Our daughter .... the daredevil, at the Lafayette Apple Festival

We went to the Lafayette Apple Festival on Saturday. Jim and I go every year to start a little holiday shopping and for the apple fritters, of course! I remember being there last year and wondering what it would be like to take our daughter - now we know. She loved it and was very patient as we maneuvered her stroller through most of the tents full of arts and crafts. We promised her she could go on some rides if she was good, and she was.


Anyone who knows our daughter knows that she is fearless. Helaina loves all the kiddie rides, but she is totally thrilled by the rides that go a bit faster, have twists & turns and that go up and down. She couldn't wait to get on this small coaster. Jim got her in the seat and instructed her to stay seated and hold on. Just as the ride takes off (like a rocket, I might add), I see the sign that says you have to be 36 inches to ride - Helaina's a little over 32 inches - and the ride operator didn't check her height (now that's a surprise, isn't it). I had a mini-heart attack as the thing went around the loop, screaming "Helaina, hang on!" At the end of the loop the ride whips around the curve pretty fast. I was in full panic mode thinking she would get whiplash, but she was hanging on and laughing hysterically with a huge smile on her face - the picture above shows her pleasure! I was happy when the ride was over and my heart rate returned to normal, but Helaina would have ridden that thing all day long!

Our toddler waiting for the ride to start.


The ride takes off like lightning, Helaina's hair is blowing back in the wind, Jim is laughing, I'm screaming for her to hold on as I wonder "what kind of parents are we?"


Look at that curve and dip, oh my gosh I can't believe we put her on that worm coaster!


This little train was probably boring to our speed demon. I wasn't fast enough for an adorable picture. When this little boy was seated, Helaina held her hand out to shake hands, and he took her hand and shook! That's her latest thing - shaking hands with everyone anywhere.


Melting vanilla soft serve on a warm October day.

Nothing better!


Sitting in the big tractor, and Jim trying to pry Helaina's hands off of it. There was a line of kids waiting to sit in it and she didn't want to budge!

Helaina looks like she's saying "vroom vroom" and Daddy's saying "When can we get out of this thing?"


Playing in the pools filled with corn and soybeans. Helaina kept trying to climb IN the pools to play. As you can see in the first picture, she's got one foot in the corn ready to dive in.


The same ponies that were at Beak & Skiff a while ago were at the festival too. After a very long wait, our impatient Helaina rode Snickers this time. Can't ride a pony without giving him a kiss!

"Hi Momma!"

Just one more kiss, this time on Snickers' face!


Sporting the ladybug hat and gloves we bought at the festival.


A few miscellaneous photos: having cocoa and reading the paper with Daddy on a Sunday morning. Helaina's reading the Toys R Us add.


Came home from getting a few groceries today and I caught Helaina stretching, balancing - who knows. I can deal with the hand and fingerprints on the walls, but now footprints?

A trip to the country - a/k/a Aunt Barb & Uncle Gerd's house

Sunday we celebrated Uncle Gerd and cousin Beth's birthdays "in the country". Helaina was looking forward to her tractor ride through the fields of Marcellus. Uncle Gerd hitched a foam & blanket-filled trailer to the tractor and off we were. Helaina clapped and "yayed" when the big red tractor started up. We toured the bumpy hills and saw apple trees and where the deer sleep under the trees. All that fresh air does a toddler good!

Sitting on the tractor in the barn.


"Do my feet reach?"


Sitting in the trailer.


We recently met Daddy at Heids for lunch one sunny weekday and then headed to the park at Onondaga Lake for some playtime. One of Helaina's favorite things there is this "loose" bridge - she runs, jumps and bounces across it with gusto as it rattles and swings.


Feeding the seagulls some of her hotdog bun.


Anything you can swing on or from is ok with Helaina.

