favorite.  Taylor was very interested in all the babies and thought their room was "too cute!"

Sam

Luke

Sam - Xander - Luke
To be fair... Xander is bigger, but appears even larger due to his cloth diaper and pushing his belly out
(he likes to stand, not sit :)

Niki-Sam, Elissa-Xander, Taylor, Kelly-Luke
Baby fest!  Just a preview of Christmas

Tay reading to Luke

Niki and Xander - we all have the cutest babies

Tay liked the baby stuff!

Tay wanted to hold Luke

Xander and Sam checking each other out

Also remember that Taylor and Xander have a blog at elissabright.blogspot.com that I try to post on regularly (but I'm not quite as good as Niki!) so you can always check that out.  It is a private blog, so if you are not a member, just email me at elissawiles@gmail.com and I'll send you an invitation to join!

-Elissa, Matt, Taylor and Xander

Hi All from Mary Jo

It is a beautiful, bright fall day here. I need to wash windows, paint my porch floor, harvest the peppers and a few more tomatoes, etc. Instead, I had to catch up with some of the duties for my part-time job....also making phone calls to Omaha, checking on Mom. Latest, she suddenly (seemingly) lost the hearing in her right ear and is "whoozy". We know ears are connected to balance, but what the heck caused that? John has been running her for tests, (mom says he is a "saint"), but so far, no answers....She feels OK otherwise, and isn't nauseous. She is using a walker she had from a previous injury, and NOT driving. We will keep you informed.

Thanks to Niki for giving me my "baby fix". The babies seem to be doing wonderfully well, as do their parents. Really, Niki....modeling and running!! Your mom reports your maternity leave is now over. I won't expect quite so many pictures now, but I will miss it. I hope the transition is not too traumatic for any and all of you.