Pizza Fun

It's always a fun time when the three cousins get together.

The party ended up in Hannah's room,
where butterfly Hannah was serve'n up pizza.

Olbrich Gardens

We took a family trip to Olbrich Gardens on Sunday so Sebastian could run among the beautiful gardens and water features. He especially loved the ponds with the low stone walls, perfect for climbing over and jumping in.

Notice the high quality of these photos, they were taken by daddy.

Sticks, always sticks...

We worked up quite an appetite so we decided to go to the Avenue Diner for brunch. Sebastian did surprisingly well. Our waitress took very good care of him by bringing him crackers to start out with. Daddy put butter on the crackers to increase the appeal. She also slipped him some strawberries and blueberries. Sebastian happily ate his pancake that was the size of a plate and then proceeded to eat some of my toast as well.

Pumpkins and apples

Sebastian and I went to the market today. After our shopping was finished, we stopped to organize. Sebastian was excited about all of the produce, especially the ornamental pumpkins and apples.

Now we just need to work on what is edible and what is not...

After biting into an onion and a pumpkin, he got it figured out. He gnawed on that apple for the next half hour. I don't think much was actually ingested, but his teeth got a workout.

Lions and tigers oh my!

Zoo visit with Grandpa Dave and Uncle Matt: We saw the tiger for the first time. Sebastian kept saying "ajax" as it paced in front of us. We also saw the female lion kill a squirrel, which was exciting for the adults. We went on to see other animals however, Sebastian kept requesting to see the monkeys, so we headed to the children's zoo.

We had a private ride on the zoo train:

Sebastian and mommy rode in the caboose

Grandpa and Uncle Matt in the peacock car

Sebastian played on the equipment. His favorite part was a puddle he found in one of the rock formations. That was the end of his dry clothes.


That evening Sebastian kept talking about the monkeys and papa and Matt. The next morning he continued to have monkey fever so we took a run to Vilas park and then visited the monkeys, who put on quite a show. Of course no zoo trip is complete without waving to the zoo train.

Egg Chair

An early Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa Zabel. At first Sebastian was intrigued by it, but not ready to sit in it. So he piled his toys in and sent them for a spin, to make sure it was safe. Good thinking kido. Eventually, with some coaxing from me, he sat down and went for a spin. Then it was "more, more, more". He came out of the chair a bit tipsy and stumbled into a speaker (don't tell daddy) and then sat on a wooden toy. A little too much excitement, time for some quiet time.

By the afternoon, he had it down. In order to take a spin, he needed a blanket and three pull toys to accompany him. It was my job to place the blanket and the toys. He made sure that the strings from the pull toys were inside of the chair before spinning - safety first!

Apple Picking

Saturday morning we went to the apple orchard with Aunt Kristine, Hannah and Caleb. I was hoping that Sebastian would want to run around, but no, he just wanted to ride in his cousin's red wagon. Eventually he had fun picking up the windfall apples and throwing them. After we picked apples we went for a hay ride which Sebastian loved! He liked the horses. When it came time to get off, he signed and said "more" and then cried when I carried him off. I had to distract him by showing him the tractors up close.

18 months!

(September 15) Sebastian celebrated his 18 month birthday by starting another round of swimming lessons. This time he was very excited and couldn't wait to get into the pool! He had so much fun splashing and kicking. Jumping off the side of the pool was the best! Although he did give daddy the slip and run away to check out the swim noodles. I'm not sure if he really strengthened any skills tonight, but all those beach days this summer sure kept him interested in the water. I wish I had brought the video camera.