Big adventures

Time for an update because I have been busy over the last week or so going on trips, catching up with old friends, etc.
Most nights I get to eat whatever Mom and Dad are having now, and I love it. This night was stuffed shells, and they were delicious. I love feeding myself, and this night I managed to keep the pasta and sauce out of my hair, a real feat for me.
Last Sunday, Mom, Dad, Sass and I went to CornFest to listen to Phil Vassar in concert. It was a free concert so we just took a blanket and sit on the lawn listening. I did get up to dance around a bit too. It was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon/evening.
Sass is not real sure about me, but I make him warm up to me. He was taking a nap on the blanket and decided to climb on him.
It may look like Dad and I are all dressed up for some special occasion, but we're really just dressed and ready for the workday. I have lots of fancy dresses and nowhere special to go, so I get dressed up for day care now. Ms. Keisha loves it and thinks I look so pretty when I get there.
Dad came home on Friday with a fun idea for how to spend our Saturday, take the train to Chicago. I've never been to the city and never been on a train, it was a weekend of firsts. Here Mom and I are on the train waiting for it to start moving.
Dad let me stand on the seat for awhile so I could look out at the scenery zipping by us. As usual I entertained many people on the train with my award winning personality. All I had to do was wave enough and people would smile and wave back.
When we got to Chicago we had a picnic lunch at Grant Park, and then walked to Navy Pier. There was a big ships show, but it was really crowded and Mom and Dad decided not to pay to go see them. We just walked along and enjoyed the sites and the people watching. Boy, Chicago has a lot of people, and a lot of interesting people to watch. Mom and I could have sat and watched people all day.
Mom and Dad posed for a picture outside Navy Pier before our walk back. I missed the photo op because I was getting my beauty rest in the stroller.
Did I forget to mention Mom and Dad's friends Jeremy and Teresa joined us for our outing. They got on the train a few stops after us, but they joined us for our outing to Chicago. I had fun with them too, though I'm not sure they're ready for one of me yet.
We got on the train to go home early so we could get a good seat. Good thing we did too, because it was a packed train and people had to stand. Since we were on early though I got to run up and down the aisles and check it out. I had so much fun and as people boarded they waved at me.
Almost to our stop and I'm getting restless since I'm not allowed to walk around while the train is moving.
Today we went on another adventure. Mom and I took Dad back to Brookfield Zoo to show him the Great Bear Wilderness exhibit since it is new since the last time he went. We got to see it when we took Sara earlier this month. Here I am all packed into the wagon with our second picnic lunch of the weekend.
Relaxing on the bench with a snack while we wait for the Hellman's who were joining us on our zoo trip.
Dad let me sit on his shoulders so I could see over all the people checking out the polar bear. This polar bear was being so silly splashing and playing with his food. I guess his mom doesn't yell at him for playing with his food like mine does.

Kayleigh and I shared my wagon for a little while.
Dad almost has the wing span of a bald eagle, but not quite.
See how I measure up to the big bear, more like a little cub.
Stretching my legs after the big bear wilderness on my way to the primate house. The gorilla's are mom's favorite so we always have to make sure we make it there when we go to the zoo.
So those are the monkeys that get in trouble when they jump on the bed. They look like they should be able to catch themselves before they bump their heads.
Family photo on our way out of the zoo.
Mom snapped this picture when she was stopped at the red light just outside the zoo. I guess I was more tired than I thought. I ended up sleeping almost the whole way home.
Back at home after a long weekend of adventures I had to get ready for a bath. While the tub got filled Dad and I worked on my volleyball skills. I'm starting to get really good.

In other news, one of my teeth that has been trying to come in for months finally popped through. I know have 5 teeth and 3 more that will hopefully make their appearance soon. Well that's our update for now. We had so much fun on our adventures this weekend. Next weekend we'll be going to see Grandma and Grandpa Gerken so we can celebrate Dad's 30th birthday (it's Tuesday if you didn't know :)

Have a great week everyone.

Simply Amazed

Cassidy is fast asleep and I have temporarily taken over her duties as family blogger. I felt the need to share an update. No amazingly artsy or stunning shots of Cassidy, but just a few in the past week that demonstrate our wonderful, blessed life these days.