Is there anything cuter...

than a toddler in one-piece jammies? With the cold weather upon us, coupled with the fact that Helaina somehow ends up un-covered from her blankets every night, it was time to buy some footed jammies. She melted our hearts the first time we put them on her with how sweet she looked. And she loved them too, with big smiles when she saw herself in the mirror.

Pink snowman jammies - holding her pink piggie.


A recent trip to the doctor involved not one, but 2 shots. I tried to prepare Helaina by telling her what would be done at the appointment and that she would have an "ouch" in each arm. She was actually better at this visit than at others, and thank goodness our nurse was great and did both shots in quick succession - not as much screaming as the last time!


On a recent trip to the dollar store we found these Halloween lanterns that light up with a few batteries. We went into the bathroom and closed the door to be in the dark. Helaina liked that. We're not quite sure how she'll be on Halloween. She's kind of leary around mascots and people dressed up in animal costumes. Hopefully all the treats she'll get on Halloween will overcome any hesitancy she may have!

A dream come true for Helaina.

One of Helaina's dreams came true over the weekend when she got to pet the Asian elephant, Siri, at the zoo Sunday morning. It was the last weekend for the elephant demonstrations, which she loves. When the demo is over, Helaina is always the one who is clapping the loudest & longest, and also yelling "yaaaahhhhh". Thank goodness the ban on petting the elephants was lifted about a month ago. Apparently the elephants like the contact with humans as much as we enjoy the close contact with them. As I've said before, Helaina's favorite animal is the elephant, and Daddy and Momma couldn't wait to have her up close and personal with Siri. As Siri was led down the fence to where Helaina and Jim were standing (I had the camera ready), I think I was more excited than Helaina was! Here are some photos of the monumental occasion.

Helaina's first touch - you can tell by the look on her face that she was both thrilled and hesitant!

It was a semi-rainy morning and there weren't too many people at the zoo. That worked out well because there were only a handful of people waiting to pet Siri. Helaina had many chances to pet this beautiful, impressive animal and she enjoyed every second of it.

Just one more touch - yah, right.

I think Daddy was impressed too.

Indy, the male elephant, during the demonstration. One of the most amazing things that Indy did was skip across the yard. It was hysterical, but very impressive.

A great picture of the red panda.

"Milking" the wooden cow, and playing with the penguins -who would actually follow your hand up and down the glass.

This donkey was very interested in Helaina's fingers because she was eating some Cheez nips and he must have liked the smell of them!

Boating, carousel rides, haircuts & a baby.

A recent fishing excursion was actually successful - Daddy caught a fish. Helaina is always excited while reeling it in and curious when the fish is finally in the boat, but still doesn't have any interest in touching it. She takes after her Momma!



"Ok, put it back now, Daddy."


Having a granola bar snack, and pointing to a seagull flying by.


"How come your pole doesn't have Dora on it?"


"Can we go 'bumpy fast' after my snack?!"


A trip to the Carousel Mall is always a good thing - can't get out of the place without a carousel ride. Actually, we can't do anything in the mall until Helaina has her ride - the girl has her priorities.




Another good thing about the mall - a frosty from Wendy's.


We tried to get Helaina's hair cut at a salon once, but that didn't work. She protested in rare form when put in the seat for a trim. Wouldn't sit on my lap, couldn't be coaxed with marshmallows or bribery. Nothing worked, so after about 5 minutes of crying, squirming and trying to escape we gave up and left. She's so leary of anyone coming near her (especially in any type of uniform or "lab" coat) because of her nightmare blood draw and everything she went through with surgery. So, I trim her hair at home just to get the scraggly ends even every once in a while. We save her hair in a ziploc bag and she cooperates as well as a toddler can. I must say "sit still Helaina" about a hundred times. Jim thinks it's time to try again at a salon, but I say we're going to get the same reaction.



This is actually an "after" picture, but you can't really tell!


And finally, Aunt Cathy's grand-daughter visited us. Helaina loved holding, feeding, burping and kissing 3 week old baby Nic. She was very motherly toward her - it was so cute!