Birthday Party

 We celebrated Kora's 2nd birthday this past weekend.  She had fun eating cake, opening presents, and playing with a bunch of balloons.  We had blown up the balloons while she was taking a nap, so when she woke up and came out into the living room, it was the first thing that she saw.  Kora was pretty excited to see all those balloons laying on the floor.   

 

Glasses

Kora had a recheck with her ophthalmologist last week, and she was so good for the doctor.  She sat in the chair by herself and let her look into her eyes without fussing.  It was such a difference from the first time we started seeing eye doctors.  Kora still tends to turn her left eye inward when looking at things up close.  The doctor thought it was mostly likely from the astigmatism that she has in her left eye, so she is going to have us try glasses with Kora.  I'm glad we don't have to do another surgery and that we can take a break from patching the right eye for a while, but so far it has been a challenge to keep the glasses on.  Hopefully it won't take her too long to get used to them.  I've never seen such little glasses before.  They are pretty cute.

Color Run

 

 

We participated in the 5K Pioneer Color Run this past Saturday. 

Although we did mostly walking, we had a good time.  We did keep

Kora out of the color stations.  We didn't think she would enjoy being 

dusted that much. 

End of Summer

Where did the summer go?  It's hard to believe we're already starting the 2nd week of school.  Summer was fun, but as always it went by too fast.  Here are some fun times from summer.

 

My girls having fun in the kiddy pool.  Kora absolutely loves the water.  She never wants to come out of the pool, lake, sprinkler, etc.  Doesn't matter how cold it is; she could be blue and she still loves it.  Such a difference from the total hatred of baths when she first came home from China.

 

 

 

Megan and Jason got a ride on a pony at a neighbor of Grandpa and Grandma.

 

Kora just recently learned how to blow bubbles.  She always wants to hold the bubble container and do it by herself.  One day, I gave her a small one that I didn't think had much left in it.  I was sitting on the front step while she was playing with it.  She had walked behind me by the door and soon after dumped the remaining bubbles on my back.  I found out that there still was plenty left.

 

Miniature Golf

 

Kora wanted to get in on the fun too.  She did enjoy walking up and down the hills, steps, bridges, and stairs.  She also liked taking the balls out of the holes.  Only occasionally did she put the ball in the hole too soon.

 

Megan got a hole-in-one.

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Camping

We went camping at LaSalle Lake State Recreation Area.  We had a good time and the weather was nice.  Kora did wake up in the middle of the night, crying at the top of her lungs.  She wasn't even comforted when we picked her up.  It was very strange, since she rarely wakes up at night and if she does, she never cries like that.  So for once, it was us waking everybody up at the campground.

 

Jason's first big mouth bass that we caught by himself.

 

Megan holding her pumpkin seed she caught all by herself.

 

 

Jason taking his fish off his hook by himself.

 

Megan on a rock near our campsite.

 

Jason walking in the headwaters of the Mississippi.

 

 

Jesse and Kora walking in the headwaters.

 

The view from our hike.

Summer Fun

It has been a fun and busy summer so far with a lot of firsts for Kora. 

First time in an inflatable bounce house. 

 

First time swimming in a lake with Dad.  It was also Kora's first time camping.  She did pretty well, but it took her a long time to fall asleep in her pack and play in the tent.  The flies and mosquitoes were so bad, we all had to go in the tent for the night by 9:00 pm.  No concentrate of DEET would keep them from biting.  So with us all in the tent, she had a hard time settling down.  I think she was one of the last to fall asleep.

 

Jason in action playing soccer.

 

The kids are playing at a local park.  Kora has gotten more confident on the swings and slides.  Of course, she watches everything her brother and sister do and has started trying to climb up all the slides.