As the title states I am simply amazed at our daughter. The things she does, her personality, I cannot say it enough but we really did hit the kid lottery. I know someday all too soon I'll need to keep this entry to reread when she's a trying toddler, pre-teen and teenager, but for today I'll bask in my ignorance!Here she is just relaxing on a giant pillow in her room. We brought drinks and animal crackers into her room. Then we all sat with a book and read. At times she tried to "help" Brian read his comic book, she climbed on me in the rocking chair, and she took all of her books of the shelf. It was a blast for all of us. She did manage to read some books and climb into her rocking chair all by herself too. It was so fitting that all of our baby showers were book themed, because she loves her books. Every morning on our way to day care she reads a book, sometimes out loud sometimes not, but everyday without fail she gets excited to get her book when we get in the car. I can only hope her love of reading and books stays with her. Perhaps she'll end up like her parents getting in trouble for staying up too late just to read a few more pages of a really good book.
Cassidy has an amazing personality, she is funny, happy, energetic, and loving. She loves to give hugs and kisses now. She can blow kisses and give kisses on the face too. She even comes at you saying mmmmm getting ready to pucker up and make the kissing noise, adorable. She smiles and laughs about absolutely everything. I have no idea what is so funny half the time, but who cares isn't life more fun when you're smiling and laughing anyways.
We have such a fun kid who is also fiercely independent, which we knew from day one. She's so content anywhere. We get to day care she's happy to be there and play. I pick her up she's happy to come home. Put her down for a nap, she's happy to rest. She'll eat most anything you give her (though she tends to enjoy cheetos (coincidentally also my pregnancy craving food), cheerios, goldfish crackers, mac and cheese and lately sloppy joe.) She does not however enjoy hearing the word no, and has the perfect sad look, which we have to turn away from.

Alright that's it for my update. I just felt the need to share how amazed I am day in and day out by our baby. How anyone can not love this age I'll never know. If anyone needs a pick me up or to see God's work firsthand, just stop by our house and sit for awhile and watch Cassidy. We may be a little bias, but I only hope all parents feel this way about their children. I can only imagine how amazed I'll be when she starts saying real words and expressing her thought (for good or for bad).

Visiting Family

We here at the Gerken's have been busy the last few weeks, so we apologize for the length between posts. We've been harassed enough so finally we're updating. Today is mine and mom's last summer Friday off. Starting Monday we're back to the regular schedule, which means shorter work days, but no Friday off. It'll take some adjusting for both of us.

A couple of weeks ago Mom, Dad, and I drove to Wheeling to check on how Gigi was doing after her knee replacement. She's in a rehab hospital for a few weeks and I figured she must be getting lonely and I knew I could cheer her up. I challenged her to a walking race, but she declined. (I think she was secretly afraid of losing). Grandma is still in a cast from her foot surgery too, so we had two people in wheelchairs. Luckily, Grandpa had me there to help out. I don't know what he would have done without me :)

Here we all are having a pizza party in a common area of the rehab hospital. It was a lot of fun, because in addition to seeing Gigi there were lots of other people who I needed to check up on. I was one busy lady.
Me and my Gigi.
This woman was so excited to see me, I went back and talked to her several times. Then I made my rounds in the hallway, everyone wanted to wave and talk to me, the residents and the staff. One employee even said I was the visitor of the day. I got to walking away from mom at one point and went into a room. The women inside were so excited to see me, they even put someone on hold on the phone to talk to me. I told you I was busy and popular.
All that socializing is hard, sometimes you have to take a break, get a beverage and play some cards. I was a big help to Uncle Brett.
My work was never done, once we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house I had to take care of Grandma. She and I shared cheerios and chatted.
The next weekend the Schahls were in town visiting so Mom and I headed to Dixon for a day to visit. Dad was having a guy's weekend away so we thought it was perfect timing. Carly and I love the new bikes Grandma and Bakka got for us. If you look closely you can tell I'm making the vroom, vroom noise.
Who said a girl wearing a dress can't ride a bike? They never met me. I look tough.
Carly was loving chalk time on the front porch.
Mommy and Aunt Kim love Gram and Bakka's front porch and swing. They wish they had one at their houses. Molly and I didn't mind either. We spent a lot of the day outside and on the porch. It's a great people watching spot (and if I get nothing else from my Mom, I got her fascination with people watching).
Emily wasn't feeling well so we didn't gt to see her much, but we did walk up the street to say hi to her on her front porch. You can't tell she doesn't feel well by the look on her face.
Sunday after getting back from our visit to Dixon, Mommy and I headed to Brookfield Zoo to meet Mommy's friend Sara. We are members of the zoo and I've only been once before. I was much younger so I slept through most of the trip. I'm sunscreened up, have juice and goldfish, let's hit the zoo.
We were there early so it was feeding time and we got to see lots of animals.
Sara was showing me the wolves. Most of the zoo trip I was more interested in all the people and not the animals. I am also very friendly so I spent most of the trip sitting in the wagon waving and smiling at people. I'm sure I brightened their day.
I had to get out of the wagon once and awhile to stretch my legs.
They were calling for hot, humid, ickiness, but it began to rain and it was cold rain. Mommy, Sara and I were very cold and they both decided it wasn't good for me to stay cold, so I lucked out. I got a brand new Brookfield Zoo sweatshirt. Here I am modeling it trying to warm up.
In other news, Mom went to a couponing workshop a couple of weeks ago and has taken her ability to save money while shopping to a whole new level. I am in favor of this because it can only mean more money for things for me, right? This was her first shopping outing using the new coupon tips she learned. She got all of this (vitamins, kotex liners, crayons, 2- toothpaste, 2-mouthwash, venus razor, contact solution, calculator, glide floss) for $6.42.

Well that's our update....oh and we'll finish it off with a cute video of...well what else...ME!