Austin Sheard

Introducing my new nephew, Austin Dwight Sheard. I was the first one to see him on our side of the family (and I brought his Mom some Chipotle) so I think he might grow up to like me the best...

Pueblo

We have been in Pueblo Colorado for half a month now and I have only eaten their famous green chili three times (I am sure I will get much more of it before we leave). Brad has been busy in the ER here, he almost acts like a real doctor there since they aren't used to having students. I have enjoyed being able to go running (leaving Charly with Grandma) and having the beautiful mountains as my backdrop.

When we first got here we decided to take Brad's parents motorcycles and ATV out for a spin up in the mountains by them. The snow slowed us down a little but it was still lots of fun. This little cabin was near the end of our trail, that would be an amazing place to stay.

We also went and walked around the reservoir, I had heard so much about it I finally had to take a look for myself.

Yeah that is Pikes Peak in the background there.

Seeing who is better at skipping rocks

Charly wanted to try too

Down on the Arkansas River they have the longest mural in the united states (that is at least what Brad claims)

There is also a kayak course that they have set up that someday I totally want to go down.

Here is a little taste of what I see on my morning runs

This I learned is Walking Stick

And this is Rabbit Brush

Happy Halloween

So this year for Halloween Charly was a Cowgirl (thanks Necia for the costume). We didn't think we would even get to do anything for Halloween so I had her dressed us all day when we were running errands. Of course all our cashiers thought she was too cute in her costume. At the end of the night we decided to go trick or treat at some of Brad's old friends houses, and at his old house. So most of Brad's pictures growing up consist of his Halloween costume and always in front of the same door in their house. So we thought it would be funny to ask to take a picture of Charly in front of the same door too. They happen to be remodeling the house so we didn't get the door, but there is still the door frame. I am sure this picture is a keeper.

Here is one of Brad's pictures (I am guessing this is middle school)

See the matching door frame...

Oh and of course we carved pumpkins.

Sophie

I took some pictures to practice of our friend Sophie. I forgot how hard it is to work with someone that can't lift their head. This shot was my favorite.

Go Cougs

Brad was so pumped for this season, he had read new articles all summer awaiting the new arising team. Well we have not started as well as hoped, but we are still true blue and we will cheer to the end. Go Cougs!

Apple Picking

One nice thing about living in the Midwest is that there are family farms everywhere and so you can always go pick the freshest fruits. This week we went apple picking on Brad's day off. It cost a little more than we expected because you had to buy by the bag, but you could sample all you wanted (and we took full advantage of that). After sampling we also let Charly have a try. She was loving sucking on the apples (probably more sugar than she has had in her life) and I loved that I didn't have to pick them up every time she dropped one.

Action shot of Brad looking for the best apple.

This is definitely the best smile I have caught on camera for Charly.

There was also a pumpkin patch there so we let Charly hang out with the pumpkins. She was all smiles here too except for when we tried to do a family pic.

Just hanging out but if you look close you can see Charly's first tooth.

There were tons of goats there that you could feed, check out Charly poking this on in the eye.

Come on Ride that Train Yeah.

Twin Cities

So first off I have to say that our stay in Minneapolis was awesome. We owe a big thanks to TKO for letting us crash her place for the month. Now since it seems like all we do now is talk about where we could end up in the next year, I thought I should post some pictures of our month for anyone that may be considering the move to our neighboring state Minnesota.
Minnesota seems to have the same feel as Wisconsin, still that same friendly Midwestern atmosphere. We even saw neighborhoods of the same cute little square houses that they have here.
In the middle of the city (I think this is the middle of Minneapolis) they have this huge waterfall and hiking paths up and down the river. It is really pretty and you wouldn't even know that you are in the middle of the city.

There is a free zoo and conservatory in St Paul (with free parking too now that is amazing). We went on a saturday so it was packed, but on a weekday I think it would be a great get out of the house trip. (I also have a picture of this sweet vending machine that is stuck on my camera at the moment, but it is the ultimate mommy vending machine complete with diapers, pacifiers, baby food, and so much more)

I don't think Charly appreciated the zoo to much as you can tell she couldn't really see much of the animals.

And how can you talk about Minneapolis without mentioning the Cherry on a Spoon? It is actually one of the scuptures at an outdoor sculpture garden. Anyone who visits need a picture with this.

It is none other than the Mississippi River that runs though the cities and with the power of this large water bodie came the start of these twin cities. It was once the worlds flour milling capitol, with two large mills on either side of the river, you might have heard of one of them before...

Also in St Paul is the Mall of America. Now don't get too excited over this, really it is just a big mall. Apparently it is so big that there are even two of the same stores in there, now that is just silly to me. But besides the mall they do have exhibits that come there, that is where we saw Body World a couple years ago. And this time we went to the Aquarium (the largest underground aquarium apparently). And it did get Brad's seal of approval, which means a lot if you know Brad.

One of my favorite parts was the jelly fish exhibit, they had neon lights on them and they looked really cool.


If Fred knows your going to Minneapolis he is going to tell you to eat a Juicy Lucy. There are two places that serve this hamberger that is stuffed with juicy cheese, we decided to try the Nook.

Also just like in Milwaukee a half an hour drive outside the city gets you into farm country. We happened to be there during blueberry season.

I had confrimed to me many time that this really is the land of 100,000 lakes. There are lakes everywhere. It was really nice to be able to walk to the lake at night and walk around or wade in or just enjoy the sunset.



We also took some day trips which will have to come in later posts because this one is getting to be super long...