Trip to Illinois

In October, we went to visit Mama's relatives in Illinois.  We stayed with our Aunt Dianne and Uncle Terry, and we got to meet Mama's American side of the family (we already went to Germany to meet the German side!).  It was so much fun!

Emilie with Uncle Terry



Here we are with Aunt Dianne and our cousins Will and Hannah!



Emilie bonding with Will



There was a party where we got to meet a lot of the family!  Here are a few pics of the party.



Emilie: Uncle Danny and I are sharing a laugh!



Celeste: Uncle Danny and I are having a deep discussion. 
Do you have to photograph this?



We went to a pumpkin patch and petting zoo. 



Emilie: Do we get to make pumpkin pie later?



Celeste: so this is what Mama means when she calls us pumpkin.  I like it!



We love the animals.  There is even a baby!  Come here, baby!



Celeste: I really want to pet it.  Come here, Billy Goat!

We did go to our family farm, but we didn't get to play on the tractors there (the weather was not cooperating for a tour).  The pumpkin patch had some we could play on, though!

Too bad we didn't wear our overalls.  We could have driven the tractor if we were wearing them.



Honoring our family farming roots




A hopping contest!



We started crawling and moving around a lot more in October. Well, Emilie started crawling at the end of September when she was 8 months 3 weeks old, and Celeste quickly started moving, too. Her moves are a bit more non-traditional.
Celeste: I do a little hop on my bottom, and I scoot around that way! It's fun; you should try it! I have also started doing a three-legged crawl, where I use both hands and one foot to propel myself. I'm not as fast as my sister, but I am catching up!

Emilie: I have also been pulling up to stand a lot, and this month I have started cruising a little (taking steps while holding on and standing up).

Emilie: I am standing under the table!



Celeste getting some love from Aunt Dianne



Emilie: I wanted to get some cuddles, too!



Wearing Hannah's boots!  Aren't they cute on me?



Do these come in my size?



Celeste: This is Sammy, the best dog EVER!



Celeste: When I met Sammy the dog, I got really excited.  I giggled and jumped and started panting and wanted to pet him.  He was pretty excited, too, and licked my face and danced for me.  Now when I see dogs or people talk about dog ("woof woof!"), I bounce over to them or I pant like a dog.  Mama and Papa, can we have a dog??? 

Emilie: On the last day of our trip, we went out for breakfast with Aunt Thelma, Uncle Danny and Aunt Eileen, and Cousin Mike.  Here I am with Aunt Eileen.



Emilie: Aunt Eileen and I are having a very serious discussion about pancakes.  :o)

It was a fun trip, we got to meet lots of relatives, and we even got to fly again!  This time Mama and Papa had to let us crawl and hop on the airplane, otherwise there would have been trouble keeping us contained in our seats.  When is the next trip?!