Tigers, oh my!

Zander wanted to share some more pictures of his fun-filled fall season since winter seems to be coming so quickly (we had our first dusting of snow yesterday)!  First was a trip to the zoo the weekend that Jim's super-fun cousin Kate came to visit in October.  Zander got a good look at one of the big tigers:

Here is Kate posing by the big moose:

...and surprising Zander when she popped our from the pumpkin maze:

High Five!!

Always a favorite stop - checking out a John Deere:

Working the stick shift:

Look Kate!

Zander really liked standing on top of and jumping off of some the giant pumpkins:

Whee!

Big jump!

Enjoying the fun animal scarecrows:

Waving to the zoo 'farm train':

Zander had a blast having a big 'leaf fight' with Kate - there was tons of giggling!

It was so much fun hosting Kate.  Zander was able to show her his favorite night out (Punch Pizza followed by Ben & Jerry's ice cream), as well as a nice evening out downtown.  We look forward to seeing Kate again sometime soon!

The week before Kate visited, Mommy ran the Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile race.  The day before, Zander enjoyed running around at the race Expo - here he is with his sneaker cheering sign:

Whew, taking a break:

Go team Medtronic!

Mommy with her finisher medal after the race the next day - yay!

After the Expo, Zander got to go apple picking - here he is checking out the pumpkins:

Entering the corn maze with Daddy:

Hi Nana!

Investigating corn... still on the cob:

And finally... picking apples!

Yummy!

Mmmmm... fresh apple cider!

Nana made some delicious apple crisp with the apples that we picked, as well as some yummy applesauce (which for some reason we were unable to get Zander to try).

Last Saturday, we caught the very tail end of the apple picking season at a different orchard:

 'Picking' some Honeycrisps:

 Sampling the goods:

Then on Sunday, we all enjoyed celebrating Nana Pat's big birthday!  Here was the beautiful cake made by Aunt Heather:

 Lighting the candles:

 Happy Birthday Nana!

'Yummy in my Tummy' - cake and ice cream:

Zander and Cousins Luke and Brady had fun riding Zander's Trunki toys:

 

One other fun September outing was attending Daddy's annual fall softball tournament.  Although Zander did a little watching and cheering, he spent most of his time playing.  Taking some practice swings with Mommy:

Such a serious stance!

Moving on to soccer:

Zander's interest in sports continues to grow - he loves playing with any sort of ball, playing on his bike/scooter/trike, running, reading sports-related books, and occasionally watching ESPN with Daddy. 

One last fun summer/fall activity was for Zander to watch Baby Amanda grow bigger than Dooly!  Here is a recent photo of Amanda with Dooly and Zander, compare it to the picture we took back in June!

Wow, how the time flies!!