a little boy and a basic kitchen utinsel

I love to see this little boy in action!  He always has a plan and I always wonder what is going on inside of his mind.  I don't know what prompted him to use the tongs as a make shift crane, but it's pretty cute!

the grapes of wrath

Last Saturday was the day I HAD to get to do something with the grapes.  I started out with the intention of only doing something with the Concord grapes, but then I forgot about the 8 other grape vines in the back yard.  We had grapes coming out of our ears!

 This was not all of the grapes, but most of them.  I worked on these silly things from 1pm to 11pm.  We ended up with 16 jars of jelly and 7 quarts of grape juice.  All of our neighbors know what they will be getting from the Opp's this year for Christmas.  That's right... a bottle of grape jelly!

Our little boy is 2!

 Oh how we love this little boy!  So much joy has been put in our life with him in our family and home.  I can't believe two years has flown by.  He wanted nothing to do with his picture being taken.  I thought it was indicative of what the wonderful terrible twos will bring to us this year.   

We finally gave up!

His birthday was on a Sunday and since we have afternoon church, we had a really lazy morning.  We got him a little bowling set and had fun bowling.  

 It took him a little bit to realize what the point of the game was and the technique, but he caught on quickly. 

 The ball in the shirt never gets old.  Where does he learn this stuff!

We had the neighbors over for ice cream and cake to end the day.  They are so good to Dieter.  They take him under their wing as if he was their own brother.  I sure hope they don't move!

home

Coming home from a long trip is the best!  Dieter loves to get reacquainted with all of this stuff.  And then he likes to sit down for a movie and a bowl of popcorn.  He was so excited to see the neighbor kids (and I think they were kind of excited to have him back) and promptly started showing off for them by doing somersaults.

10 days is too long to be away from home

Dieter was so good again on the flight home.  We were both so excited to arrive.  10 days away from Wes is just too long.  

The pilot must have known we really, really wanted to get home.  We arrived 30 minutes ahead of expected arrival.  We had our bags picked up from baggage claim before Wes even left the house.  I had told Dieter that Wes would be there to pick us up.  The video is him calling out to Wes as we were waiting curbside. What a cute kiddo!

take me out to the ball game

 My company got a ton of free tickets to the minor league baseball game that was going on while we were in town.  We took them up on the offer and went to the ball field.  The Miracle are a minor league team associated with the Minnesota Twins.  Their stadium is just around the corner from Nana and Papas.  However, the stadium is getting redone so the Miracle are playing at JetBlue Stadium-the home of the Boston Red Sox spring training.  It is a brand new field and really, really nice.  The outfield has a replica of the Green Monster in the Red Sox's stadium in Boston.  

The game started at a late hour and Dieter had been extremely frightened of the sound of thunder the entire time we were there.  He kept hearing what he thought was thunder and wanted to go home. It turned out to be kids under the stadium throwing a baseball at a target.  The noise echoed on the aluminum ceilings to make the sound of thunder.   We lasted two innings.  Maybe next time.

labor day

On Labor Day the Fort Myers ward had their annual bbq at Lakes Park.  It. was. hot.  At the park their is a little train ride that circles around and is fun for the little ones.  Dieter, being obsessed with trains would have been happy to do that all day long.  We did it twice.

The sky was beautiful and so was the breeze that came through about twice in the two hour span we were there.  I was really wishing we could have gone to see Spencer a couple of hours away, but mission rules are mission rules.  It turned out to be somewhat of a blessing.  I got sick with a nasty cold and all I wanted to do for the next few days was sleep.  Unfortunately, I had to go back to work.

happy birthdays

 It was Uncle Will's birthday while we were there and since Dieter's birthday was the next week, I made a little cake for them (I obviously need to work on my cake decorating skills).  Dieter marked the territory in his cake and enjoyed every minute of the frosting.

Nana's house is AMAZING

 Dieter loved being at Nana's.  Can you blame him?  Look at all those toys.  He was in his wonderland.  From the minute we arrived until the minute we left he was intrigued with everything to do with Nana's house.  Each night we would Face Time with Wes and Dieter had too much playing to do to be concerned with talking to Daddy.  

Nana and Papa were so good to him (and me).  They watched him every day while I went to the office and spoiled us both.  I couldn't ask for a better mother and father in law. 

 So many fun things to play with, plus watch all the tv he could stand to take in!

 This is Wes coming out in Dieter...he picked Cookie Crisp for breakfast.

 It was too hot in Florida to be concerned with clothing

It was easier just to jump into the toy bucket!

 Even the bath tub has spectacular toys! 

One of the best parts of the house is the "circle".  Every Opp grandchild has relished running around and around the circle.  This particular evening Dieter decided he wanted to be naked, except for socks.

a little toot, toot on my own horn

On the first day in the office, we had a little team party since I was actually there.  We went bowling.  We split into teams (it basically came down to those that had their own bowling shoes aka really good and those of us who did not).  I hadn't bowled in years and went on to tell them I'm not that great of a bowler.  Guess what?  I beat them all!  I got the high score of the night with 162.  I actually felt a little embarrassed since I had gone on and on about not being very good and then winning the entire thing.  I'm sure it was great way to boost team morale-the girl that we never see just won, great!

traveling....again

 Dieter and I were on a plane again at the end of August.  Work wanted me to come to the office for a week some time in the August to October time period.  To take advantage of Dieter being able to fly for free, I opted to take the trip at the end of August.  It was an extremely long day.  Waking up at 4:30am to catch our flight, sitting with an extremely tall toddler in my lap on planes that have no leg room to begin with, having two layovers, and finally making it to Fort Myers at 8:30pm (5:30pm California time).  Not to mention it took what seemed like forever for the rental car company to get us all taken care of.  Dieter was a trooper.  He loves to fly and take in new sites (he's his daddy's boy!)  The above picture is in the Orlando airport.  It is the shuttle that takes people back and forth from one terminal to the other.  He could have watched for hours. We rode on it a few times.  He was a happy camper.  

One thing I miss a lot about Florida is the beautiful skies.  Gorgeous sunrise and sunsets occur daily.  However, I forget every single time how humid the place is!  We sat on the Orlando runway for about 15 minutes before they turned the tiny plane on, thus turning on the air.  We were one big pile of sweat.  It took us the entire 40 minutes to cool down.  

Since we were going to be in Florida over Labor Day, I really wanted to take a drive a few hours north on the weekend or Labor Day to check in on my nephew.  He's a missionary serving in the Tampa Mission.  I emailed him to see what he thought.  Being the good kid he is, he checked the rules and had to decline.  What a good boy, but I really wanted to see him!