Last night was a beautiful night, and even though Luke took a late nap he woke up with perfect timing for us to pick up my parents and head to Union Co. for some real Saturday night fun!
We enjoyed a pretty drive to Alto Pass to visit Bald Knob Cross. I have posted about the beauty of this spot several times, but this weekend and next, visitors have the option to climb to the top of the cross. It is a once in a lifetime thing, because they are restoring the cross and will be replacing all of the panels at the end of the month for good. The cross stands 111 feet high and you are able to climb within 10 feet of the top to see the amazing views. We were there for sunset and it was a complete treat.
My dad stayed on the ground with Luke walking around, playing in daddy's car, setting off the car alarm!
Yes...Steve had to run down and discover the range for turning the alarm off since dad didn't have the keys with him. There is always a little extra fun with Luke (and Papa Nick!) around. My dad has been teaching Luke to say 'oh boy!' so yesterday when I told Luke he needed a nap so that we could go on a date with Papa, Luke said "Papa?" and I said, "yes, Papa Nick" so Luke said "Papa Nick! pause, pause 'OH BOY!' It was hilarious!
After the view from the top, we headed to the Cobden Peach Festival where we definitely participated in some S. IL fun, eating fair food (even the soft pretzel was deep fried), drinking lemonade, playing BINGO, Luke even won a box of peaches playing the 'peach walk' Like a cake walk, but you put tokens on numbers to win a box of peaches. He would rather have won the Deere Gator :)
As we drove home, Steve treated Luke to a super deluxe car wash adventure which was definitely the best way to end a Saturday night! Luke loves going through the car wash and narrating what lights are on and what part of the process the car is experiencing with each cleaning step!
By the way, I haven't mentioned lately how much Luke is talking and repeating. It is super exciting to hear him discuss things and a few of the things he has repeated in his deliberate and precise way include; hummingbird (pronounced 'humming -pause- bird', date night, car wash, gas station, honeypot.
He reads a ton of his stories now which is pretty much the coolest thing ever. It seems that he has been listening for the past two years as his family read to him and now he is telling us the story. I love love love that! In other developmental news, he is 34 1/2 inches and weighs 26lbs. He might be adding to that this week though, b/c he is getting ice cream every night to help his belly handle the antibiotic that he is on to (hopefully) take care of any trace of his ear infection. He doesn't like the medicine but he does like the 'ice -pause- cream' :)
And, no, he did not pick up the cheerios...off to get the broom.
